Borderlands Impressions

      87 Bajillion Guns.  This is how Gearbox described their new title Borderlands.  Not a bad selling point at all considering many other shooting games could only dream of that number.  Borderlands is a game touted as a RPS, Role playing shooter.  With looting remeniscent of Diablo combined with seemingly endless possibilities of guns it's easy to get hyped.  But how well does Borderlands stand as a game? 

 

Borderlands takes place on the planet Pandora where you find four "Vault Hunters" on a search for the mysterious vault.  The game starts out by telling you the story behind this vault.  There's an old tale of an ancient vault that is hidden somewhere on Pandora.  The vault is rumored to hold alien technology, treasure and untold fortune.  However, no one knows if the legend is true.  While some believe the story others are quick to dismiss it as purely legend.  This is where you come in.  Your goal is to find the truth behind this legend.  If the Vault is indeed real then you must find it.

 

You play as a "Vault hunter".  Lilith, The Siren, Mordecai, The Hunter, Roland, The Soldier or Brick as...the Brick.  These are your four classes and each have their own special ability.  Lilith can turn invisible and sneak up on unsuspecting enemies.  Mordecai has a "pet" bird that he can send out to do his bidding.  Roland can set down turrets and Brick can go agro and start punching enemies like a mad men.  Each of these abilities suit the character well and differentiate the play type for each character enough to keep things fresh for each character.  Each character also has their own skill tree that you'll be able to use to develop your character to your own likings.  Each character's skill tree differs greatly as they cater to each character's class and skill.  While Mordecai might have options to improve his Sniper accuracy Roland will have options to improve the turret that he can lay down.

 

  You'll earn skill points starting at Level 5 each time you level up to spend in the skill tree.  Before you know it you'll be well on your way to having a character set to your liking.  And if you mess up?  No problem.  Just pay some extra cash and you can get those skill points back to redo your character's skill tree.

 

So character building aside.  Lets focus on the important part.  Will the gameplay of Borderlands be enough to keep you enticed into playing this game day in and day out? The answer to that is a resounding YES. 

 

The game is setup with quests.  You'll go to the bulliten board in the center of town, accept some quests, complete said quests, profit.  If this seems basic and repititive don't worry...it's not.  If anything you'll find yourself wanting to do more.  Borderlands is a fun game, it's as simple as that.  The guns feel great to fire and sound right too.  Infact it's one of the few games since Dead Space last year that I turned the TV up in volume just to hear the sound of the guns firing, THAT'S how good they sound.  That's the story here.  Gameplay wise everything in Borderlands feels right.  The guns recoil just enough and the enemies, while some AI can be pretty dumb, will always charge right at you and they are relentless. 

 

There are also vehichles and a fast travel system that'll help you go places faster in the game.  Fast travel allows you to teleport from one waypoint to the next while vehichles let you drive around and run away your enemies :D.  The driving, while it does take some getting used to, I've found serves its purpose.  It's not the best but it works fine and once you're used to the controls you'll be driving all around Pandora. 

 

The game also allows you to gather three of your buddies and play co-op (split screen and online) to play through the game together.  Enemies will scale to more players and more loot will be dropped.  Although I've yet to play co-op just yet I'll make sure I do so that I can go more in depth in the full review.

 

Story wise Borderlands, unlike many other RPG's, isn't in your face.  Story is delivered and progresses as you do.  Certain quests will reveal more about the Vault while other times you may recieve "messages" from someone currently being referred to as an "Angel".  Mostly you'll be told things about what you'll be encountering or you'll find records and journals talking about others who have been studying to vault and reports on their findings.  While the story isn't directly in your face at all times the characters are.  Borderlands has some down right funny and crazy characters that you'll get to know such as that little robot below.  Some characters will give you more quests to pursue while others are there seemingly to deliver a few good laughs. 

 

Gearbox has been throwing around rediculously large numbers for the gun count in Borderlands.  87 bazillion being one of those numbers.  And while that number may not be exact...I'm willing to bet it's really close.  Gun are broken down into several different categories.  From sniper rifles to rocket launchers they've got it all.  However from there it gets crazy.  While you may find a pistol that shoots out incidiary bullets you may also find a Pistol with a scope and +100 to it's damage.  Each weapon has specail boosts to it's stats such as less time to reload, larger chance for a critical hit, higher accuracy and more.  Every gun you find in Borderlands WILL be different and while you'll usually find guns that may not be as powerful as the ones you currently have.  You'll be that much more happy when you get that one gun that completely blows your enemies away. 

 

Borderlands, as I have said before, is everything I wanted Fallout 3 to be.  The gunplay is excellent and graphically the game looks great.  Story, while some may say isn't really present, is delivered in a way to where it never gets in the way.  The reason you play Borderlands is because you want to go loot hunting...not for the story.  The Role playing shooter genre has most deffinitely begun with Borderlands and I'm excited for DLC as so far this game has not dissapointed.  Borderlands is straight up fun and you must play it...just be careful when you say "just one more quest" cause you never know just how many more hours it'll suck out of you.