Thoughts on Borderlands (Xbox 360)
I can't do a full review on this game because honestly I couldn't bring myself to actually finish it. I'll just give some general thoughts and impressions of the game.
Borderlands is an FPS/RPG hybrid released by Gearbox Software on 10/20/2009 and has been released for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. It can basically be described as a sci-fi version of Diablo. You kills lots of enemies and pick up lots of loot off the ground. There is an MMO style quest system in the game that basically points you to the general areas you are supposed to be at and the story progresses as the main quest line is completed. The main quest story is pretty generic but the humor found throughout the dialouge and characters in the game do just enough to keep the story from falling flat on it's face.
One of the main selling points of the game when it was being released was the huge amount of items that can be found. 100,000+, a million, a bazillion... I think I saw all of those numbers thrown around. I suppose this technically is true, but only if you count a shotgun with a +11% damage modifier as being a different item then a shotgun with a +12% damage modifier. There are basically 8 different types of guns, shotguns, pistols, revolers, etc. Each base weapon type can have a number of different modifiers from a common pool and from that you magically get hundreds of thousands of weapons and nearly limitless tactical options (very active imagination required). Gearbox greatly exaggerated this feature of the game. I assume they were trying to tickle the fancies of all those old Diablo 2 veterans out there to help push units.
The game world is set in wide open barren areas with the occasional dungeon or town here and there. The drab colors and empty landscapes do little help the game. The drab environments combined with the pseudo MMO style quest system makes the single player game play like an MMO with no one else logged in. You keep expecting to see other people running around questing but you never do. To me this makes the game world feel very empty and not much fun to trudge through.
The lone point of this game that felt well done was the co-op gameplay. The game instantly becomes much more enjoyable when you have someone else to share it with. That ties in with the "empty MMO" feeling that I thought the game was saturated in. When you have a buddy to play with the game lights up. I did find however that the public online play on Xbox Live was pretty much useless. If you log in to a public game there are generally 3 other people running around doing random tasks and not working together as a group, basically an MMO with only 4 people logged in. When you have a friend(s) actively playing with you online or locally the game really picks up since you can start delving into things like team tactics.
If you have people at home that you can play with or good friends online to play the game together with then I do actually recommend this game. If you are planning on playing this as a single player game then I'd have to say stay away and spend your money on one of the many other quality titles that have come out over the last year.
I'll post the IGN review here. They fall into the trap about talking about the merits of the loot system, but they do get it right about the multiplayer:
Borderlands is an FPS/RPG hybrid released by Gearbox Software on 10/20/2009 and has been released for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. It can basically be described as a sci-fi version of Diablo. You kills lots of enemies and pick up lots of loot off the ground. There is an MMO style quest system in the game that basically points you to the general areas you are supposed to be at and the story progresses as the main quest line is completed. The main quest story is pretty generic but the humor found throughout the dialouge and characters in the game do just enough to keep the story from falling flat on it's face.
One of the main selling points of the game when it was being released was the huge amount of items that can be found. 100,000+, a million, a bazillion... I think I saw all of those numbers thrown around. I suppose this technically is true, but only if you count a shotgun with a +11% damage modifier as being a different item then a shotgun with a +12% damage modifier. There are basically 8 different types of guns, shotguns, pistols, revolers, etc. Each base weapon type can have a number of different modifiers from a common pool and from that you magically get hundreds of thousands of weapons and nearly limitless tactical options (very active imagination required). Gearbox greatly exaggerated this feature of the game. I assume they were trying to tickle the fancies of all those old Diablo 2 veterans out there to help push units.
The game world is set in wide open barren areas with the occasional dungeon or town here and there. The drab colors and empty landscapes do little help the game. The drab environments combined with the pseudo MMO style quest system makes the single player game play like an MMO with no one else logged in. You keep expecting to see other people running around questing but you never do. To me this makes the game world feel very empty and not much fun to trudge through.
The lone point of this game that felt well done was the co-op gameplay. The game instantly becomes much more enjoyable when you have someone else to share it with. That ties in with the "empty MMO" feeling that I thought the game was saturated in. When you have a buddy to play with the game lights up. I did find however that the public online play on Xbox Live was pretty much useless. If you log in to a public game there are generally 3 other people running around doing random tasks and not working together as a group, basically an MMO with only 4 people logged in. When you have a friend(s) actively playing with you online or locally the game really picks up since you can start delving into things like team tactics.
If you have people at home that you can play with or good friends online to play the game together with then I do actually recommend this game. If you are planning on playing this as a single player game then I'd have to say stay away and spend your money on one of the many other quality titles that have come out over the last year.
I'll post the IGN review here. They fall into the trap about talking about the merits of the loot system, but they do get it right about the multiplayer:
