Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is finally available to the gaming masses on next-gen consoles. Beautifully designed, amazing graphics, and fantastic gameplay puts this title in a late run for Game of the Year. Not only is it the best Lord of the Rings game to date, but it’s  the most addictive game of 2014.

Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor is an 2014 action-RPG game, it is developed by Monolith and published by WB Interactive Entertainment. It is currently available on PC, current-gen consoles, and soon last-gen consoles.

Ever since the franchise hit the big screen fans had been itching for a great Lord of the Rings experience in the form of a video game, while there’s been a few good attempts and some not so good, depending on the developer behind the project Lord of the Rings could flourish in the virtual world. In comes Monolith, their version of the series takes us into the life of player character Talion; whom seeks revenge for the murder of his wife an son at the hands of the Dark Lord, closing the gap between The Hobbit & Lord of the Rings.

Gollum makes his cameo in Shadow of Mordor, unfortunately mo-cap legend Andy Serkis does no reprise his role.

THE GOOD: Shadow of Mordor is the most near-perfect Lord of the Rings game ever, the graphics would absolutely fantastic on next-gen consoles, and it felt as if you were watching a new film take place. The gameplay is extremely addictive and isn’t too demanding about story progression. In fact, the open-world wants you to explore every inch possible with an enormous amount of side-quest & Ulriks to keep you busy, you’ll spend dozens of hours just looking to beat the crap out of a horde of them.

Beware the Graug!

The Nemesis System was brilliantly designed, it made dying feel like an important consequence due to your enemies getting more powerful with every death you’re dealt. In later parts of the game you can actually control your enemies to defend you or attack higher ranking enemies to lower your enemy count or help you out in tough spots. Fights would often take strategy and planning, where as you would have to decided between the likes of going long-range for one battle or being smart and using Caragor to help fend off larger groups. Fear and hatred also plays a large part in taking advantage of your enemies. For example one enemy would fear Caragor making him weak to their attacks or causing them to flee giving you an easier opportunity to go one on one with him. While on the other hand, if he hated Caragor he could easily kill them as well as gain extra strength due to rage.

Talion & The Bright Master.

As the story progresses Talion & The Bright Master bond, with The Bright Master becoming the yang to Talion’s yin. After being apart of the same blood ritual, the two work together in an effort to stop the Dark Lord and his forces. The similarities between the two were balanced with contrast that help avoid the feeling of learning about the same story twice.

Taking a page out of Arkham’s page book, and that’s ok.

THE BAD: You’re going to die… a lot. No matter how far in the game you get, there’s going to be death a plenty from the Captains to the Warchiefs, if you don’t try to strategize a plan of attack, then death or fleeing is your only way out.

The enemy of my enemy is my friend.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Shadow of Mordor is one of the top contenders for Game of the Year. Beautiful designs and graphics on next-gen puts it right at people’s expectations for the game. The fantastic gameplay and welcoming open world gives you plenty to do with strategy and lolly gagging. Once you experience a mere taste of Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor, you’ll be addicted for hours.