The best game to ever carry the name of J. R. R. Tolkien's classic story Lord of the Rings appears - on face value at least - to have borrowed all the best aspects of those two classic role-playing games (RPG) - and that's meant to be a compliment.

Shadow of Mordor is a combat-based RPG in a world that will feel very familiar to anyone who has read one of Tolkien's novels or watched one of Peter Jackson's epic movies.

There are plenty of characters from the movie series - Gollum being one of the more obvious ones.

But it's not those character names that will prick your ears, it's the familiarity with the villains and the monsters and villages of Middle Earth that will make you feel like you're revisiting those stories all over again. And you pretty much are.

The story begins in a brutal fashion. It's here you're introduced to the game's protagonist - a ranger by the name of Talion. Unfortunately for Talion and his entire family, they're very quickly wiped out by a hoard of blood-thirsty Uruk-hai - those rather nasty and brutish orcs.

But just when it looks like our hero is checking out of the game a little prematurely, he is basically resurrected by a wraith who accidentally inhabits his body. Thus we end up with a rather strange ranger-wraith hybrid with all the combined powers you'd expect, with a hankering for blood-thirsty revenge on the Uruk-hai who wiped out his family.

At its most basic level, Shadow of Mordor is an RPG based around Talion's quest for revenge. He is a master at the sword, dagger and bow and arrow, but his hybrid's powers give him an edge over even the toughest Uruk-hai.

Talion, thanks to his wraith side, also has a special visual sense that allows him to highlight enemies of note and items of interest.

He can take out his enemies with either a stealth attack or incredible speed and power with a sword in his hand.

Of course, Talion can also level up to increase his abilities. But with two entities living inside him, Talion can boost his ranger abilities and wraith abilities quite independently of each other.

Aside from combat and an inane ability to run up sheer walls, Talion has many other tricks up his sleeve.

Once he reaches a certain level, Talion can draw upon his wraith's ability to take over the mind of his enemies. This allows him to take control of Uruk-hai soldiers and get them to do his bidding and killing for him.

The upside of this is Talion can effectively kill the Uruk leadership from within by getting the lesser warriors to kill their superiors. He can also gain intel on his enemies, learning their strengths and weaknesses.

The final touch that impressed is known as the nemesis system, where captains and other highly ranked Uruk-hai warriors will remember you from previous battles regardless of whether they were beaten or victorious. Then, the next time you cross paths with that same Uruk-hai they will taunt you with that knowledge. It's a fantastic addition to the gameplay that sets this game apart.

THE VERDICT

There's a lot to like about Shadow of Mordor - not just that it fully immerses you in the world of Middle Earth.

This enormous open-world extravaganza boasts spectacular graphics and an equally spectacular game engine that will leave almost all other RPGs feeling inadequate.

There are one or two weak points - the storyline is a little uninspiring, and it wouldn't hurt to include one or two of the better known LoTR characters.

But overall, Shadow of Mordor is an excellent, entertaining and thoroughly challenging game that will keep you coming back again and again.

Graphics: 9.5

Gameplay: 9

Playability: 8.5