A game with a light hearted story, and a fantastic implementation of RPG elements into the FPS genre, with further features that makes single player or coop play a blast.
Borderlands is a post apocalyptic first person shooter featuring RPG statistic mechanics, and many guns and items to loot. It has the fairly standard backings of most modern shooters taking the path of aiming down iron sights to fire most of the time, but it also handles firing without the scope fairly well too, especially at close range. The game's real charm however is in it's RPG character development from gaining levels, to getting improved loot; however at the same time the RPG influences end there, there is no deep or very intriguing plot, and while the main characters have some life to them, often times their personalities are simply used as comedy devices.
At the start of the game after a very brief introduction to the characters, and the planet you're placed on, Pandora, the narrator prepares to tell the story of the “Vault Hunters”. That sequence that pretty much spells out the mood and plot for the entire game, from then on you are given the option to choose your class. The classes are basically what most shooters go for where classed based systems are concerned; you have the Soldier who is an all around good fighter and can deploy turrets, the Berserker who is tough and handles big guns well, and the Hunter who leans towards using high powered but low capacity weapons such as sniper rifles or magnums; and then finally, the Siren who is probably the most unconventional class in a shooter but standard fare in a RPG, she specializes in a small degree of magic, and light, fast firearms.
All of these classes have more RPG assets to further their development, such as unique skills that the other classes don't have, and skill trees that allow a player to further tune their character to deviate them from other characters of the same class. However that is where the RPG facets end, besides being able to change the color very specific parts of a character's features such as clothing, or hair, there is no character appearance customization.
Despite the lack of that, the game still has RPG elements throughout the game in the form of experience, quests, and items. The quests and experience are fairly standard and ordinary, many of the quests themselves don't have accompanying dialog with them besides what a character says when you approach them, and often times it is a simple greeting or farewell which has nothing to do with the quest itself. Quest progression however follows a logical approach half of the time, with that half being the first time you visit a new zone. Most of the time after you finish your current quest in that said new zone, immediately after you turn the quest that you were working on in, you will get quests that go back to the exact same zone. The zones distinctly feel like they were designed for the first quest however, and the follow up quests mostly feel tacked on, simply being there for extra experience or for completion sake.
The final part of the RPG elements the game has is items, and this is where the game shines. If you were to argue with someone who is venomously against Borderlands, almost no one can dismiss the item system that the game brings, without mentioning it's positive sides. The game uses a very diverse system of creating items starting with different types of stocks, barrels, sights, and even grips; all of which is minimized by categorizing guns made by certain companies over another rather than having all of the items be wildly random, but even still the guns are extremely varied, and it's very difficult to find the same gun twice. Most of the time you'll be happy to find different guns however as even two sub machine guns will have a distinctly unique feel unless they happen to have the exact same manufacturer, and components. For example, one sub machine gun might have a ton of recoil but fire 3 bullets at once, where as another might have little but only fire one bullet at a time and at a lower rate of fire. To further increase the loot lust, there are more than just guns. You won't find things such as full body armor in the game, or any sort of appeal protection such as that, however there are grenade mods, shields, and class mods that further specialize a character in specified areas, such as doing more damage with a ability, or weapon. While the possibilities of all of the items are still confined (you won't find a sub machine gun that fires different ammo types like rockets for example) the confinements are wild and numerous enough that it makes the acquiring of items in Borderlands, never a dull experience.
With all of the RPG elements aside, Borderlands is still a very solid shooter. It has the same fast pace as most shooters today, often rivaling them, as well as sharing their similarities such as the fluent and accuracy of quickly aiming down a sight to get a few shots off then going back to the regular gun at the hip position to quickly move from one place to another. There is one part that isn't entirely great but is functional enough that takes the form of the vehicle in Borderlands, the Outrunners. Amply named enough, the Outrunner isn't exactly the best form of vehicular combat that you'll ever see, it's clunky handling and no sense of gravity almost makes it feel like you're driving a piece of paper, especially evident in sequences where you're encouraged to fight in a vehicle against other vehicles. In the end the Outrunner is primarily just a means of transportation, getting the player from one destination to another, rather than another alternative to fight in.
The real charm of Borderlands however is taking the game and all of the things in it, and playing it with friends. There are almost no restrictions on the cooperative play in the game, and it even has multi-player only versus modes in the forms of arenas that serve mainly as a distraction rather than a full on game mode. The story and it's cut scenes are completely intact, and unhindered by having another player along, and while it's possible to be at a different part of the story, any progress someone does in a different part of their personal character's storyline is carried over and saved on their file. There is basically no disadvantage to playing with others save for one, that's the lack of any sort of loot rolling system, and while it's possible to duel people over loot, there really is no restriction placed on by the game itself that distributes loot, which means it's strongly advised to play with friends, rather than with random people, unless of course you don't care about loot, but just in general playing with friends is a lot more fun.
To sum it up : Borderlands is a fantastic shooter with RPG elements that makes it stand amongst the crowd. Add in a fantastic item generation system, and cooperative play which equals a excellent game all around, to play with any number of players. However don't come for a exciting or even fairly gripping story, you won't exactly find it in Borderlands, but if you're willing to acknowledge that, and are still interested in the things that the game excels in doing, you're in for a great trip in the world of Pandora.
Concept Implementation : Great
-Sticks to it's light hearted approach in story telling, and successfully adds rpg elements to what would be a basic shooter otherwise.
Gameplay : Great
-The game doesn't take many risks evolving the controls of a first person shooter. Additional menus for inventories, and quests are made fairly simple. The RPG mechanics in the game are also done very well.
Presentation : Average
-The storyline isn't very interesting or gripping at all, but it's enough to keep the player going, along with the promise of loot, and more experience points.
Graphics : Great
-The game takes a very unique style of cel shading and creates a grim but still “cartoony” feel that adds to the game's general atmosphere, and mood.
Sound : Good
-While there aren't many memorable soundtracks of the game, the sound effects themselves are fairly effective, and the different reactive sounds of bullets hitting enemies and their reactions are spot on for the effect of being “cartoony”.
Singularity Score : Single Player 2, Multiplayer 3
Overall Score – 22/25 Great
