Borderlands Review

Well I’m glad to say that today I have the pleasure of reviewing the incredibly addictive Borderlands by Gearbox Software. Gearbox is the famed developer who created the Brothers In Arms series, so expect some quality work here. Borderlands is what I would call a hybrid game, a mixture of genres if you will. It blends fast-paced first person shooting with the leveling and grind of an RPG. In many ways it is similar to World of Warcraft by Blizzard: From the aforementioned grind to the diverse variation of enemies, items, and weapons. Even the graphics are similar to that of WoW. Two of the main selling points of the game is its insane number of guns and an emphasis on cooperative play with up to four players. Many people, including myself, have been wondering just how well this hybrid of genres will fare after its release. Will it be an amazing product that raises the bar for both FPS games and RPGs? Or will it fall flat from its failed expectations? I will provide detailed insight below and give the highs and lows of the game, aswell as finally give my opinion on whether or not the game is worth buying.

First we shall start off at the story. Borderlands in a nutshell is a whacky treasure hunting adventure, but to be more detailed: Borderlands takes place on a planet named Pandora, which is incredibly barren and very much like a western movie in terms of its early environments. Colonists came to the planet, hoping to find an abundance of natural resources that would lead to great wealth, but instead they found vast, rolling deserts along with a boat load of rocks and sand. They also encountered the less-than-friendly fauna that was native to planet, which had coincidentally come out of a long hibernation. This led to a massive feeding frenzy, where most of the colonists who had enough sense fled the planet with nary a backwards glance. Those that stayed had to either adapt or be consumed. Many of the people who stayed became quite insane and bloodthirsty, forming roving bands of bandits and marauders, but I’ll cover that later. Now with that little intro out of the way I can now explain the role the main character plays in Borderlands’ odd story. You play as one of four different character classes: The Hunter, the Soldier, the Siren, and the Berserker. The story is that there is a secret alien vault hidden away on Pandora, and these four Vault hunters are there to claim the technology and loot inside for themselves. It’s not the most original story, basically just hunting for treasure on an alien planet, but it could have been worse as well. These classes all offer unique skill sets and each has a very powerful special ability that always proves useful within the hostile environments of the game. Each of these special abilities can be upgraded with any of the four elements within game: Fire, Shock, Corrosive, and Explosive.

