I Lost an Entire Weekend Playing "Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor" and it Was Magnificent

Shadow of Mordor has no right to be as awesome as it is. Our review.

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Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor

         
0 4.5 out of 5 stars
Developer:
Monolith Productions
Publisher:
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Platform:
Everything except the Wii U
Price:
$59.99
Release Date:
Out now for PS4, XB1. Nov. 18 for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

I had no right to enjoy Shadow of Mordor as much as I did.

Sure, the entire conceit sounded like it was something tailored specifically for a giant Tolkien nerd like yours truly, but cynicism is a character flaw and my expectations were low for a sandbox title that was initially mistook as Assassin's Creed meets Lord of the Rings. It was after my head was caved in by a war-axe for the third consecutive time by an Orc war-chief that I thought to myself: "holy shit, this game is awesome."

It wasn't just the persistent bludgeoning that won me over to Shadow of Mordor's deceptively infectious brand of Tolkien-helmed mayhem, although I did need to change my tactics to cease said bludgeoning, but it was the way in which I so quickly embraced my role as the vengeance-stricken Talion. As the half-ranger, half-wraith whose family was butchered by the forces of Sauron, Talion's quest for reciprocal butchery quickly became my own in a way that was equally surprising and unexpected in equal measure.

Being fluent in Tolkien is, thankfully, not required to enjoy Mordor considering the density and heft of Middle-Earth mythology, but at least a passing familiarity with the Lord of the Rings is going to make the game's experience a richer one. Set between The Hobbit and The Fellowship of the Ring, Shadow of Mordor tasks players to battle (again) against the Dark Lord Sauron's Black Captains as Talion. Talion is a member of the Rangers of Gondor who finds himself on the receiving end of a ritual sacrifice, and is then resurrected by the wraith of a long-dead power player of Middle-Earth myth.

Talion and this spiritual presence are crammed into the same body and share control of Talion's earthly form granting Talion a whole new suite of powers where his mortal abilities might fall short. I should point out that while the most recent The Hobbit films were definitely aimed at a younger audience than the 2001 Fellowship of the Ring trilogy, Shadow of Mordor is a very violent stroll through the bloodier corners of Middle-Earth.

Shadow of Mordor's isn't breaking any new grounds in terms of structure. The fingerprints of established franchises are apparent in the stealth mechanics à la Assassin's Creed,  but those prints make more sense in Middle-Earth than the forced stealth mechanics of other contemporary titles. Watch our video review above for a full breakdown of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. 

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