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Borderlands Review

Better for shooter fans interested in RPGs, rather than RPG fans looking for more action.

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Borderlands is a science fiction first person shooter that has a heavy RPG side to it. It was developed by Gearbox Software, primarily known for their Brothers in Arms series in recent years. While this may seem like an odd mix of genres, a hardcore shooter and an RPG, the game pulls it off quite well. Though be warned, this is definitely better for shooter fans interested in RPGs, rather than RPG fans looking for more action. The standard gameplay consists of shooting things, a lot, all while leveling up your character and continuously upgrading to better weapons, guns, and personal skills which help you progress through the game and into the tough new areas. Borderlands is an open-world game, but it rarely suffers from the boredom factor that many FPS fans may start to experience if they are left to walk for miles with nothing to do (see Far Cry 2’s “my jeep just exploded and I’m miles away from an outpost”). In fact, the game is quite full of action considering the amount of time you need to travel between areas, which means that you level up quickly enough so that there is no grind, it feels just right. This means your equipment purchases are actually worth the money, which is hard to come by at first, and you won’t need to get a new gun with each level. So, shooter fans looking for an RPG fix, read on!

Borderlands video game

One of the things that comes off rather tacked-on and weak in the game is the main overarching storyline. Sure, you do not expect it to live up to epic RPG standards, but to be honest it doesn’t even sound that good compared to your mainstream shoot-em-up. You start off selecting one of four characters, but each one’s story is rather minimal and has no relevance to the rest of the game. There is some talk about a secret Vault that you wish to find, says to contain unimaginable treasures, which has been lost for over 200 years. Sounds promising at first, but once you realize how many side-quests and characters stand between you and even finding the Vault, let alone opening it, you tend to forget about the main goal during the game. Oh, and there’s Aliens. With hundreds of quests in the game, only about 20% of them are relevant to the main story. The rest are simply additional tasks that push you to explore deeper into the world, level up and see the great visuals. To that end, I can honestly say that I rarely read the background or story that accompanied the side quests, but I still enjoyed hearing that congratulatory cheer and experience clicker when you turn in 2 or 3 side quests at a time after clearing a whole area. There is also that mysterious pale girl that appears as soon as you begin the game, and attempts to guide you to the Vault. She actually tries to come across as demanding, but it doesn’t really work because you end up doing the storyline for your own sake (as originally planned anyway), so she is just there to keep congratulating you on the progress and encouraging you onwards. Another thing that bothered me about the story is the supposed competition to find the Vault and gain entry – you never actually see a friendly or neutral NPC that actually moves in the world, everything is very static and feeling empty at times. It is practically you versus the enemies with hints to the Vault’s location, so there is not much else to do other than collect the intel and move on. The ending is not overly climatic, and I have had more fun with boss fights during the length of the campaign.

Being a “role-playing shooter” as the developer called it, Borderlands is definitely a good fix for shooter fans who enjoy loot hunting as well. The weapons, items and ammo in the game are all randomly generated each time you enter an area, which leaves you with near infinite exploring possibilities and endless supply of goodies. Don’t get carried away though, as it takes quite a few hours to earn the backpack expansion slots, so you will end up leaving some things behind for the first while. As a shooter, Borderlands is solid and fun, with a fast variety of weapons within 5 usual categories – hand gun, shotgun, rifle, sniper rifle, and grenade launcher. You also have your health bar, which regenerates after a short amount of time, along with a shield bar. Your shield is a very trusty “second layer” to defense, enemies must bring down your shields before they can start chipping away at your health bat. As you level up, you will have an opportunity to purchase very good shields that are much larger than your health bar, so enemies would literally have a tough time killing you. The action in the game is fast paced, enemies are respectably accurate and standing out in the open will get you killed – the usual FPS fanfare.

Now, on the RPG side of the game, things get interesting. One of the earliest signs of RPG the players will see are the damage numbers that appear as you hit enemies. These are simply for your visual satisfaction, and to see how well your gun is brining the pain. The critical hits are extra harsh and fun to pull off. As you kill a few enemies and complete your first quest, chances are you will get the happy “Level up” message. At this point your character’s health increases, you can use more items in the game and you are able to spend one point to improve your character. When you start the game, you selected one of four classes – Berserker, Siren, Hunter or Soldier. Each comes with one special skill while the rest are the same. Each class’ special ability is interesting and unique, but they are balanced so you are free to play with whichever interests you most. Another RPG element of the game is the guns, which come with three attributes (reload rate, damage, and accuracy), along with random special attack bonuses and even environmental effects (chance to cause explosion, fire, acid upon impact). As you level, the game will generate appropriate guns with good stats and a wide selection to choose from. Most of the weapons you find will have a level requirement within about 5 of your current level, so I have not come across a gun I had to carry around for hours waiting to level up and finally use it. You will find your best guns after killing bosses or randomly in the world, but the shops in the game can also provide a good weapon to purchase.

