Review round-up: Does one simply play Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor?

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor will be making its debut next week, but several websites have already received a copy of the game from publisher Warner Bros. Sending out review copies might've worked in their favor, because the game is getting some pretty stellar scores.

Most of the reviews come back to similar themes: The ingenuity of the Nemesis System and how expansive it is. If you're looking for a direct yes or a no on buying it — it looks like most people would say go for it.

Without further ado, here are the scores from around the web:

Joystiq:

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is a well-paced sandbox game with a revolutionary new game mechanic in the Nemesis System, which I imagine we'll see iterated on in the years to come…Shadow of Mordor is the strategic person's action game.

5/5

Polygon:

Most video games choose to either tell you a story or give you a world in which you can create your own stories; very rarely are these two paths mixed, and even more rarely with any success.Shadow of Mordor is that ultimate rarity. It tells a fun little story that would be enough to hold up most games on its own. But it also provides all of the tools to ensure that the most interesting tales to come out of the game will be the ones that were not scripted.

9.5/10

Eurogamer:

It's in this attention to detail that Shadow of Mordor reveals itself to be concerned with more than just lopping heads off overconfident orcs. Its open world doesn't always feel as big, busy or varied as you'd like it to – an understandable problem given that much of Mordor is a barren wasteland by definition – but you see Tolkien's uniting influence running through everything from the darkened slopes of Orodruin on the horizon to the skittering ungol underfoot.

8/10

PlayStation Lifestyle:

Overall, there is simply too much to cover in Shadow of Mordor and this is one of its greatest assets. As you progress through the game things expand exponentially, giving more room to play around in, but on a learning curve that is paced out perfectly.

9/10

Venture Beat:

At its core, Shadow of Mordor is a fresh, exciting game. I love what it does to make every enemy feel special. Open-world games like Assassin’s Creed and Grand Theft Auto haven’t really done much to expand on the possibility for emergence in the genre.

80/100

Game Informer:

Shadow of Mordor is an unabashedly challenging and complex experience, sometimes at the expense of accessibility. I’m thrilled that we’ve got a new franchise in the fertile ground of Tolkien’s fiction. Add in a borderline revolutionary approach to mission design, and this is a firm foundation for a stellar new series.

8.25/10

Average Score: 8.8

Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor is set to release September 30th for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and PC.

Will you be purchasing Shadow of Morder? Let me know!

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