Recommended
253.4 hrs on record (90.1 hrs at review time)
Being a fan of lotr, I thourghly enjoyed the nearly 100 I have pumped into this game, even if it broke the lore on so many levels. It was a blast to play and I'm glad that I got it when I did, when all the sleezy buiness practices were absent from the game.

The gameplay was very assassins creed, with you being able to do parkour and stealth attack orcs. The combat at first was slightly shallow but definetly picked up depth as you began to gain more abilitys. Other then the base combat and parkour mechanics, there was a whole host of extra game mechanics such as: attacking and defending forts; equiping your forts with powerful captain orcs and upgrading those orcs and your fort; online conquests and vendetta; special nemeis missions with multiple captain orcs participating; completing side quests and hunting for better gear. The game is simply brisling with content taking around 60 hours for me to complete the main storyline.

The story is pretty poor, with a ending that leaves me mostly unsatisfied, but the story is not what you want buy this game for, the nemesis system is. This mechanic makes the game ten times more immersive and fun and is the reason I am still playing the main game eventhough I have completed the story. It makes (almost) every encounter with captain orcs unique and makes the battles so much impactful when you almost know the enemy on a personal level. This leads to really cool, unipue moments and stories. At around level 25 ( the level cap is 80) I met this olog ( a giant talking orc troll hybrid) called "Ur Hekon the grog make" and he was extremly tough. He killed me after a relatively short fight and promptly broke my sword in half and was given the title of "the breaker". After that, I suffered a chain of defeats against this olgo and after every death he mocked me and snapped my sword in half. Eventually he became overlordof a fort and I made it my mission to chop the ugly bastards head off and claim the fort, despite his difficulty. After quite an easy siege, I stepped into the throne room where Ur Hekon was waiting, feeling that this finally may be the time that I beat him. The battle was truly epic and lasted a solid 25 minutes, until against all odds I succeded and Ur Hekon's head was cut from its shoulders. That was the single most epic and awesome expecience I had ever had in a game.

In a nutshell get this game for the nemesis system, trust me its worth it.