posted on 20. 10. 2009 by Lori in 2K, PC, PlayStation 3, Review, Xbox 360

Review: Borderlands

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A massively co-op 4 player class based First Person Shooter/Role Playing game whets a lot of people’s appetites — is “Borderlands” a juicy steak or a Pavlov’ish exercise in salivation? Read our review to find out. Bring a snack!

Borderlands promises a lot, but the most ludicrous promises holds true: There is an enormous amount of guns in this game. While you will undoubtedly come across the same looking gun twice, there’s a chance it has different stats and/or a couple of buffs to make the gun more interesting or an instant throwaway. Due to the guns being procedurally generated, there can be some pretty wild combinations: A scoped revolver that shoots rockets is probably one of the tamer exotics the game throws at you.

Taking on a level 24 badass when you’re at 22 is a bad idea.

Since the guns are such a major part of the game, there is one aspect of the game that developer Gearbox — which probably has a lot to do with the studio’s heritage — absolutely had to and did nail: The shooting feels extremely satisfying. The guns have a nice weight to them and the controls mimic those of “Modern Warfare” down to the exact same button configuration, which is not only a nod to the more casual players, but even the most hardcore fans of console shooters will agree that this is a good thing. This makes Borderlands very easy to pick up, and also contributes to the fact that as time goes by, it becomes increasingly hard to put down. Like now, to write a review.

The classes in this game feel different enough to warrant all four of them. While a lot of the shortcomings of each class can be balanced out by grinding a specific weapon skill, a Berserker class will still play differently enough from the Siren to make it worthwhile to check all 4 of them out, at least briefly.

This berserker is specced for extreme melee damage.

The game still has it’s fair share of problems: there’s simply not enough variety in Borderlands. Not only will you end up doing the same thing over and over, you will also do it in samey looking environments while listening to Claptrap saying “Check me out! I’m dancing! I’m dancing!” over and over and over. His dance moves are pretty impressive, though. Way to go, little buddy!

It also appears that Borderlands does not have any sort of physics system in place, every object in the environment is static and can not be interacted with.

The less said about the driving, the better. Saying “it serves its purpose” is almost an exaggeration, as there’s a good chance you’ll get stuck on your way to wherever you are going. One wishes, they stole more than Halo 3’s vehicle controls.

I hope the dude about to punch that psycho is not the Berseker we saw specced in the screen up there — bad news for the Psycho.

While these issues sound severe, they’re quickly forgotten and forgiven once you are joined by your friends and the game switches to crazy mode. This game was made to be played in multiplayer. While the campaign holds up when played alone, “Borderlands” truly begins to shine when played with other human beings, and the game truly caters to those wanting to explore Pandora with company: There’s arenas scattered throughout the landscape that can host events similar to the Horde mode found in “Gears of War 2″ or straight up deathmatch.
Although you will probably spend most of your time online, the game also offers support for 2 players to have at it in split-screen, although the HUD can get a little cluttered, the experience still holds up.

Probably the most prominent tagline of “Borderlands” is “The FPS and the RPG made a baby”. While that is factually correct, it’s important for RPG fans to know that the First Person Shooter added to the mix did had the slightly more dominant genes.
It’s hard not to be worried about “Borderlands”, as it is trying to fuse two genres that so many failed to blend well, however, the guys at Gearbox made sure that despite all its faults, “Borderlands” sticks out for all the right reasons: A daring artstyle (for a shooter), a lot of guns, well implemented RPG elements and, of course, a good game.

Review: Borderlands

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