Borderlands review
Borderlands has been a highly anticipated title since it was re-announced earlier this year, with an all new look. And the stylish, sell-shaded look might look like the main attraction for this sci-fi shooter, but there’s a lot more to be had in addition to that; lots of action, aliens, and especially, lots of guns.
The story of Borderlands is somewhat weak, but it’s more than made up for by the slick presentation and the four playable main characters, each with their own style and personality. The game takes place on the planet Pandora, where human have flocked to in order to mine and cash in on large mineral deposits. However, the settlers discover that the planet is actually not that wealthy, and instead of minerals, aliens are the real treat. That’s where you come in…
It’s no secret that when you boot up Borderlands for the first time, you’ll definitely notice the new art style, and you’ll be spending quite some time in the beginning indulging yourself into it. While it’s an FPS, Borderlands also feature lots of RPG elements, and can best be described as an FPS/Diablo/Dungeon Siege fusion — with the eccentric art style. The RPG elements include, but are not limited to; picking up cash and loot whenever downing an enemy, inventory management and a whopping assortment of weapons — the developer claims millions of possibilities, while the reality it’s less than that and basically different modifications of the same guns, there are still a heck of a lot of weapons in the game, all categorized in their respective classes.
Another RPG aspect of the game is the different character classes and skill trees available. You can chose from being a Hunter, A Beserker, A Siren or a Soldier, each class with on distinct “action” skill, and the ability to upgrade skill trees. While it’s a great addition to the game, this feature is somewhat underused, and most of the skills you upgrade can go unnoticed — they tend to be to vague. However, if you find out that you chose the wrong character after hours of gameplay, you can simply reset to a new one, and use your earned up skill points again, without having to do all the fragging and collecting again.
One of the few nagging issues with the game, is that you have to travel on foot (or in vehicles) across long distances without much action, when you’re going from quest to quest. Another issue might be that the action tends to be repetitive at times, but given that you have so many guns and that the AI is somewhat competent, it’s not something that ruins the overall experience. The boss fights also tend to be a bit underwhelming, and it’s actually much tougher (and more interesting) to fight your way to the boss than to fight the actual boss.
The multiplayer aspect of Borderlands is clearly where the game shines. While you can go through the whole ordeal alone, up to three others can join your quest and fight with you, and the more players present, the tougher the enemy, and the bigger the rewards. In addition to that, there’s also an arena mode, where you can take on other players in a player vs player environment, although this is quite limited and is not a part of the overall story of the game. Technically, the game shines with its impressive visuals and art style, the sound and music are well done, and even the cut scenes are memorable and stand out. The few issues are of technical nature, like frame rate drops and jaggy animations. Overall, it’s definitely a game to check out this holiday season.
The Good:
Beautiful art style
Great gameplay
Great multiplayer
The Bad:
RPG elements are limited
A few technical issues
Overall score: 9/10