Borderlands Review

Borderlands: Can it live up to the hype?

Borderlands first came to my attention a few years ago when I saw it featured as a future game being previewed in a game informer.  At the time the article gave the impression that this game was going to be a mad max in space type adventure.  I have to say the article really grabbed my attention.  The concept of thousands upon thousands of guns on a hostile desert planet and all kinds of wasteland type creatures seemed like a great setting to build a game in.

The cover art that eventually was placed on the game was a disappointment.  It did not capture my imagination like the Gameinformer cover had.  In fact if I had not been anxiously awaiting this game for two years I would have glazed right over it and moved on to some other title I am certain.

The suicidal psychopath just doesn’t do it for me.  I wish they had just gone with the art that appears to be his brain splatter and left out the sensationalized art style that made me worry these guys think they are a lot cooler than I think they really are.

OK no one cares about the box art so I will move on. (just like the people who never heard of this game and won’t even pause to ponder it because the art sucks).

The above is a trailer that hints at the greatness of this game.  This game is about finding stuff and killing really bad ass bosses with the stuff you find.  The thing I kept hearing is this game is Diablo meets Mad Max.    Well I have to agree that is an apt description.  If anyone remembers the original Diablo and trying to find that perfect combination of elements to create the perfect weapon or armor this game has that to the 100th degree.  Instead of just a few hundred combinations there are thousands upon thousands of possibilities.    I am a natural collector and I love games where I can spend hours checking out the loot.  I was not disappointed with this game.  Money, vending machines, and Creature drops were constantly changing and improving.  I love chasing the next great weapon and I still haven’t felt like I have it yet.  I want to load up and head back to the world just on the off chance that I will find something even better than my fully automatic shotgun with corrosion damage. 

I must admit the game felt slow at first but this is true of most RPG style games.  I kind of felt like I was wading into the shallow end shooting skag after skag (kind of like a cross between a cock  roach and a wolf)  But once I found my first real weapon I was hooked.  There is just something great about blasting bandits with incendiary ammunition.   The bad guys kind of reminded me of the first time I battled humans in Half Life.  For some reason despite the poor AI (they don’t move against you until you trip some magical wire) they felt alive and I always had a sense that they were about to outsmart me in some way.  

I have always liked boss battles and this game does not disappoint in that arena either.  The bosses are big bad and very satisfying to take out.  I don’t want to spoil anything for you but pay attention if the bosses level seems a little too high for you (it tells the level when you put them in your cross hairs) he is going to kill you!  J

An interesting Innovation in this game is the Fight for your life mode.  When your life has been drained you fall to the ground and cannot move except to aim and fire.  If you manage to slay your foe you are brought back to full health and get to go on killing everything and everyone if you fail well it is all over.  I found this feature really added to the tension and fun of the game.  I mean we all get to a point during games when we are just kind of pushing buttons and slogging through.  This feature snaps you to attention and demands a little desperation rather than just having you die and go back to some check point somewhere you are given a welcome second chance to save yourself from checkpoint hell!

Multi player- Personally the domes and the duel method were an after thought for me.  But the fact that this game was designed from the ground up to be played as a four player cooperative gives the experience a polished feel.  The game ramps up both the loot and the bad guys when you play with friends so if you really want to test the limits of this game and find some truly fantastic weapons you can bring back to your single player experience you should make a couple forayes into the multiplayer.   I will say the xbox live experience was not a positive one as they don’t tell you what level or what missions the other players are looking to do so it is not easy to find 3 other random people that want to do the same things you do.  But if you have 3 friends that you can coordinate into doing the game together you will be in for a rewarding experience.  Of course you may have to duel them for the best weapons but hey that is half the fun.

The only criticisms I could lay on it is the world felt a little too sparsely populated if it moves you kill it there isn’t a lot of interesting wildlife that appears to be living its own lives indifferent to your adventure.  In other words I didn’t feel the world was organic at all.  I also hated the fact that your car didn’t make ripples when driving across water.  I know that is a small thing but it took me out of the game.  I would have loved a few dozen different kinds of enemies and a little more variety in the bandits and the skags.

Overall I would give this game a big thumbs up as far as being fun and entertaining.  I love the looting, I like the bad guys, I thought the bosses where just great, I didn’t think the story got in the way of the fun and Just writing this review made me want to pick up the controller and venture out yet again.