***SPOILER-FREE REVIEW***
Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor does nothing new. It takes the stealth elements of Assassin's Creed and the combat system of Batman: Arkham Asylum and makes a genuinely compelling Lord of the Rings game out of it. Monolith have succeeded where many have failed; they made a video game based off of a book-movie franchise that wasn't poorly received by either the book-waving tolkienites nor the movie buffs. It properly referenced Lord of the Rings lore whilst maintaining the cinematic nature of the films. The story is a bit cliche, with both main protagonists being motivated by revenge, but the well-balanced gameplay more than makes up for any lull in the exposition. While the Nemesis system takes a back seat for a majority of the game, it really shines near the end of the game and after the conclusion of the primary narrative. I found myself playing this game again just to test out different scenarios when pitting multiple captains and warchiefs against each other.

PROS:
- Compelling Narrative
- Well-balanced gameplay
- Tactical freedom
- Nemesis system encourages replayability

CONS:
- Cliche premise
- Little exposition

NOTES:
- Approximately 15 hours to complete main narrative

***SPOILER-FREE REVIEW*** Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor does nothing new. It takes the stealth elements of Assassin's Creed and the combat system of Batman: Arkham Asylum and makes a genuinely compelling Lord of the Rings game out of it. Monolith have succeeded where many have failed; they made a video game based off of a book-movie franchise that wasn't poorly received by either the book-waving tolkienites nor the movie buffs. It properly referenced Lord of the Rings lore whilst maintaining the cinematic nature of the films. The story is a bit cliche, with both main protagonists being motivated by revenge, but the well-balanced gameplay more than makes up for any lull in the exposition. While the Nemesis system takes a back seat for a majority of the game, it really shines near the end of the game and after the conclusion of the primary narrative. I found myself playing this game again just to test out different scenarios when pitting multiple captains and warchiefs against each other. PROS: - Compelling Narrative - Well-balanced gameplay - Tactical freedom - Nemesis system encourages replayability CONS: - Cliche premise - Little exposition NOTES: - Approximately 15 hours to complete main narrative