Entertaining ride with no map or destination. Hours of mindless fun gameplay, but a good story would have been nice.
-FPS mechanics are just right
-Looting and Millions of Guns
-Hours of Gameplay
-4 different Character Types
-Varied Gameplay
-Multiple Types of Enemies
-Novel Cartoon Graphics
-Mature Sense of Humor
-Second Chance Deats
-Cool Theme Music
Cons:
-No Real Story
-Reappearing Enemies (through the same quest even w/o death)
-Infinite Amount of Enemies
-Too much Barren Open World
-Terrible Vehicle Controls
-Too Many Side Quests lacking Reward or Depth
-Annoying Robot who can't Dance lol
-WTF ending
-"Shoot first, ask questions Later" type of gameplay
-Loose interest fast if you care for a story
This is the first FPS open world game I have encountered, though Fallout 3 can be played in FPS format. I loved the intro, so I expected the game to have the same impact. Though the gameplay slaps you right on the a$$ (in a good way), the story punches you right in chops. Its is so simple that this game seemed like it was made for people who only wanted to shoot a million different guns and kill a bunch of living things. This game may be great for mindless folk, but the game really had no sense of direction due to this. But, outside of that, the exploring and "murdering" is phenomally fun.
Their are tons of guns to experiment with and many are ineffective. I found it funny that most of the guns are really the same gun with a different paintjob or stat sheet. Some are completely different, and some differ by little stastical numbers. I spent a lot of time figuring out which gun suit my style of play and which guns were a waste of time. This game has RPG elements, so guns are not effective until you level up. Very reminiscent of Fallout 3, but unlike that game, it is not as bad. I had fun deciding which gun to keep or sell, but gun managment is overwhelming.
What is also overwhelming is the amount of freedom this game throws at you. Once the game begins, you choose 1 of the 4 character types (I chose the military gun specialist) and you are just thrown into Firestone and you begin completing random, and I mean random missions. The missions more or less deal with people on this planet, Pandora, rathering than developing or mentioning the story. The game feels very mysterious because you truly do not know what is going to happens next. It can go from enemies types to the actual story actaully developing. At first I thought I was completing a sidequest, but it was actually a main game mission. I guess that is a good thing because it is spontaneous, but then it is bad thing because it demonstrates the fact that this game has no direction, though the driving force is set in stone. You are put here on this planet to find a Alien Treasure and that is pretty much it. It is enough to drive you to complete the game, but it doesn't have enough gas to push you through most of the repetive "shoot em' up" missions. I stopped playing the game numerous times because I just felt it was going nowhere. Most games I anticipate what is going to happen next in the story, but here, I only could look forward to new guns and random enemies. This may be enough for some, but where is the substance. So pretty much, the game feels like a bunch of side quest, but the side quests are fun in their own way and the game never truly gets boring, but it does run it course.
This game should not be compared to Fallout 3 because Fallout had a good story with rewarding sidequests. The combat on the otherhand was flawed to a certain degree, but the game was rewarding in the story and exploring department. And once a player upgraded their combat abilities, the game was even more rewarding. That was a true RPG. This game on the othehand is fun as hell, but nothing inside correlates into a masterpiece. It is just random random violence. The looting and shooting parts are good, but the fact that their is no character involvement or a story to drive the games terrible pace makes this game a dissappointment. The game does make a good job at seperating itself from the crowd by offering a unique FPS experience just like Bioshock, but no to that degree. The open world aspect is kind of a little too much because it is just a bunch of nothing. No history to it or anything, it is just there.
Borderlands is a weird game, but most RPG games feel weird when you are placed inside of them. But on the otherhand, Borderlands is weird because the developers did not take advantage of giving this package a story that would have gave the game depth, involvement, and emotional appeal. Instead, we are given a game with some fantastic gameplay, but no type of direction. Borderlands is definitely a game that can give someone who has nothing to do alot of hours of gameplay at the expense of no story. You do pointless quest that have nothing to do with the story, but you do them to gain experience points like all games and upgrade and that is always fun. You make the story yourself in your mind rather than the game offering you one. The game is good for just casual play with a friend or alone, but you won't be to interested in trying to beat it because their is not much story to follow or look forward to in that department. You will just rather play it randomly.
At some point in the game you will say, "enough is enough, I want to see how this ends" and lets just say the ending won't be winning any awards. Not only is the ending stupid, it gives no closure to the game and I forgot that I was even looking for ? because the story is never present. The ending mission or missions are long and long in a bad way because you will be fighting alot of enemies and alot of hard ones as well. I could not believe how many people were shooting at me and I couldn't believe the vast amount of hard enemies that came my way. My advice is reach level 32 or up before tackling the final missions because the game gets hectic, but luckily I had some good guns because even on level 30 and 31, these enemies were hard. Nothing is wrong with a challenge, but I just wanted the game to end and with enemies who can't die, the game take forevers to complete, and to my surprise, the ending wasn't even worth the trouble, though it was fun getting there I guess. />
Even though I knocked the game alot in this review, the game is definitely good. The game is definitely worth $60 because it is definetly a "bang for your buck" deal due to the fact that it can take a while to actually complete the game. There is alot to do or kill, but I expected a story. Even though a 8 is not an outstanding rating, the game is still a buy for those who need something else to do. If you want a story with engaging gameplay, this game is not a good purchase because it is long and pointless. Borderlands can last forever, and because of that, the game is probably one of the more conscious buys out there money wise or one of the most pointless games to own.
As far as replay value goes, I have not stepped back in the ring so I will not comment. I will not comment on multiplayer or co-op because I am a lone dog when it comes to gaming, but the single player experience left me with no character attachments or irreplacable memories. Highly Highly Dissappointing.