Borderlands video game

With so much RPG loot on your shoulders, I bet you would be very angry to die and lose it all. Well, there is good news – dying in Borderlands is extremely forgiving (again, more in line with FPS players). You do not lose any items, you start off at the nearest respawn point you’ve found, and all the enemies are still dead (except those that killed you). The only penalty is a fee that is charged for creating a “New U”, that is a clone of the DNA from yourself in the beginning. Even before you die, the game gives you a chance to avoid it by providing a short window of time to try and kill an enemy while you are down. If you succeed, you spring back to life and try to finish the fight again. Another item that FPS fans will appreciate is the ability to fast travel. This is first introduced in the form of a car, which can be spawned for free at some specific locations and has a lot of firepower and speed. Running enemies over provides you with small XP and one-hit kills, so it is good for advancing around the world quickly and effortlessly. Later on, you also unlock the ability to teleport between the game’s huge locations which also saves on a lot of repetitive travel times. In Borderlands all areas are set with pre-determined leveled enemies, so it is really up to you when you wish to proceed to the next area – you can run it and hope to make it to safety (if there is any), or you can take your time and level as often as you can thereby reducing the challenge of advancing to the next area. You should finish the game at around level 35 or higher, with the game cap being 50. Once you have, you can replay the game again while keeping your character and the world will adjust the enemy levels accordingly.

Speaking of enemies, you will have a lot to kill in Borderlands. The game employs an RPG-style system where the game world is often filled with a lot of lower-level spiky dogs, a moderate amount of human enemies, a few tough enemies, and just one or two bosses. The AI though acts on the level of a simple shooter – enemies do not spot you until you are within a reasonably short distance or if you shoot them from afar. Once engaged, they will simply take cover behind an object, occasionally popping up and letting a few rounds go in your direction. They will change cover locations depending on your movements, but there is nothing as advanced as flanking here. Some enemy types will simply rush towards your general direction until they can melee or throw something at you, which again doesn’t exactly make the AI come across as clever. One requirement of open world games is the rule for enemy respawns, and Borderlands does it well. Enemies will remain dead in the area, except if you leave the area or turn in a quest in the area. At all other times, such as you dying or leaving to the other corner of the map, will not cause baddies to respawn, which eliminates the frustration of fighting the same battles repeatedly.

Borderlands also comes with a hefty online Co-Op mode, which allows you and up to 3 friends to take on the quests together. Things here aren’t as smooth as single player, because the game will provide you with experience for a kill that was miles away from you. It’s a fair system, but the potential for friend power-leveling is enormous. Similarly to the single player, the world will adjust depending on the number of people playing and their character levels, which makes for great fun. The loot system is free-for-all however, so if you are playing with strangers be ware that they make sneak away that amazing gun from right in front of you. Players can also take part in duels with small cash prizes, or visit some arenas to play 2vs2 with friends.

Borderlands video game

On the technical side, one of the most visible features of the game is its graphic style. The game looks like it is cel-shaded, but the Unreal engine has been customized to a great extend to create an interesting look that is a feast for an artist’s eyes. Although the NPC and enemy models are often repeated, even for the bosses, the environments look interesting and diverse enough to know what area you are currently in without looking at your map. The sound in the game is fairly quiet and nothing really stands out – music will pick up when you enter battles, character voices are lacking as most of the dialog needs to be read on-screen and is not voiced. The cutscenes are cool, but there is so few of them that it’s disappointing. The game’s style helps the performance a fair bit, and I had no problem completely maxing out the game on my test machine with a Q6600, 8800GTX and 2GB of ram. There is no doubt that there is some graphical load, but it is no more than the average shooter these days. The load times in the game are also quite fast, including between-areas loads and respawns.

So, if it wasn’t clear already, I will mention this again – hardcore RPG players may struggle with the game simply because it is a FPS first, and an RPG second. However, if you are decent with your aiming skills and are looking for an interesting hybrid to dabble with either in single player or in Co-Op, this might very well be a great game for you. Offering many hours of quests, cool weapons, interesting bosses and tight controls, Borderlands comes recommended to gamers from all genres who wish to experience a new IP in the age of gaming sequels.

Our ratings for Borderlands on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Presentation
80
An interesting visual style will draw your attention for the whole campaign, though I wish there was more done with characters and cutscenes.
Gameplay
76
This shooter with RPG elements does a good job of introducing the trigger-happy folks to statistics-based gaming, but the RPG fans may well be disappointed with what's at hand.
Single Player
79
The campaign is of good length, with tons of side quests that could provide even more hours of play. The main story is a disappointment though.
Multiplayer
70
The Co-Op and competitive modes can be fun with friends, but with poor loot sharing and leveling system, online with strangers isn't great.
Performance
(Show PC Specs)
CPU: Intel Core i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 1GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
PC Specs

81
The game runs very smoothly, with only a few crashing issues. System requirements are low for the great art that you get to enjoy. Music is forgettable and voice acting almost non-existent.
Overall
78
Offering many hours of quests, cool weapons, interesting bosses and tight controls, Borderlands comes recommended to gamers looking for a new IP.
Comments
Borderlands
Borderlands box art Platform:
PC
Our Review of Borderlands
78%
Good
The Verdict:
Game Ranking
Borderlands is ranked #592 out of 1957 total reviewed games. It is ranked #38 out of 63 games reviewed in 2009.
592. Borderlands
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Screenshots

Borderlands
14 images added Nov 15, 2009 20:05
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