"Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor" blends the open-world adventure of "Assassin's Creed" with the melee combat of "Batman: Arkham Asylum". It also features the skill progression and battle tactics from "Far Cry 3". In another words, it's a derivative action game. But it's also innovative thanks to the brilliant Nemesis System which adds a fresh aspect to the now standard "sandbox" actioner. This new feature (which changes the power structure of the enemy hierarchy) will most likely influence a number of future titles due to its game-changing aspect. Without it, "Shadow of Mordor" would still be a decent AC knockoff. However, the Nemesis System is what has placed the game in plenty of "Best of Year" lists. I personally don't think "Shadow" is a great game, but "Nemesis" does make it more interesting than games of similar style. I would grade it with an 8.4 out of 10.