The Hunter is a class that is adept at using sniper rifles and pistol-type weapons. His special is the ability to target enemies and have his pet Bloodwing attack them, killing them outright most of the time. The Bloodwing is a bird species native to Pandora, and a powerful ally that is fully upgradeable should you play as the Hunter. Some of the upgrades include increasing the amount of foes your pet can attack, how much loot they drop when killed, stealing the health of attacked enemies, and the list goes on. The Hunter is the second character I made, and I have not had to change my play style due to his more range-savvy abilities. I will say that the Hunter is a very good long-range shooter, but he can bring the pain up close if he has to. The next character class is the Soldier, which was the first class I chose for my playthrough. I’d have to say that he is the most well-balanced character, adept at using combat rifles and sub-machine guns along with an amazingly useful special ability. He has the ability to deploy a Scorpio turret, which can easily engage multiple targets and provide a limited shield for cover. The turret can be destroyed by enemy attacks, but it has such a ridiculously high amount of health that it will rarely be destroyed before its time limit is up. This ability is great for when you are surrounded by enemies and need something to cover your backside from claws, jaws, and gunfire. As useful as this ability is, it comes with one major weakness: A painfully long cooldown time. Low-level players can expect to be waiting around one hundred seconds before they can re-deploy the turret. Higher level players can invest in upgrades that make this complaint obsolete, such as cutting seconds off the cooldown time by shooting foes, or simply reducing the cooldown time by a set amount. The turret can also be used like a medic and ammo station with the appropriate upgrades, and can even fire out supplies or launch guided-missiles. Next up is the Siren class, which focuses more on stealth and stat-altering abilities. She is best suited to using smaller weapons such as pistols and SMGs. She may be weaker than the other three classes, but that doesn’t mean she can’t hold her own against a horde of enemies. To make up for her lack of decent health points, she has the special ability called Phasewalk. This is a stealth lover’s dream come true, as it turns the character completely invisible. You can run into a group of enemies, fire your weapons, and throw grenades without anyone seeing you. Another cool feature of this ability is that when you enter and leave Phasewalk you emit a powerful shockwave that damages and disorients surrounding foes. This effect can be upgraded in a number of ways, adding more fun to the mix. As fun as this sounds, it doesn’t come without a major downside: You have seven seconds to do what you need in Phasewalk before it automatically exits you from it. This means that you need to be very close to your opponents in order to fully utilize this power’s effects. The short duration can also be problematic if you are low on health, as the seven second time limit is often not enough to fully escape an enemy’s attack range. My advice would be to invest in upgrades that allow you to enter Phasewalk more often and stun more enemies. Finally, the last character class is the Berserker. As anyone might imagine, this class is the tank of the game; able to take loads of punishment and deal out even more than he received. He specializes in rocket launchers and shotguns, which are ideal for dealing with groups of enemies considering their spread effects.  His special, as you can guess by his name, is Berserk. When you activate this ability you put your weapons away and break out your fisticuffs for some good old-fashioned brawling. Your punches deals enormous amounts of damage and you gain amazing health regeneration even under attack. Though you may be resistant to damage, don’t go picking a fight that you simply cannot win, as overestimating your abilities can quickly lead to you respawning at the nearest New-U station. I will say however that a high-level Berserker which has invested in the right skills is nearly impossible to defeat in Berserk mode. So to conclude on the classes, I will give my recommendation on what class is best suited to a particular play style. The Hunter is best for longe range sniping and hit and run attacks with his Bloodwing. The Soldier is more geared towards mid-range engagements, using his turret to provide fire support. The Siren is best used as a silent killer and support character, using her skills to help all party members. The Berserker is best suited to close range, where his weapons and Berserk mode deal the most damage. Any of these classes can gain proficiencies in all the weapon types; it just takes time and practice to become effective with all the weapons of war at your disposal.

Now with that out of the way, I shall cover in detail two of the main selling points of this game: The guns and the concept-art styled graphics. To start off with the guns, I will say that Gearbox has risen the bar for weapon creativity so high that other game developers will be hard pressed to come up with even a quarter of what Gearbox has created in terms of sheer variation. The weapon count in this game is over 16 million. No I’m not kidding. Re-locate your jaw bone and stop trying to imagine all the possible combinations. I think I speak for all other gamers out there when I say “That is a freaking load of guns.” It is my opinion that no one gamer will ever find all the weapons in their lifetime, considering that most of them are randomly generated on the spot when found. And it’s not just the guns with a lot of variation, it’s also the grenade types and shields. Want a grenade that warps to its target? It’s in here. Want a shield that emits an acid shockwave when depleted? You shall run across it. Yes it is very awesome to have such amazing items to find. But the trouble with this procedural generating is that it prevents you from finding a particular kind of elemental attack in an item. You almost never know what you’ll get in the game. So don’t get your hopes up for finding a tri-acid rocket launcher right off the bat. The best advice is to expect the unexpected. Go hunting loot with a sense of adventure and you’ll be right at home in this game. The weapon types are Combat Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Repeaters, Auto-pistols, Revolvers, SMGs, Shotguns, and Rocket Launchers. These come in an unfathomable amount of varieties and elemental combinations. To add more variety, there are several weapons manufacturing companies that produce certain types of weapons with special characteristics. Tediore produces reliable guns, Atlas makes amazingly well-balanced firearms, S&S Munitions makes guns with bigger magazines, etc. As you level up, you have increased chances of finding legendary weapons that have a unique ability, such as regenerating ammo and cycling elemental damage types. These weapons sell for a lot of money usually and are very powerful in combat, which is why they are so rare. They are easy to tell apart from common and rarer weapons by the witty sentence that usually accompanies the name while you are comparing the stats of your guns. There is one final class of weapon, but they are so rare to find that you’ll likely only find one through your first playthrough. They are called Eridian weapons and they are extremely powerful if handled with care. They are very alien in appearance so it’s easy to tell them from every other weapon type. To sum it up, you’ll know them when you see them. Your chances of finding this weapon type increases on your next playthrough as the same character. If you are a gun fanatic like me then you need this game, as it will be your brass-ejecting heaven.

