Even to a newcomer, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is comfortably familiar. It is not a sequel, but it feels like one. Most who play this game will have seen the Lord of the Rings films, or read the books, or played either the Assassin's Creed series or the Batman Arkham series. Shadow of Mordor is greatly influenced by these popular sources. From its gameplay, to its story, to its visual style and soundtrack, this game makes you feel like you're returning to a land that you love. It is, however, this same familiarity that cuts into its longevity.
The big innovation that Shadow of Mordor brings to the table is its Nemesis system. Much praise has been heaped upon it. In my view, it works very well in an open world game but it is not without its weaknesses. For example, it is enthralling to cross blades with orc captains when each one feels unique from the others. Yet it also seems impossible for a pseudo-randomly generated boss to match that of a static, hand crafted boss like you'd find in other games. The Nemesis system has quantity on its side and is more true to life but tends not to be as memorable or as fun to fight as those bosses you find in games like Dark Souls or Shadow of the Colossus. To its credit, Shadow of Mordor also has a handful of standard boss fights throughout its main missions. Unfortunately, the final one is a major letdown in the form of a short series of quick time events.
Tolkien's Middle-earth is immensely rich in history. Shadow of Mordor's story utilizes that history mostly for the game's setting, and then makes up the actual plot as its own alternative history. As someone who has seen all the movies but never read the books, I was very pleased that the story was both new to me and still connected to the epic tale we all love. With the exceptions of Gollum, Sauron and a couple brief cameos that I won't spoil, the cast is composed of characters not seen in the films. Not until writing this did I look up to see how close the game sticks to lore and it seems the consensus is that it largely doesn't. Yet this doesn't bother me and, if anything, I wish the game had had more story and was less gameplay centric. This was definitely written more for fans of the movies than for scholars of the Silmarillion.
Artistically this game takes most of its cues from the original movie trilogy. Orcs, Elves, Dwarves and Men look and sound as they do in the films. I see that as a good quality. The voice acting is very well done, particularly for video game standards (though those have been rising in recent years). The soundtrack is mostly befitting of the orcs. The heavy percussion, deep horns, cellos and warlike chants can actually become too imposing at times, making me wish for a brief respite.
Environmental design I found to be somewhat weak, though it was obviously catered more to gameplay than visual spectacle. Some of that is hard to escape with the first half of the game taking place in the barren, rocky wastes of Udûn. The second half's setting along the Sea of Núrnen is more lush and interesting to look at. Both areas, however, feel relatively small. This is less an artistry complaint and more a wish for greater real estate in which to battle the orcs and beasts of Mordor. The game is never able to imitate the movies' epic, sweeping vistas.
At around 30 hours for 100% completion of the main game, Shadow of Mordor is not as long as many similar games out there. Yet in the waning hours I still found myself growing bored. Many of the side quests and a few of the primary missions I could have done without. In particular, the 24 Outcast quests are painfully repetitive and have no business being so numerous other than to pad out play time. It doesn't help that, aside from The Bright Lord DLC, I found this game to be considerably easier than I anticipated.
I would list both major DLCs, Lord of the Hunt and The Bright Lord, as disappointing as well. Neither introduces any new areas to explore nor deepens the story in any appreciable way. I will say that the final battle of The Bright Lord is like the end boss we never got in the main campaign. Even still, I wouldn't recommend either outside of the Game of the Year bundle. For some, Shadow of Mordor's familiarity will hurt it sooner than it will for others. For me, it never bred contempt but it did darken an otherwise compelling game.