Middle-earth: Shadow of War

Similar to the way Batman: Arkham City built on the foundation of Arkham Asylum, Middle-earth: Shadow of War is bigger and more ambitious in scope than Shadow of Mordor, with great results. The way it expands the Nemesis system with far greater variety and fortress sieges makes even better use of the stand-out generated characters, and its battles with memorable uruk captains remain challenging all the way through the campaign and into the clever asynchronous multiplayer beyond.

Shadow of War is the perfect sequel- it builds on its predecessor’s strengths, improves upon its weaknesses, and makes strong, smart additions of its own, bringing it all together for an addictive and unforgettable experience.

Shadow of War offers dozens of hours of entertainment for gamers who enjoy action adventure titles with a strong splash of RPG elements. The moving parts may be a touch too complicated for the most casual gamers, but players who are patient enough to master all of the game's systems will be rewarded with an exciting story, control of a powerful army, and an unstoppable protagonist.

Overall

I highly recommend Middle-earth: Shadow of War. It’s a fantastic game with a near flawless execution.The journey is enjoyable and the characters you help and hinder throughout the game make it an memorable experience. If you’re looking for a high quality, AAA single-player game, look no further than Shadow of War.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War like its predecessor is built upon the dynamic "Nemesis System." While the sequel offers an interesting story, it often becomes convoluted between the various arcs it wants to go in. Thankfully, the second by second gameplay has never felt better. With the addition of Shadow Wars, the best parts of the game will continue long after the story ends.

Shadow of War finds its success in perfectly expanding upon everything that made Shadow of Mordor so great. Despite the game's slow start, once you get into the weeds of Shadow of War's systems, you'll find yourself engrossed and addicted to its satisfying gameplay loop for hours on end. This increased depth along with the much larger scale of the world and battles within Shadow of War make it a far better game from top to bottom than that of its predecessor.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of War is the sequel Shadow of Mordor deserves.

With Uruk-hai rallied to your side, this return to Middle-earth impresses in its fearless ambition but is soon let down by repetitive mission design.

Republished on Wednesday 28th October 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of November's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows.

Middle-earth: Shadow of War has a lot of fluff that attempts to sabotage it, but it succeeds in its effort to make its hollow and silly world worth roaming around and killing things in. Although I wasn’t enthralled by the absurd story beats that try to dance around telling an actual epic and somber tale, the ability to create my own stories with an expanded level of depth was more than sufficient to call this a step up.

Shadow of Mordor was unrefined but in a way that was ahead of its time. Playing it felt like glimpsing the future of big action games. Monolith’s attempts to build on that vision in Shadow of War are often successful, particularly where the deeper Nemesis System is concerned. But other pieces of this sequel feel undercooked, getting in the way of what should be a great time. Shadow of War provided plenty of fun in the 30 or 40 hours I’ve spent with it so far, but somehow this future seemed so much brighter in 2014.