What Middle-earth: Shadows of Mordor looks like
A Smaugasbord for the eyes.
They're taking the hobbits to Isengard!
Oh, and here are the first screenshots (plus one piece of art) of Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, the action-orientated open-world riff on The Lord of the Rings by F.E.A.R. developer Monolith.
The same pictures were included in Game Informer's Shadow of Mordor reveal, but here they are in big resolution for the internet to consume, like lembas bread.
Shadows of Mordor spins the story of a ranger (like Strider) who is murdered, along with his family, by the returning forces of Sauron. But Talion, the ranger, is brought back from the dead by a spirit of vengeance - and it becomes him.
Who the spirit is and why the spirit resurrected Talion is a secret knitted tightly into the story. Talion's possession also lends him super powers that he'll use to strike fear into the hearts of the orcs.
Shadow of Mordor is a cross-gen game - for new consoles and old - and takes more than a few cues from the superb Arkham Batman games. It's due in 2014.