As an enthusiast of the open-world genre, I was pretty excited to get my hands on Middle-earth: Shadow of War . The first instalment in the Lord of the Rings spinoff was a surprising success back in 2014, with critics and fans heaping praise upon its outstanding combat mechanics and distinctive...

Experience an epic open world brought to life by the Nemesis System. Forge a new Ring of Power, conquer Fortresses in massive battles and dominate Mordor with your personal orc army in Middle-earth: Shadow of War.

The 2014 release of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor was a roll of the dice that just barely managed to pay off. Yes, the Nemesis System was and still is a genius bit of game design, and Monolith Productions was right to stake virtually the entire success of the game on its use.

Monolith Studios surprised everyone in 2014 with the success of their new IP based in the Tolkien universe with Shadow of Mordor. Now, three years later, players take on the role of Talion once more to finally put an end to Sauron and his grip over Mordor and Middle Earth.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor definitely isn't for everyone, but I can almost guarantee that everyone who gives it a shot will find something enjoyable about it, regardless of whether you are a Tolkien fan or not.

Solid gameplay that requires real strategy and planning and really forces players to be against dying; as crazy as that sounds

Generic protagonist and safe-ish storyline walk a very fine line to prevent hardcore Tolkien fans from rallying against the game too much; and at the same time; it's not entirely open to those who know nothing about Lord of the Rings

Middle-earth: Shadow of War is an extraordinary game: in its complexity, in its ambition and perhaps most of all, in its undeniable messiness.

Shadow of War is much bigger than its predecessor, offering more orcs, more gear, more to conquer, and your very own orc army. It's a massive game with so much to do that it can feel like a bit of a grind later in the game.

With Peter Jackson-quality production values, combat that remains engaging over dozens of hours, and a meaningful story that stays reasonably related to its beloved source material, Middle Earth: Shadow of War is a rare sequel that improves on just about every aspect of the original.

Well, I'm guessing Ubisoft is feeling pretty ridiculous right now. They've churned out approximately 19, 546 Assassin's Creed titles over the last seven years, and not one is as concise, free-flowing and action-packed as Monolith's Shadow of Mordor .

Seeing almost any of the wraith powers for the first time

Bizarre pacing kills all momentum and drags the campaign down

Considering the reputation licensed games had in the early 2000s, the Lord of the Rings movie games made out fairly well. The Two Towers and The Return of the King games were, at the very least, good action games that made decent use of their license and delivered something fans of the films could...