Review: Borderlands
Following my impressions post, i played for quite a few more hours and finished the game. My thoughts haven’t changed much since then, so I still believe it to be one of the year’s better games, but I don’t think it’s a game for everyone…
There’s definitely a lot to like about this game, but there’s also a lot to put people off. It’s very much so a game for people who love the experience/leveling of an RPG, and the run and gun game-play of first person shooters. Everything pretty much stays the same in-terms of gameplay so, if you’re not keen on those things, this definitely isn’t for you. However, if you do, then read on for the full review…
Design
Borderlands is a decent mix of RPG and FPS, but ultimately ends up being relatively shallow for people familiar with either. You pick one of 4 characters at the beginning of the game, which are essentially 4 different classes: Mordecai (rouge/sniper), lilith (assassin/mage), Brick (Tank/Berserker) and Roland (solider/medic). Each of these classes have 1 unique power, and 3 different skill trees, which means you’ll probably play the game differently with each character. The good thing though, is that any weapon can be used by any character without being penalised, which is typically the opposite with games in the RPG genre. Some characters can unlock skills to improve certain weapon types, which means if your Mordecai you’ll most likely want to use hand guns and sniper rifles.
One of the game’s biggest marketed features is the game’s ability to create a near infinite amount of unique weapons. The weapon engine will take one of the weapon types, give it a damage rating, ammo capacity, elemental effects, ammo type and a various other specs to create unique weapons. These are found in the vending machine shops, dropped by enemies and loot stashes. This is one of the addictive parts of the experience, as you never know what you might find. In one instance i found a shotgun which fired frickin rockets… It was totally impractical, but so awesome. The drawback is, that you spend A LOT of time in the inventory screen comparing weapon specs for the best weapon. This get’s very tedious, but you feel compelled to do it. What would be ideal, is if you could order your weapons by damage done, ammo capacity etc
What I’m not impressed by though, is killing the same enemy type over and over. There are elemental and tougher variations of the 6 enemy types but it feels like a quick cheap trick. There are basically humans, dogs, bird things, slug things, ant things and lobster things. This and the many variations wouldn’t be a problem normally, but in this type of game where a lot of repetition is involved, it all gets a bit tiring pretty quickly.
The difficulty seems to bounce all over the place too, with the first mission nearly killing me on my first go, but after a few quests and replaying areas with a friend, most of the game quickly became quite easy. The game rates missions depending on your level and there relative difficulty, so I was surprised to find the last 40 missions or so that I did we’re all listed as ‘trivial’. After you complete it though, you have the opportunity to start again with the same character, and equipment, but with everything being a lot more challenging. Even the simplest of enemies are now ‘badass’ variants and put up a good fight. Unfortunately though, there is no way to put up the difficulty if your finding it too easy during your first playthrough.
Story
The story is pretty shallow to be honest and really not the game’s strong point. I never really felt involved in the story, instead I just saw anything and everything as potential XP and loot. There is a main story line, which is told to you through scripted HUD voice messages and text in quest menus, but none of this made me care. I often found myself asking what i was actually doing here on this planet and why i’m being asked to go ‘there’. It’s very similar to the MMO experience, where story takes a second place to character development.
Gameplay
It’s simple, mindless shooting and fetching. Sometimes you might have to think, but it’s only to think how you can kill something better. This make’s it very easy to pick up an play, and I believe is it’s strongest aspect. It plays like an MMO, in that you go to people and job boards and get given quests for XP, cash and items. Then repeat. And repeat you shall, as the game-play doesn’t really change much. The missions vary, but ultimately end up with you Killing A, or X number of A, or collecting A, B and C. The thing which keeps it enjoyably, is the addictiveness of character development and finding rare or interesting weapons.
Graphics
Mid development the team changed the art style from realistic to an almost painted, cell shaded cartoony look, and i believe it’s paid off. Instead of looking like a Fallout 3 clone, it’s created a very unique look, which is instantly recognisable as Borderlands. The textures are clear and detailed, but even when there not, you forgive them as they never look out of place with the art style.
When entering a new area, the texture pop in delay is pretty horrendous, sometimes taking 10seconds for textures to sharpen up. There is also quite a bit of environmental pop-in as well, with prop pieces disappearing when you move around. At one location an entire waterfall was disappearing when it entered the corner of my vision.
Sound
Compared to the graphics, the sound lets the game down a bit in the presentation department. The music and background ambient sounds are really effective in setting a mood for the grim backdrops you’ll find yourself in, but the sound effects get very repetitive, and some seem quite lazy. The buggys you drive around the landscape in sound like a lawn mower, and rev up to high speed even if your crawling around hardly moving. Gun sound effects are pretty varied depending on the type of weapon and fire rate, and all feel suitably powerful.
Multiplayer
The game allows you to play through the entire game with upto 3 other people, dropping in and out at any time. This is great fun and extends the life of the game potentially, as the difficulty raises on a second play-through, creating a challenge for you and friends.
Overall
Like i mentioned in the introduction, if you like both RPGs and FPSs, then you really should check out Borderlands. It’s potentially let down by it’s attempt to keep things simple and accessible, which could leave fans of either the prior mentioned genres feeling the game is a bit shallow. The design is no doubt influenced by MMO gameplay, and it quickly feels like it.
