Initial trailers and screens for Mordor were uninspiring, showing an Assassin’s Creed-like stealth-em-up with a Middle-earth sheen. Occasional gems have been found among the rough, but ultimately fans of the franchise have always been left wanting something more. Like Batman, Tolkien’s genre-defining fantasy opus is a license that has never really been used to its potential. The license had been abused so much, we just couldn’t trust anyone to do it justice, not even Warner Brothers.įive years later, and history has been repeating itself like a bad curry ever since Warner Brothers announced Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor. It’s not that we didn’t know it was coming we’d seen trailers and hype and lofty promises, but none of us truly expected Arkham Asylum to be as good as it was. A few years ago a little studio named Rocksteady came careening out of left field to hit us with what turned out to be the greatest Batman game that ever was. Sometimes the very best things don’t come right for you like a South Park deer, they blind-side you out of nowhere.
