30 hours in, 91% complete (only outcast missions left to do for 100% completion along with main quest) and only a few trophies left to unlock.
Any "Assassin Creed rip-off" comments come from people who haven't played the game. I don't know if people are still saying this but if they are, they haven't the played the game at all. I think most people have genuinely agreed it's not a clone or rip-off in any way now. The parkour and "wraith vision" are clearly Assassin's Creed inspired but most of the gameplay is either based around combat or stealth depending on your playstyle. Proper stealth didn't even come into Assassin's Creed until the fourth game if I understand correctly and the set-up of Middle Earth means that most of the game can be played this way if you desire. Runes allow you to develop your weapons to suit a playstyle suited for you and the end-tier abilities (infinite flurry kills for a while, infinite fire arrows for a while and invisibility for stealth for a while) are a joy to use once you unlock them.
Combat is a far-cry from AC's clunky non-fluid mess too and whilst borrowing elements from the Batman games, the wraith abilities and ranged combat make it unique in its own right. Most exploration in the game will done by you riding on a caragor half way through the game or simply using elven swiftness to navigate through the environment which again, makes exploration a far-cry from AC's exploration.
The world feels very alive and dynamic, every part of it feels atmospheric thanks to the lighting and weather conditions and the nemesis system really does create a unique experience.
Shadow of Mordor, if you ask me, is the perfect example of a game that takes ideas from other games but still manages to come off different. The main story doesn't drag on, it has interesting missions and I found most of the challenges for the weapons to be very fun and interesting especially the stealth ones. All in all, I look forward to seeing what Monolith does next.
I've heard mixed things about the ending but to be honest, I'm not expecting a wonderful ending as the story hasn't really been amazing throughout but thankfully, good story missions and great dialogue has saved it from being a bore if you ask me.
I give it 8/10, although it feels like a 9 sometimes. I'd like to see another Middle Earth game from these people but set in another location where there can be more variation throughout the environment and perhaps even non-hostile cities run by men/elves/dwarves and where quests are actually RPG quests with choices to be made. Even with a set good character, choices can still be made. Just because we're playing a good character doesn't mean we can't get choices. Choices could range from recruiting a bunch of criminals to join the ranks of the army to deciding where to defend when there's orcs or something attacking two places. So practically political decisions akin to the ones presented in DA: Awakening and The Witcher 2 which are not "good or evil" at all. Also, LOTR literature has shown there's corrupt humans so whilst we might be a set character fighting against hordes of orcs and Sauron, there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to make ruthless decisions in our fight against them. One day I hope to see a proper LOTR RPG like this and I hope Monolith are heading that route instead of continuing with "action with RPG elements."
I presume "Middle Earth" will be the new LOTR IP of action-RPG's set in the LOTR universe and I doubt all of them can feature a person possessed by a wraith in the land of Mordor so it'll be interesting to see where Monolith go with the IP (if they are indeed going anywhere with it).
At the very least, I want more customization of the main character in the next title (if there is one). Allow us to create our own weapon and armor, name them and forge legends of them. Instead of limiting us to a bow, dagger and sword, allow us to choose from a range of weaponry (claymores, maces, short swords, spears etc).
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