Middle-earth: Shadow of War Reviews
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.
The nemesis system shines in this unwieldy, bloated, and occasionally magnificent fantasy epic.
A greatly expanded and improved action game let down by a dreadful story.
A huge Lord of the Rings experience that's always enjoyable, although its scale leaves it straining at the seams at times.
You are a merciless tornado of ruin touching down in an unforgiving world of battle and domination, and embracing that unfettered power is a joy
The follow-up to Shadow of Mordor is bigger in scope, but not always better than its predecessor.
If you can get past the microtransactions, Shadow Wars seems set to provide a much meatier extended playtime than Shadow of Mordor ever offered. But more than anything, that's my biggest disappointment with Middle-earth: Shadow of War: Everything about it seems to come with a caveat, some small annoyance or two that you need to dig past to get to the still-very-fun game underneath. The Nemesis System is still a wonder that has yet to be replicated. The movement and combat are thrilling.
This sequel expands on the vaunted Nemesis system in wildly entertaining ways, even as it falls short around the edges.
The fundamental issue here is that being good at Shadow of War means the process becomes routine. Find intel. Target underlings. Go after Warchiefs. Attack the castle. Defeat the Overlord. Appoint your favorite orc as new Overlord. With so many maps this time around, I grew fatigued of this procedure halfway through. And because Talion is so overpowered, I barely died—so there were fewer chances for orcs to remember our previous encounters.
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. Likewise, the loot box mechanic interfaces with army upkeep in a way that feels less than satisfying. Shadow of War is still a great game, but there's a linger corruption that keeps it from perfection.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War has a lot of fluff that attempts to sabotage it, but the game succeeds in its effort to make its world worth roaming around and killing things in. Although I wasn't enthralled by the silly 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 gameplay was more than sufficient to call this a step up.
Monolith Productions manages to deliver a magnificent sequel to Shadow of Mordor. Allowing the players to recruit several types of different orcs that display unpredictable behavior thanks to the Nemesis system is a great experience. Overall, it happens to improve in almost every single area over its predecessor, and the possibility to use dragons as a tool for war is very pleasant.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The visuals and the unnecesary endgame are the only bad things in a sequel that improves everything from the first game: the combat has been refined, the Nemesis System provides infinite stories, and the sieges contain all the epic (and more) that you'd expect from a product based in Tolkien's Legendarium.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is massive, yet at the same time a prime example of a sequel that's bigger, but not necessarily any better than the original. Once again the Nemesis system shines, allowing players to forge their own unique stories, even if the game tries to do too much with it at times. Getting caught in its tangle of new systems and features can be frustrating, but there's still a great open world game here.
If Shadow of War is guilty of anything, it's giving you too much to do. The world is seemingly bursting with content and side objectives. In cities, you can over take towers, much like the Assassin's Creed games. Upon taking a tower you'll reveal hidden points of interest within the city, such as collectibles, a “memories of Shelob” mini game, and side missions featuring the fall and demise of Celebrimbor. The game gives so much to keep you occupied and, with the great combat, you'll never get tire of working through it. It's a perfect example of a studio taking an already solid game and improving it on every front.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War builds on almost every facet of its forerunner carefully – and the result is generally very exciting, if uninspiring.
Improves everything that made Shadow of Mordor just an excellent game but makes new mistakes with pacing and with its narrative. Again an excellent (and deeper) game.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Middle-earth: Shadow of War is a good sequel to Shadow of Mordor. Fortress sieges are a nice introduction, but in the long run things could get a little bit repetitive.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Middle Earth: Shadow of War is bigger and better than its predecessor in almost every conceivable way. If you don't mind the repetition found in most open world games, there's a robust strategy layer here that combines with a great combat system to offer hours and hours of Orc slaying, army building fun.