Fun single player experience, but not without its flaws.
There is something about these sandbox games that makes me happy these days. Fallout 3 gave me a world wherein I could be someone who experiences a world one step at a time without the game constantly interfering and pushing me in a certain direction. Plus it gave me an FPS combined with RPG influences, which was very very cool.
Borderlands does the same thing, but in a slightly different manner. Yes, we have here a game that has huge terrains, lots and lots of shooting and RPG influences. Yet this does not come close to the immersive experience that was Fallout 3.
What went wrong? You ask.
1. Borderlands has a polished style to differentiate it from the enormous amount of games that emulate reality as we know it. This is estetically a good thing, but does not grab you enough to really draw you in. Combine that with a storyline which is incomprehensible at best and storywise you have a game that is inferior.
2. There is something fundamentally wrong with the levelling system and you won't notice this until you reach level 25 and higher. The game is designed to let your enemies level up with you, but NOT really YOU. They level up according to your progress in the main storyline, not your progress. This is not a problem when you don't do any of the side missions. The XP racked up by the side missions doesn't count towards the level of your enemies which results in a skewed difficulty and makes they effectively TOO EASY in the long run. Which is a shame.
3. The number of side missions is very large in the first half of the game (I am a completist), but that number dwindles significantly in the second half of the game.
Now for the GOOD:
1. It is just a lot of fun. Running around this world killing the baddies left and right. Driving the buggie and running over those pesky skags. It is just fun.
2. The missions are engaging enough to keep you busy. They can get a little repetitive, but that is something we just have to live with.
3. Weapons, weapons, weapons and loot loot loot. There is so much to pick up in this game that it becomes almost a hassle to pick it all up. The mechanic they introduced for creating random weaponry is stunning. You never really know what you are getting. I picked up a gun at level 17 for which I needed level 25. I had a feeling this would be a powerful gun, so I held onto it (there is no storage area in the game) and started using it when I became level 25. I ended using that gun until level 35 or so. The game can be that unpredictable. You will not get tired of finding loot, selling it and finding more loot.
4. The environments are big and grandiose. Maybe a little too big at times, but hey you need a little space every so often to let you buggy go nuts.
5. Forget the Xbox Live achievements (Ok not completely, we need bragging rights) and focus on the in-game achievements. There is not a lot attention drawn to these. You can find these when you view your mission list and press Y. Start finishing these achievements for more and more XP (see negative point 2). They range from numbers of casualties to the amount of loot you trade in. There are enough challenges here to keep you busy for the coming months.
You see: 3 CONS and 5 PROS.
Borderlands is an overlooked game that deserves everybody's attention in times where Assassin's Creed II and Modern Warfare 2 take up all the gamers' time.