Middle Earth: Shadow Of Mordor is an Action Adventure RPG developed by Monolith Studios and published by Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment.
Set in the fantasy world of Middle Earth (created by Tolkien), the story is set before the event of the Lord of The Ring trilogy, and has only passing references to the more popular and established character in the franchise (apart from Gollum, which is an important NPC in the game). Infact the story is not an adaption of any of Tolkien's previous work, and is an original story set in the same world.
The players are put in the shoes of Talion.