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.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War somehow finds a way to improve on the winning Shadow of Mordor formula and create an incredibly dense and entertaining new piece of Tolkien lore.
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.
Middle Earth: Shadow of War builds on almost every facet of its forerunner carefully – and the result is generally very exciting, if uninspiring.
Middle-earth: Shadow of War aims for the spectacle of the films, but falls short with a directionless, lore-breaking campaign.
By God, it's delicious.
Everything about this game outdoes the first, and with the expanded Nemesis System, superb combat, and epic story, you'll be immersed for a long time.
It's a shame the story is so strangely paced, but you hardly need it. Fortress Assaults are great set pieces, and there's a lot of fun to be had with the upgraded Nemesis System alone.
Monolith studio built on the success of the Nemesis System in Shadow of Mordor and presented it better in the new Shadow of War, with excellent RPG mechanics making it an RPG game rather than an action game. Although the story is very linear and weak in the game I found myself spending hours and hours playing to form my army and attack other fortresses, as well as daily challenges and community challenges that would make me play the game for a long time without boredom.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
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
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.
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