The second feature I shall cover will be the graphics. A while ago, Gearbox had a good looking game that ran on the Unreal Engine 3. After the decision to switch to a more cel-shaded look they now have a decent looking game that runs on the same engine. I can honestly say that I’m not as impressed by the art style as other critics seem to be. The atmosphere on Pandora is captured with amazing precision, down to even junk littered scrap piles. What is not spot on however are the less than sub-par textures. Most surfaces look absolutely atrocious up close, with many textures so blurry that they might as well be missing. Not to be too picky but a nice art style just does not make up for shoddy visuals. The character models are decent and the weapon effects are particularly splendid. It’s quite fun  to see the air ripple around a shock attack, as well as see an enemy’s flesh melt as they are coated in acid. The shadow effects are also a nice touch, as nearly everything in the game casts a shadow. These slightly make up for the lackluster texture work and frequent pop-up in the distance. With a few more months of development time this game could have looked even better, but beggars can’t be choosers. What we are left with is a great game with slightly under-score visuals.

Well it seems I’ve been droning on about the features without much mention of how the actual gameplay holds up. I can happily say that the hype surrounding this game is well deserved. The combat is simple yet extremely addictive, adding various levels of difficulty to each fight depending on what enemies you are facing. And each race of enemy has various types that can be randomly generated upon entering an area. You will never be too sure of what you’ll be up against next time you face the same species of foe. Boss fights are also fun, as they can range from hectic to utterly gigantic engagements. The game never really feels too punishing on the player, as dying only incurs a respawn with a 10% charge to your total cash count at a New-U station. If you find yourself dying over and over again, then it is good advice to take some side-quests in order to level up enough and face the challenge. You get quests from many different characters found throughout the game, and there are a lot of quests. Over 120 to tackle, so you will be quite busy. The random nature of Borderlands ensures that no one quest feels too repetitive, as this is a game you can still be playing for years thanks to its lengthy campaign, co-op play, and fantastic downloadable content. I should mention how violent this game is, as it is not meant for minors. Surprisingly there is very little cursing to be heard, which is odd considering its Road Warrior meets Fallout appearance. Most of the adult content lies in the sheer amount of blood and dismemberment that lay within. Score a critical hit on a foe’s head with a sniper and watch as the skull explodes into several pieces, launching brain-matter all over the ground. You can even blow people in half, leaving the bottom torso spewing gore everywhere. Throw a grenade and watch as enemies explode into meaty chunks of organs and viscera. The violence will not disappoint bloodthirsty gamers. Multiple playthroughs are encouraged, as you never know what you’ll find out in the crazy world of Borderlands. I will conclude this paragraph by saying that the final boss will take some time to defeat, so come well prepared and well stocked.

Alright then, as I’m nearing the end of my review I would like to cover the audio aspect of Borderlands. There really isn’t much criticism that I can give about the sound. Everything sounds convincing, from the relaxing ambient music to the quickening battle themes that play during encounters. The weapons make realistic sounds as they spew forth rounds or rockets, grenades create convincing explosions, elements have nice sound effects to accompany them, etc. Overall it’s a great auditory package that Gearbox has implemented and Borderlands would be much less enjoyable without it.

Now it’s time to finally conclude my review by asking the important question: Is Borderlands worth your time? Well that is really up to the player, as the grind can really turn some people off. But if you can look past the slightly repetitive leveling system, then you will find an amazingly deep package coated in bullets, dirt, and various hues of blood. Borderlands almost perfectly blends the FPS genre with RPG elements, creating a truly unique experience that many gamers need to feel for themselves. The game is well worth your time, as I still play it quite often. Well that about sums up the review, hope I did a decent job of covering all the main aspects of the game. Give Gearbox applause, they’ve earned it.-Review by Narune Watercrest

Overall Score: 8.8/10

Story: 7, Graphics: 7, Gameplay: 9, Audio: 9.5