10 "Zero Expectation" Video Games That Blew Everyone Away
1. MIddle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
When it comes to fantasy worlds, they don't get bigger than Tolkien's Middle-earth. Expansive and brimming with centuries' worth of history and characters, these lands are the perfect setting for a video game. But with a rocky history of Lord Of The Rings games, hopes of a genuinely good game were becoming scarce.
Developer Monolith aimed to remedy this issue with Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor, which set out to tell an original story set between the events of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings trilogy. Despite its claims of originality, though, this game looked anything but.
The combat system was taken straight from the Arkham series whereas parkour and scaling high towers to get a lay of the land smacked of Assassin's Creed. The similarity was so striking, that a former Ubisoft employee accused Monolith of stealing assets from Assassin's Creed II.
When the game was released to mass acclaim, Tolkien fans could finally breathe a sigh of relief. The combat was punchy and satisfying, traversal was fun and fluid, and the Nemesis system made rivalries between enemy captains that little bit more personal.
Alongside the equally excellent sequel, Lord Of The Rings fans could spend dozens of glorious hours in Middle-earth.