Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

Killed an orc, he came back with metal riveted to half of his face, killed him again and he came back with a torch embedded in his skull and immunity to fear, fire, and instant-death.
Is it a good entry into the Lord of the Rings? No. Tolkien is probably spinning in his grave.
Is it mountains of fun? Absolutely bucketloads of fun.
Assassin Creed: Mordor is my favorite Assassin's Creed game.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ Old game
☐ Bad
☐ Decent
☐ Good
☑ Very good
☐ Beautiful
☐ Ultra Realistic
☐ Absolutely stunning...
---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Bad
☐ It's okay
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Good
☑ Very good
☐ Addicting
---{ Sound Track }---
☐ I went in options and muted it.
☐ It's music
☑ Goes with the game
☐ Good
☐ Very good
☐ You will find yourself just listening the the music.
---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Anything can run this game.
☐ Dont need a gaming computer.
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Demanding
☐ Ray Tracing should be enabled.
☐ Look up the game specs before you buy.
☐ Top of the line Hardware for full game experience.
---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☑ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding
---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ What?
☐ Good
☑ Very good
☐ lost track of time
☐ your going to remember this game for a long time.
---{ Re playable }---
☐ Hell no.
☐ Maybe
☑ Just for achievements
☐ yes plus story
☐ Maybe multiple times plus story
---{Bugs}---
Few funny moments, but nothing critical
---{ How much was the game? }---
☑ Under 5$
☐ Under 10$
☐ Under 20$
☐ Under 30$
☐ Under 40$
☐ Under 50$
☐ Under 60$
☐ Under 70$
☐ Under 80$
---{Rating}---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

Batman Arkham meets Assassin's Creed set in Mordor accompanied with great gameplay mechanics like the nemesis system and playing as a bad ass Elf Wraith who's possessed Aragorn's stunt double? sign me the f### up.
although it isn't canon all of this makes up for a really good Lord of The Rings game, which is a very rare sight nowadays. 8.5/10

Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™ is like "The Lord of the Rings" on steroids, where you play as a ranger brought back from the dead to kick orcs left and right! Imagine this: dark Mordor, orcs, goblins, magic, and you as the main hero in this epic adventure. Ready to battle for Middle-earth? Let’s go!
Pros:
Nemesis System: It's simply genius! Enemies remember you, climb the ranks if you don't kill them, and come back for revenge.
Combat System: Dynamic and spectacular battles where you can use a sword, bow, and magic to destroy orcs in various combinations.
Open World: Explore the sinister and detailed Mordor, finding hidden caches, artifacts, and completing a variety of quests.
Storyline: An interesting story of revenge and the fight against Sauron, featuring familiar characters from "The Lord of the Rings."
Character Development: Upgrade your skills and weapons to become even more powerful and effective in battle.
Cons:
Repetitiveness: Some missions and tasks can become repetitive over time, especially if you’ve been killing orcs for a while.
Graphics: Despite the dark atmosphere, the graphics might seem a bit outdated compared to more modern games.
Monotonous Enemies: Most of the enemies are orcs, and their lack of variety might become tiresome.
Controls: Sometimes the controls can be less than convenient, especially in complex fights.
Dark Atmosphere: Not all players might enjoy the constant darkness and grimness of Mordor.
Overall, "Middle-earth™: Shadow of Mordor™" is an exciting adventure where you can feel like a true warrior of Middle-earth, fighting orcs and completing epic quests. Despite some shortcomings, the game offers a lot of thrilling moments and a chance to enjoy the "Lord of the Rings" universe in a new format. So grab your sword and get ready for adventures in Mordor!

I still play this Game throughout time to time and it's an amazing game to play even in this year however sometimes some crazy cool glitches happen but other than that good gameplay,open world environments and types or Uruks,Enemy's.

After 10 years this game still holds up well and has a lot of fun mechanics, the story is good and the world is fun to explore. Still definitely a fun game 10/10 would recommend. Good repeatability and ways to approach each encounter. Especially if you are a fan of LOTR,

