It's like being Batman in Middle-Earth...

That pretty much summarizes the gameplay from my viewpoint, it's very much like the Batman: Arkham games focusing highly on both combat (Outnumbered a good 5 to 1) and stealth. Unlike Batman, this game is mostly about killing dozens of your enemies every hour. The story of Shadow of Mordor begins with you, your wife, and son murdered by the Black Hand of Sauron and now you are part wraith with a long dead Elf sharing your body... So yeah, out for revenge and finding out who the Hell you're sharing your body with...

"That sucks... I know. Don't you agree, Evil Ash?"
-Good Ash
"Heeeeeeeeere's Ashy! And the lame one... I hate your face!"
-Evil Ash

The gameplay is pretty fun but very repetitive, the scenery really doesn't change much as you don't explore cities or buildings or much of anything save for the wastes of Mordor, enemy camps, ruins, and the occasional cave. Maybe it's just my fault as I'm not that big of a fan of the Lord of The Rings series that I can't get into this game but I also don't think it really holds true to the Lord of The Rings series as it's super violent, not really gory but more graphic than the movies in which you see characters' throats slit, bloody executions of your enemies, and so forth. You're also not part of a group or fellowship on a quest to do anything... You free slaves but it'smostly your character Talion (Which you can't customize appearance, just give him new powers and tricks) bent on revenge. Oh but Gollum's in it and he can be funny at tims when singing about the "Bright Master"... That cheered me up that night, I needed that.

"Eyes won't betrays yous, Bright Master! Lemmes sing for yous, eyes not dangerous!"
-Gollum
"Sheathe your sword, Talion... He says he won't betray us so that must be  true because he said he won't and wants to sing for us."
-Elven spirit

That said, the gameplay is fun. The combat is very fluid and being stealthy gives a feeling that you're hunting down some Orc target or another. But to me it just feels like a another generic based off movie game... At least the gameplay is better than some other games based off movies out there. I give it 3 severed orc heads out of 5.

"Yep! I'm nothing but good clean family fun!"
-Talion