Yes it is a surprise, people. There hasn't been a good/well-reviewed LOTR game in like forever? The best was Return of the King and even that was short. Battle of Middle Earth 1 and 2 were ace, but that was a different genre. All the action LOTR games weren't much liked by critics. I played all of the them and enjoyed them, but whenever a new would come out, I expected low scores no matter how good the trailer or some gameplay vidoeslooked.
And yes, there might have been a few people who expected it to do well, but most didn't. Hell, look at how badly it did last year at the "most anticipated game of 2014" thread. I think I was one of the few that voted for it and no one even bothered with it (it survived most rounds because everyone was indifferent to it). And even though I voted for it and was my 2nd most anticipated game, I still didn't think it'd do well. .
