5. Middle-Earth: Shadow Of Mordor
Chances are if you've played Shadow of Mordor, you know what it's like to lose an entire day to terrorising a fleet of enemy orcs, and looking supremely slick while doing it. Monolith's epic take on some very fertile lore has allowed them to focus more on creating the brand new Nemesis system; something that creates the idea of any enemy whose brought you down then being your main target for revenge later in the game. You're free to hunt them down right away - although they'll be powered up and buzzing after taking down 'The Gravewalker' - or interrogate other orcs to learn their biggest fears. Either way the mix of Batman: Arkham's combat, Assassin's Creed's traversal and Hitman's planning makes for a sublime mix that gives a brilliantly unique feel Ubisoft's once-great hidden-bladed opus
completely missed. Sure the serviceable story isn't great - hey look, it's Gollum! - but when the combat is this perfect, the animation this polished and the framerate this locked down, it really doesn't matter. The best thing about Shadow is that it can cater to lengthy play-sessions where you'll delve into rejigging enemy orc-ranks just to appoint your chosen allies into positions of power - or you'll tackle a handful of shorter side missions focussed on stealth kills, ranged attacks or bringing the blade to a flood of troops in the goriest way possible.