Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor

There’s a lot of potential in Shadow of Mordor for a great sequel, but this first attempt is being crushed under the weight of Tolkien’s source material.

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor stands out from other open-world action games by putting a great new layer on top of the trail that Batman blazed. I was surprised at how well it integrates its excellent combat with rewarding feedback and progression not just for me, but also for my enemies. I’ve had many more memorable and unpredictable battles with its randomized Warchiefs and captains than I did in the scripted campaign missions, and I expect those to keep on coming.

In fact, it has as much in common with another Warner Bros. property: the Batman: Akham Asylum/City/Origins series. It’s another free-roaming, open-world adventure with the focus on combat and stealth, and while there are elements of Assassin’s Creed in its stealth kills and free-running acrobatics, it’s much less focused on urban spaces or vertical exploration. Meanwhile the hard-hitting, counter-heavy melee combat is closer to the Batman style, down to the slow-mo finishers when you put down the last enemy in a gang. And Shadow of Mordor does bring something new to the party, and while this feature sounds like a gimmick, it turns out to be surprisingly profound.