During its best moments, Shadow of Mordor provides exhilarating battles against multiple unique foes in order to shake up the entire structure of Sauron’s hostile Uruk armies. However, the uneven storytelling, boring open-world, disappointing boss battles and repetitive side activities turn Shadow of Mordor into a much duller game than it had to be
Set between Peter Jackson’s Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movie trilogies, Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is a game with a clear target audience in mind: Fans of (a re-imagined) Middle-Earth who want to participate in a darker tale about the fight against Sauron’s unforgiving army of Orcs. And sure enough, if you count yourself as part of this target audience, you’re probably going to have a good time with Shadow of Mordor – as long as you’re not too interested in the “tale” part of the game.
That said, even if you’re familiar with the famous work of J.R.R. Tolkien, the beginning of Shadow of Mordor is – quite frankly – a mess, not only in terms of story but as an introduction to the gameplay as well. It introduces its different characters all at once, jumps between past and presents and slams you with short tutorials for different combat abilities on top of that. After that’s done, the player is just thrown into the open world, surrounded by various unexplained map icons and are supposed to continue on their own. If not already familiar with this type of game and/or Middle-Earth lore, I wouldn’t be surprised if new players turned off the game right there – even though I already played through the game on PS4 back when it released in 2014, I was surprised to see just how much of a mess the opening sections where during my revisit of the game. This is especially sad since the gameplay is where Shadow of Mordor really shines, once you get used to its various systems.
Shadow of Mordor is an action-RPG that’s mostly about fighting hostile Orcs as human ranger Talion, seeking revenge for the death of his family through Sauron and his underlings. The combat should immediately feel familiar for those who played (older) Assassin’s Creed or Arkham games before: Talion uses his sword for melee combat, which is a mix of dodging and countering enemy attacks, while successful attack-chains without getting hit is rewarded by allowing the player to perform powerful special moves. Those who prefer less direct approaches can use a bow for ranged attacks or a dagger for stealth approaches, the latter of which allows Talion to instantly-kill most Orcs.
While not too deep, the combat of Shadow of Mordor is quite a lot of fun at first, since it offers a nice flow and allows for individual battle approaches. It can get quite repetitive in the long run however, since every encounter mostly plays the same in the end: Get rid of Orcs through stealth-kills or headshots with the bow first, then draw your sword once things get more personal. If needed, simply run away to replenish your health or hide if you want to return to a stealth approach again. There are various upgrades available for Talion’s three weapons as well as new skills for the ranger himself - but the basic abilities are already more than sufficient to beat the game without any real trouble.

While the combat might be familiar for some players, what really sets Shadow of Mordor apart from other games in the genre is the so-called “Nemesis system”. Very briefly explained, while there are a lot of generic Orc soldiers to fight as protagonist Talion, there are more powerful Orcs that serve as the various leaders in the hierarchy of Sauron’s armies. These randomly-generated Orcs all come with their own appearances, strengths and weaknesses – you might encounter an Orc that’s immune to ranged attacks but afraid of fire, for example. What makes this system even better is that the Orc hierarchy is constantly changing, depending on who dies (maybe through Talions hand?), wins a duel or power struggle, organises a feast and so on.
Influencing the Orc hierarchy through planned attacks or by turning them over to your side through magic is the main draw of Shadow of Mordor, allowing for unique storytelling entirely depend on your actions – you might get killed by a generic Orc for example, who gets appointed as a leader as a result and gets even stronger if he kills you again, referencing this fact if you encounter him for a third time. But while it’s a very great idea on paper, the “Nemesis system” is unfortunately not without some flaws: While it’s certainly nice to have uniquely named Orcs with their own few voice lines instead of only generic enemies, it doesn’t turn them into compelling villains on their own - they’re still just more powerful Orcs without much of a personality. Additionally, the “Nemesis system” punishes those who play well and tear through the various Orc leaders without (m)any deaths as Talion, since the Orc hierarchy only really changes if you die – or manually prompt it to do so by forwarding time at certain safe-spots (towers). Since Shadow of Mordor offers no (!) difficulty settings at all, experienced action-RPG players might be at a disadvantage here for once.
Still, even with their flaws, the combat and “Nemesis system” of Shadow of Mordor make for a fun action-RPG experience. Unfortunately, the remaining parts of the game can’t maintain the same quality. The open-world is really boring looking, with no individual landmarks and a generic mix of brown, dark-green and grey – some grass patches, some rocks, a lot of mountains serving as walls. There are quite a few side activities but they’re all uninteresting variations of either “pick this up”, “kill this” or “kill this in a specific way/under a time limit” without much of a plot.
Speaking of plot, it’s almost impressive how erratic Shadow of Mordor is telling its story, especially for a game based on one of the most popular literary works of all time. Many of the story quests feel strangely disconnected from each other and many of the plot points are left unresolved once the credits start rolling. Even disregarding that, the generic revenge story told through overly melodramatic dialogue is missing the more hopeful aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien’s works. Instead, some characters (Gollum for example) are forced into the story without much of a reason other than providing some fan-service.
Lastly, as good as the “normal” battle encounters of Shadow of Mordor are, the few boss fights are incredibly disappointing. The boss fight that marks the end of the first half of the game isn’t much of a fight at all – you can only damage the boss by stealthily attacking them three times, while they only deal damage if they manage to spot you. And then there’s the infamous final boss fight of the game, which – is just a playable cutscene with four (!) easy quick-time events. Quite an anticlimactic end to a game that prides itself on it’s combat gameplay.
Still, while Shadow of Mordor suffers from a lot of ups and downs, thanks to its decent action-RPG core, it should still provide a few fun hours for interested Middle-Earth fans. HowLongToBeat lists a main story playthrough at about 15 hours, though in my experience, you should be able to finish the base in about 8-10h if you’re an experienced action-RPG player and only care about doing the 20 main story quests. Since the game routinely goes on sale for just a few bucks, that’s a very fair price to pay, not even considering the side and various downloadable content.