Borderlands

Why would my first review be for a game that is nearly two years old? Because I can; now there’s an advantage to publishing our own blog. That, plus Borderlands holds a special place for me as it is the one that hooked me on gaming with the Xbox. Besides, one never knows; this review could be discovered by a distant cousin who happens to be shopping for a birthday present for a nephew; and maybe they’d consider picking up a copy of Borderlands. It’s also worthy to note that Borderlands was a very successful release by publisher 2K Games and developer Gearbox. There are rumors of Borderlands 2, so the brand may soon be part of the gaming conversation again.

Since the game has been available for a very long time, there is a lot of material describing details of the story and gameplay. I use the game’s wiki for information on weapons, enemies, and strategies to beat bosses.

In hindsight, Borderlands was an interesting choice for an introduction to gaming and first person shooters (FPS) in particular. Experienced gamers take game mechanics for granted, but new players, especially older players like myself, struggle to learn how to play. The controllers themselves have a steep learning curve; Xbox has two triggers, two bumpers, two joysticks, four lettered buttons…you get the idea. In addition, FPS’s generally use similar gaming mechanics. Things like narrators that direct the story through various missions or weapons, armor, and loot all require learning. Borderlands introduces these in a simple manner integrated with the storyline, that let me as a novice progress without getting frustrated.

Borderlands is also interesting because it isn’t a pure first person shooter. Instead, it bends the FPS genre toward a Role Playing Game (RPG) by allowing you to interact with in-game characters, adopt one of four roles for yourself, and play co-operatively with others. The RPG nature of the game greatly enhances the quality of playing through multiple times.

Borderlands takes place on the fictional planet Pandora. The landscape of the game is extremely vast. As you play through, new areas of Pandora are opened to you, but the entire landscape remains open, allowing players to return to favorite places over and again. You can even fight enemies again; it’s fun to kick butt after leveling up a bit. Getting around the planet of Pandora is fast by teleporting from place to place via the “new-u” stations.

Pandora is generally a wasteland that is dotted with villages and industrial complexes. The artwork is drawn to look like a graphic novel, which I think is a cool alternative to the hyper-realism of games like Call of Duty. The Xbox resolution in HD does a great job of rendering the worlds. I found it easy to get immersed in the game’s setting. While the landscapes are not realistic, the graphics are pretty detailed; water surfaces and some structures are very real looking.

Since the game’s universe is so vast, and since you can freely travel through any place, it makes sense that there are a variety of missions sending you to far corners of Pandora. I really like the non-linear play. With the exception of a few story-line missions, players may tackle tasks in any order they wish. You may choose to ignore missions, and then return to them later, after leveling up. I love the freedom and variety of the game.

I read gameinformer’s wish list for Borderlands 2 and laughed out loud when I saw “More Guns” on the list. Borderlands uses a randomizer to create and place weapons. Somewhere I saw a count of the number of possible guns, and the amount was exorbitant. Guns have varying types and manufactures. Some have elemental properties, such as corrosive, that add extra damage. I found that favorite guns would be tossed aside when discovering new and more powerful ones. Searching for a more awesome arsenal is part of Borderlands’ treasure hunting fun.

I mentioned that it is easy to transport from place to place via the new-u stations. It’s also fun to drive. While the vehicles are equipped with guns (with unlimited ammo) the car itself may be used as a weapon too. I found myself running over bandits and creatures with reckless abandon, quietly chuckling to myself with each road-kill.

Speaking of chuckling, I should mention that Borderlands is flat out funny. Other games take themselves so seriously, but humor it a big part of Borderlands’ appeal. Of course the main character spews out snarky remarks. Enemies make snarky remarks of the own, graffiti is intentionally misspelled, and subtle jokes are everywhere. I should mention that Borderlands does not resort to crude innuendo or vulgar language.

One more thing. Borderlands has a good save system. Game saves can be a pet peeve as you will see when I review Dead Space 2. This game saves whenever you reach checkpoints, which occur pretty frequently. You may exit at any time, and the game will save at your current place. This is convenient for people like me because my time for gaming is so limited.

Geek Cred

Vast environment can be freely explored; funny; hundreds of weapon choices.

Geek Crud

Graphics cartoony; claptraps are silly; mission can be too trivial.