By William Chandler

Against all odd, Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor looks like an absolutely quality production courtesy of the folks at Monolith. The evidence of this is even in the title. The fact that it is called Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor rather than Lord of the Rings: Shadow of Mordor means that this is much more than an overt attempt at abusing an extremely recognizable franchise. I like that.

Also under the category of shit I decidedly do like resides extreme violence (which the game has in spades), serious weapon customization, as well as Nolan North and Troy Baker. They even managed to take something I don’t like, that being politics, and turn it into an awesomely unique gameplay mechanic. Trust me, this isn’t C-Span. In order to shift political allegiances away from leaders in the Orc army and to your own side, you must intimidate them or fool them into doing your bidding, which creates something of an Orc army of your own to use against the vast armies of Sauron.

Here’s to hoping we can finally get another good game set in the Lord of the Rings universe. Look for it on PC, Xbox One, and PS4, as well as the 360 and PS3, on October 7th.