Author: TacticsTrap
Title: Borderlands Review
Posted: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 at 9:12 pm


Guns, skill trees, guns, quirky humour, guns, awesome co-op, guns, loot, guns, awesome art style, guns, and oh man how did I forget guns. The previous statement pretty much describes Borderlands in a nutshell, and man is that nut shell crammed full of guns. O.K. sorry, the joke may be getting old but I'm not exaggerating, there is so many guns in this game the developers lost count months before the release! Literally on one out three enemies will drop a brand new gun, completely different from anything else you've seen before. And what is even more amazing is that all the guns have their own unique feel, which makes the game enjoyable for any play style.
Let me clear things out here first. This game is by no means original. But is that really a bad thing? Evidently not because Borderlands shows that if you seamlessly blend the best elements from two well refined genres you get the best of both worlds. You get the “just one more level and I can unlock this which does that, which means I can do that” and loot lust (the constant search for better loot, think Diablo) from RPGs and the frantic fast paced action and the joy of finding that one gun that perfectly compliments your play style from FPSs.
It also has its co-op which is the most fun I've ever had in a game. I'm not exaggerating. It's got the frantic fun of running around with your buddies smack talking and “Oh my god I can't believe we survived that” moments that really can't be compared to anything I have ever played although if you really need a example think Left 4 Dead on steroids is the closest you can get. (co-op mechanics not actual game mechanics). It also has the sort of strategy that comes with the classes and their strengths that fit together seamlessly so you have the tank, the sniper, the support, the healer, etc. And it adds a whole layer of depth that makes each group of people you play with fell like you're playing a completely different game (again if example is needed then probably World of Warcraft group raids would be pretty close).Due to all these different factors and all the different classes it's easy to see that this game is ridiculously re playable (I'm on my third character and my overall 5th play through). That being said the co-op has one fault, it's too good. Seriously, after you play the co-op with friends then playing by your self seems lonely and almost as if you're not experiencing the whole game. That's not to say that they don't have match making if you're friends don't own the game, but the majority of the random players you meet are often too different from your level and almost always steal the good loot. (Side note for all those who don't have online: Don't worry, it has split screen).
Speaking of flaws there is actually a few, most very dismissible but nonetheless there. Vehicles occasionally get stuck on the environment although patches have fixed almost all of them. The storyline is weak if not nonexistent, its about a group of treasure hunters who go to a planet called Pandora in search of a vault and then just takes random quests. Also the NPCs are unresponsive to being shot, they repeat the same three lines of dialogue if you try to interact with them, and the favoured few who you can talk to are just menu screens with quests and a paragraph of text that gets you to the next quest giver/locale. With all that being said it really doesn't bother you because when you talk to someone you take all the quests they have available which keeps you out of contact with NPCs/Bounty Boards for at least an hour.
Unusually though this problem with the NPCs is not consistent and many AI characters have a strong personality that fits in well with the unusual humour of the world. Although this applies completely to enemies and little robots called clap traps, its still nice to see the personality of this world isn't lost on all of its AI counterparts. For example, after saving a claptrap as I was walking away I heard in a little robotic voice “Thank you, follow me please!” so of course I did, hoping for guns. I instead saw the clap trap humping a wall of a weird shack with no door. I'm sure you could clearly imagine my confusion as this tiny metal box pelvic thrusted this wall force force for a few seconds only to have a little section of the wall open and the clap trap scurrying inside. Needing to see what just happened I followed the little guy in only to see a gun box and the little robot saying politely “Open the box please`` as if everything that just occurred hadn't. Its little quirky thing that happen every so often so that they don't become abundant but that they don't feel out of place.


THE GOOD:
-excellent co-op
-guns gallore
-perfection of many great elements
-quirky humour
-beautiful cell shaded art design (http://media.photobucket.com/image/Bord ... ot_6-1.jpg)

THE BAD:
-NPCs are lifeless
-storyline is lacking
-co-op is too good
-occasional glitches with vehicles

VERDICT:
Although it may not be original and it does have a few issues, I can happily award this a 9.2 out of 10.

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