Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor (2014)

#665

The game runs smoothly in every sense; to smoothly transition between all the gameplay elements in an intense battle is an absolute joy. The star of the show is the rivals system, which takes a while to really take off, but eventually becomes a complex game of politically-motivated assassinations.

Unfortunately, it had a lot more potential to do good with its setting than it actually followed up on. It gave some interesting insight into the backstory of Lord of the Rings, but the characters are shallow and the story is a pretty blatant series of fetch quests. And it's a shame, because there's so much untapped potential.

Overall, it's a really fun game, but it doesn't feel like one that will stick with me for too long.