Borderlands Mini-review

I'm about 20-25 hours in, half-way done the game. I've been playing it mostly online with two buddies of mine, and also a little bit single player, so I feel fairly comfortable in being able to mini-review the game at this point.

For starters, let me come right out and say it: Borderlands is a fantastic game in almost every regard. If you like loot-hunting games like Diablo, and also enjoy a good first-person shooter, then you're almost guaranteed to fall in love with the game. The first few hours are a little slow as the game introduces all the mechanics and you're often fighting the same stuff, but once it picks up, it really does pick up. After that, the pace is perfect, and it always leaves you wanting more.

I can easily play for 5 hours straight and not even see the time go by. I'll usually look up at the clock when my eyelids are feeling heavy and sigh in disappointment upon seeing midnight, realizing that I have to go to bed and then go to work the next day.

I'll start by discussing the graphics and art st yle since there seems to be a lot of discussion on this, mainly due to the fact that Borderlands didn't always have that cartoony / cell-shaded / black line look; initially it was to look something like fallout 3. For those that are disappointed about the change, let me say this bluntly: get over it. The game is awesome, and the art and feel are most welcome because Gearbox really nailed it. Personally, I think their decision was brilliant because otherwise it would have looked much too generic and it would have honestly felt a little too fallout-ish. Regardless, it is what it is, and passing this game up because of this change would be a big mistake, specially if you like the genres involved.

So, now that we've past that hurdle, let's get right down to the meat of the game: gameplay. Now, Borderlands is a game that has a heavy emphasis on repetition. You'll be killing lots of the same enemies, but with goals in mind. Your goals will be to always look for replacement weapons, grenade mods, shield mods, cla ss mods and to gain experience to level up. If that sounds like rubbish to you, then this is NOT your game. However, to any huge fan of this genre like moi, this is a dream come true. In my old age, the point-and-click loot-whoring game quickly puts me to sleep (literally) after an hour or so. I need that twitch action, I need that danger of imminent death. I need to know that a few false moves on my part could spell disaster. Borderlands fulfills this role, and does it splendidly might I add.

Story-wise, the game is a little thin in this regard. The environments are fairly large in size, and with the game using the Unreal 3 engine, it means that there will be zones (unlike Fallout 3 / Oblivion where the borders are almost seamless). This is both good and bad. Bad because there are load times, good because it's much easier to get to know the zones, and if you ever want to respawn the chests or enemies in a given area, you just have to leave and come back. Going back to what I was saying, the story is rather thin, but I personally don't care. These kinds of game aren't about the story, they're about killing stuff, leveling up and the perpetual quest of character progression.

One of my few complaints about the environments and the quest system is that it they feel a little empty at times. More outposts would have been nice, and no bulletin boards to take/submit quests at. It feels a little too... MMOish due to this. If you play single player, you're bound to feel really... alone at times. This may be intentional, because you're essentially on a planet that has very little life, but still, I can't help but feel the game could have used a few improvements. Nonetheless, it doesn't take away too much from the experience, and playing with friends solidly fills that gap.

You've probably heard the term 'bazillion guns'. Let me break it down for you. There are several different weapon types, and certain cla sses have 'favorites' that they will apparently be better with. Shotguns, assault rifles, sniper guns, SMGs, repeaters (small automatic pistoles), revolvers and rocket launchers make up the weapon selections. When you kill an enemy, it has a chance to drop a weapon. There are several different grades that it can randomly be; white, green, blue, purple and orange in order of worse-to-best. Orange is rare as I have yet to find one (at level 21) but I've found a few purples and blues. Weapons then have random stats depending on the sub-type. It sounds complicated to explain, or maybe I'm just not really good at breaking it down, but once you play for 10 hours or so, you'll start to see the patterns.

So essentially, you'll always be looking for a better gun, or better yet, better guns. Even though your cla ss has a few 'favorites' that are listed in its description (e.g. the Solider favours shotguns and assault rifles), nothing prevents you from using whatever you want and gaining proficiencies. What are proficiencies? Well, it's simple. The more you use a certain type of weapon (i.e. shotguns) the better you become. Each kill raises its proficiency level, and when you fill the bar, you'll get a bonus, like faster reload time, better accuracy, etc. It's a brilliant system, and it adds a dimension to the usual leveling up, put a point in a skill-type system Borderlands uses.

Acquiring loot doesn't always have to be via killing things though. Apart from quest rewards, there are several vending machines scattered everywhere that will sell you ammo, weapons, shield mods, cla ss mods, grenade mods and ammo upgrades. Each machine has a special 'item of the day' that's posted for about 20 minutes, and is usually fairly powerful and consequently, more expensive. So it's good to make your rounds once in a while and check them. In one case, I ran into an 'item of the day' that was a really powerful purple 2-ammo revolver that has 4x the chance to deal acid corrosion to enemies. I used that gun for 5 levels and was really sad when I had leveled beyond it's usefulness. So money in the game definitely has its value if you play your cards right. I see a lot of people saying they have too much money, I can't comprehend how because I'm always nearly broke.

Looking up at my previous paragraphs, I'm thinking this review can no longer be described as a mini-review. Apparently I have a lot to say about this game :) In any case, like I said before, if you like first person shooters and enjoy character progression or looting games like Diablo, then this is a must-buy. The firefights never get old, and in a game where you'll be fighting 95% of the time, that's very important. Most enemies will scale up with you, so you can explore previously seen areas at your convenience to grind out a bit, level up or hunt for unique weapons.

I'll post a full review when I've completed the game and tried out New Game+ for a few hours. So far though, replay seems like a guaranteed thing. I can see spending 200 hours in this game, and even more when DLC starts coming out.