Borderlands

by **T0x1x** Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:36 am

///STORY\\\
-You basically are set on this planet in search of a mysterious place, ominously called "The Vault". Inside, there is supposed to be riches and alien technology galore. Problem is, many people consider the Vault to be myth. You are told otherwise by a mysterious woman whom hacks your display and sends you messages. The planet you are on is Pandora, which is mostly a wasteland filled with dangerous foes: animals, crazy humans, and the like. The terrain is mostly a dreary desert, with some scrap piles thrown in for good measure. Although this may sound very depressing, it's actually a great environment with the use of cel-shading.

///GAMEPLAY\\\
-This game uses the Unreal Engine, so if you've ever played Unreal Tournament or any other games that use the engine, you will know what it feels like. Of course, sensitivity and control scheme can be changed, but I was disappointed at the fact that you could not create a custom control scheme, you could only choose from 5 different ones; none of them the same as COD sadly...
-The ingenius gun creation system is also a huge draw in this game. The game creates guns with an in-game engine and will randomly put them in loot. Nothing is more fun than finding out your shotgun actually shoots rockets instead of buckshot. The number of available guns is estimated at 7,000,000; you don't have to worry about getting a repeat. Another great thing about the gameplay is that there is little to no bullet lag, and the only lag you'll encounter is on shotguns, which is realistic, especially with a spread shot.
-There are 4 classes you can choose from: Hunter (sniper), Beserker (fists, shotguns), Soldier (combat rifles, big guns), and Siren (sneaky and pistols). Once you choose a class, you are not stuck with the weapons that they are suited to, but can use whatever type of gun pleases you. Though, the skill tree often has bonuses available for the preferred gun types. Each class has a special power and a unique skill tree, in which you allot skill points for special bonuses and rewards. Special powers range from an invincible killing rage to a pet bird who kills your enemies. You level up by killing enemies and completing quests, thus earning you experience points. You get one skill point per level up and you have to choose carefully where you put it.

///ONLINE\\\
-Co-op is heavily touted in this game and it's true: playing with others makes the game 10 times more fun. Cooperation is a must and you get great amounts of experience while playing with others. There are some drawbacks though. Since you're online, there is bullet lag if you get a bad connection, leading to extreme frustration at times. I also wish loot sharing worked a bit better. If a guy picks up a gun that you wanted, you can't get it, unless you convince him to drop it for you, which is unlikely at best. Money is shared, so that's a plus. One more drawback is that all enemies become bullet sponges when playing online with others, especially with all 4 slots filled. Enemies that should have been a 10 bullet kill end up soaking up 100 of your bullets, leading to many an ammo shortage. That's where teamwork comes in. Without teamwork, you are a goner. That's a fact. Don't go online if you want to run off by yourself.

///GRAPHICS\\\
-Very cool art-style with the cel-shading, making it seem a bit more upbeat and not so hostile. But since the game loads such huge areas with so much detail, load times are long, especially the start-up. I have heard reports that this is going to be remedied by a patch, but we'll see how much that does when it comes out.

///OVERALL\\\
In the end, this is a sweet free-roaming game that any shooter/RPG fan should be rushing out to buy right now. The scarcity of friendlies, long load times, and bad loot system may throw people off, but they don't really detract much from the final game. I highly recommend this game, and it also has great replay value; a must in these present economic times.

FINAL SCORE: 8.6/10.0______ YOU NEED THIS GAME

Questions or comments about the game? Leave a post below and I'll try my best to answer your questions or concerns!

by **JayProBii** Sat Oct 31, 2009 12:46 am

Great review! You shall receive a new karma level for that!

by **T0x1x** Sat Oct 31, 2009 2:07 am

Thank you much sir! Hopefully many more reviews on the way! Very Happy

by **Mosin_Master** Sun Nov 01, 2009 7:37 am

Hooray, this is a must buy for me on the pc. Getting it after the exams.

by **mrfujiv1** Sat Nov 07, 2009 1:16 pm

soo much detail, if we had a REP feature then i would be giving you some! really good review dude. Is one of the trophies to shoot a bullet from every gun by any chance Shocked