A sci-fi/action RPG from acclaimed developer Gearbox, Borderlands combines the best in first-person action gaming with elements of a traditional role-playing game (RPG). The excitement of this hybridization is further magnified by the game's groundbreaking content generation system which allows for a near-endless variety in missions, environments, enemies, weapons, item drops and character customization, making the game's single player, multiplayer and online campaigns not to be missed.
In a distant future, the planets at the outer edges of the galaxy have become a beacon to fortune seekers and those yearning for a better life off world. But there are no guarantees in deep space. Pandora, one of these distant planets, was reported to be rich in untapped mineral wealth, and so drew many hoping to get rich quick, but in the end little was found beyond the scattered ruins of a past alien civilization. With nothing to gain, any who could soon abandoned Pandora, leaving those who remained to deal with the lawlessness of a world gone bust, and the mystery of the long-dead alien civilization. But as chaotic as these times were, there were worse days yet to come. After several years the planet's huge orbit slowly brought it near to its sun and once unknown and horrifying creatures sprang from their long hibernation to terrify the stranded colonists. The only hope of the colonists seems to be a vault discovered in the side of a mountainside, rumored to contain alien technology and secrets about Pandora. Will this discovery be the colonist's salvation or their end? Discover their fate in Borderlands. Gameplay As in a traditional RPG, Borderlands is built around the continual leveling of characters as they delve into quests. These quests include both story-driven adventures and side quests that offer players rewards such as items exclusive to quest completion and/or forward movement of the story. Players can look forward to action set in both single player and multiplayer modes--including co-op play--as well as vehicular combat, literally thousands of different types of weapons that change each time you play and randomly generated maps and map features. Playable Characters Borderlands features several playable characters, each with its own unique backstory, abilities and skills. Skills can be leveled up, allowing for improvement of things like health, accuracy with weapons and capacity for items. In addition to this, characters possess unique skill tree development, ensuring that each will develop differently regardless of time spend leveling them up. Key Game Features
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156 of 167 people found the following review helpful: By = Fun: This review is from: Borderlands (Video Game) Borderlands has so far proved to be an immensely enjoyable game delivering in many ways where Gearbox promised. I feel it will be equally appealing to fans of shooters and dungeon crawlers alike.
You start the game going through a little story intro and a bit of a bus ride. Shortly after a bit of introduction you'll be asked to select one of the characters and exit the bus to start your adventures. The game doesn't come right out and tell you these are your "classes" but for the interests of the RPG elements of the game that's what they are. Your choices are basically between stealth/special weapons, sniper, support/healing, and tank/melee. There unfortunately isn't a vast amount of customization in their looks available but you can alter a 3 color scheme for their outfit and customize your name almost immediately after stepping off the bus. From here you do a short and sweet tutorial which throws you right in to the action relatively quickly. The...Read more 76 of 85 people found the following review helpful: By Bruul (Salem, OR) - See all my reviews = Fun: This review is from: Borderlands (Video Game) So I got my copy of Borderlands last night and played up to level 11. Here are my impressions one day in.
-The game is beautiful. I personally love the cartoony style of the graphics. Extremely detailed and even the barren wasteland is nice to look at. The characters while not customizable are all highly detailed as well and look great. You can change the name and colors, that's about it. -Controls are excellent. Feels like COD4 with a few changes. Any FPS player can pick it up and play very easily. The one vehicle I've seen so far controls exactly like a warthog from halo. -Guns, guns, guns. Only a few hours in and I've seen so many kinds of guns I can't count them. One of the best parts of the game is that you'll never know what will drop out of the next enemy. Could be that acid rocket shotgun you've been waiting for! The pure crazines of the weapons is awesome. -Story. What story? Your looking for a vault full of...Read more 156 of 181 people found the following review helpful: = Fun: This review is from: Borderlands (Video Game) I wish I could give this game three and a half stars but I can't. I also wish that I could climb aboard the "this game is amazing" train but I can't do that either. To be clear: this is a fun game and if you enjoy copious loot and you're FPS/RPG hybrid genre fan I'd recommend this game, even at retail price. On the other hand if you find yourself leaning more one way or the other in terms of either a solid FPS or a real PRG then there are safer bets coming down the line for your $60. It's a good game but it just didn't live up to the hype more for decisions that the design team seemed to have made than for any failing in execution.
With that said everything that Gearbox set out to do it looks like they accomplished. The game looks great, the mechanics are solid, the audio is good and the art direction is absolutely fantastic. I'm also happy to say that with the exception of some very questionable decisions regarding pop up windows in split-screen play there are no bugs or...Read more |