You play the role of Talion — a ranger in the army of Gondo — after he is ritualistically murdered by Sauron’s army. Talion is brought back to life by a spirit that gives him abilities akin to the ring-wraiths from the “Lord of the Rings” films. The game play reasoning for giving you such a powerful character is that it’s fun, but I can’t help but cringe at the inclusion of such a one-dimensional character. You can only have so many ‘out-for-revenge’ heroes before their stories start to feel formulaic.

“Shadow of Mordor” takes some liberties with the Tolkien-verse, but does it in a way that doesn’t feel dishonest. It feels like a homage more than anything else, yet as an avid fan of the universe Tolkien created I can’t help but scoff from time to time. Nonetheless, the changes they made seem vital to making the game entertaining.

While the campaign of the game is pretty simple and straight-forward, it was fun while it lasted. The real fun comes in the form of side missions and destroying the entire hierarchy of Sauron’s army.

The controls are responsive and visceral, every impact has weight which feels really good. They took what the Arkham games did for combat and moved it a step forward. Countering an attack doesn’t feel clunky, Talion strikes down bad guys with little effort; but therein lies the problem.

At a certain point I discovered that I wasn’t actually learning how to be a better player. The excellent responsiveness resulted in being able to button-mash; I came out on top nearly every time I went into combat. Sure, when you get an army on top of you even pounding every button repeatedly won’t save you, but for most fights tapping two buttons will get you the win.

Graphically the game looks beautiful, especially on the higher graphical settings. “The Lord of the Rings” universe is exceptionally vivid and it’s fun to play around in such a detailed world.

On top of the graphics, the sound of the game helps bring the world to life. Nothing felt out of place and every moment felt immersive. Hours fell away as I played the game without  taking notice, and that’s not a particularly an easy thing to do.

“Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor” is a valiant attempt to put you in the world of “Lord of the Rings”. While it has some pitfalls, overall the game is well above my prior expectations. Check it out.