Borderlands

[BasiliskWrangler]

Just caught this trailer for "Borderlands" yesterday.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gDSRdp6A ... annel_page

Hmmm, it's very actiony and certainly aimed at the kids who drink Red Bull with their Lucky Charms. But, there is a hint of Fallout 3 in there and seeing as though I ended up enjoying that game quite a bit, Borderlands might be worth a look. Hopefully they'll release a demo.

[Saxon1974]

Im curious about this one too. Love the setting. The art direction looks interesting.

[zetetic0void]

Not really my type of game but at the start I couldn't help but think of that old movie "Mad Max" (was that really 30 years ago?!)

[CrazyBernie]

Just got back from GameStop... am currently installing....

What's really insteresting is that I've downloaded a No-DVD crack while the game is installing... it was available yesterday, before the game's official release.

[BasiliskWrangler]

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on this game!

[dare49devil]

-Eh...I've been looking at that game...I don't really like the cartoony look to it...(Don't get me wrong, I love the TF2 graphics...) Feels like I wouldn't be able to play it seriously...

[Iane]

OH! man sucks to be self employed sometimes and yuh gotta wait for yuh money to get into bank at end of month - so much on pre-order and layby and can't wait to play this

[CrazyBernie]

Initial Impressions

I had started this whole mini-review... and stopped in the middle of it. I figure there's no point in regurgitating what you'll read on a bunch of review sites within the next couple of days. So here's a collection of my "impressions" of the game:

Combine Fallout 3 and Diablo, add a dash of Halo, a pinch of World of Warcraft, stir vigorously, bake for 60 minutes, and voila: Borderlands. If you don't like FPS's, this game may not be for you. If you don't like the Action RPG genre (aka Diablo, Fallout 3), then move along.

The game isn't (so far) as big as I was expecting it to be. I was thinking expansive terrain ala Fallout, but have so far been disappointed by that expectation. There's several "zones" that you traverse while completing quests.

This hybrid genre was attempted before... in a game called Hellgate: London. Borderlands's method of execution is far superior. Hellgate relied far too much on the multilpayer aspect and monthly fees. With Borderlands, you can start a game and play through solo; at any point you can invite a friend to some drop-in multiplayer. The enemies auto-scale in difficulty when multiple players are present.

Multiplayer is pretty fun... the game has enough FPS in its blood that my dad actually will play it. He's struggling a bit with the skill points you get each level (past 5) and the WoW/Diablo-ish skill trees, but he'll learn.

The storyline is a joke. You play the roll of a character in search of "The Vault," a hidden repository said to contain powerful alien artifacts. They at least differentiate themselves from being a direct Fallout clone by putting the setting on some remote backwater planet. Some "Guardian Angel" communicates with you telepathically to offer "guidance." I already have my doubts about her... If you're looking for an immersive storyline... forget about it. This is a run and gun game with quests.

The game really shines in the weapon selection. No only are there several weapon types, but they have stats that are randomly generated, allowing for millions of combinations. There's a few "boss" type enemies that will always drop the same weapon, but in general "you never know what you're gonna get." Additionally, the weapon labels are colored to show their rarity... ala WoW. There's White (common), Green (uncommon), Blue (rare), and Purple (epic). There's a weapon reward that gives you a SMG that has a level 3 requirement, but I found myself still using it on my level 15 character.

The cel-shading art stye suits the game pretty well. With the over-the-top humor, it actually complements the whole presentation. However, it does create some very noticable aliasing, even running at the native 1680x1050 resolution on my LCD. There's no Anti-Aliasing options in the game itself, and I haven't really messed around with my gfx card AA settings.

While the game isn't all that impressive in its scope, I can't seem to stop playing it. Apparently it has enough of everything that I enjoy in a FPS an RPG to keep me going. Now if you don't mind... I'm gonna go kill some more skags.

[CrazyBernie]

The game isn't (so far) as big as I was expecting it to be. I was thinking expansive terrain ala Fallout, but have so far been disappointed by that expectation. There's several "zones" that you traverse while completing quests.

Ok, thankfully it's gotten much bigger very quickly. Having a vehicle to drive around just makes it seem smaller, but I'm quickly finding more zones and quests than I can keep up with... especially when doing the multiplayer shuffle.

[BasiliskWrangler]

In a straight 1-on-1 comparison, how is it to Fallout 3? While I'm not a fan of Action RPGs, Fallout 3 did hit a pleasant chord with me.

[CrazyBernie]

Hmmm... IMHO, it's pretty difficult to directly compare the two, even though they're similar games. Borderlands is far more FPS than Fallout 3... accuracy does come into play, but there's no VATS to help you out. If you're just aiming and shooting I believe it calculates your chance of hitting, but if you aim down your sights it doesn't. The game actually measures things like velocity, which is kind of cool... shoot down the range and watch your bullets hit the dirt a few seconds later. It's one of the first games I've played where I've had to lead my shots when shooting a moving enemy in the distance.

Instead of VATS, each character class has a special ability. For example, the Siren gets an ability called Phasewalk, where she becomes invisible and can move much faster for a short period, but can't shoot or jump while doing so. There's upgrades to the ability which allow her to create a small explosion while entering/exiting the Phasewalk, and also to cause shock/fire/corrosion damage to enemies that she's near.

Character interaction in Borderlands is nil. When you talk to a character to get a quest, you just get a quest description screen.

I guess if I had to compare them to other games, I'd say Borderlands is more like Diablo (kill/get the phatty loot) where Fallout 3 is more like a traditional RPG, ie Neverwinter Nights (Story/Character Interaction). I spent many hours playing Fallout 3 and it looks like I'll be doing the same on Borderlands, if perhaps for different reasons.

[CrazyBernie]

Aslo, there's a lot of humor in Borderlands... it does a pretty good job of making fun of itself.

My Dad and I have defeated the dreaded Skagzilla, and the feared Mothrakk... we even had a "Thunderdome" brawl with Mad Mel.

[Iane]

I've had more fun with this than any other FPS out there - love the style and the Textures are so easy on the eye unlike the shiny effect you get in some games - while I did like Fallout 3 I hated the weapon animations some of those really gave me an uneasy feeling like being unbalanced bordering on being sick (yeah weired I know) but not only that it was too short and has no replay Value - Borderlands on the other hand I can see me playing it for a long time

[Rune_74]

You cannot compare this to fallout 2 since they are totally different games other then the fact they are both post apacalyptical.....I would compare Borderlands to diablo in the style of game it is....it is at its heart a action collection rpg.

[macdude22]

I hadn't really followed this too much but after the decent reviews and the amazon 80/40 deal I pulled the trigger (pun intended).

I've been having more fun with this than any FPS game in the past. I'm normally not a huge FPS fan, shying away from Halo and it's ilk but this game has some how memorized me. In a way even Fallout 3 didn't. I've spent 2 nights since I got it, up all night. I put the baby down for the night, play all night, get up with the baby in the morning (apparently that's the deal according to the wife, game all night you get the baby.....).

The RPG progression is solid, the loot is plentyful, the controls are tight, and the cell shading somehow sets the violent mood just right, in a playful sort of way.

I think I just might be playing this for a long time.

Hit me up on Live: Rakden if you are interested in some co-op.