Story
Taken from the Borderlands wiki:
“In the distant future, in the year 5252, several colonization ships head to Pandora, a planet on the edge of the galaxy. The colonists are drawn there in search of a better life as well as vast mineral resources said to be on the planet, free for the taking, akin to a futuristic gold rush. Some time after settling, the colonists discover that there is little the planet offers aside from some decrepit alien ruins. When the companies mining the planet leave, they let loose the criminals they had employed as forced labor and left any other colonists there. Some of the settlers seek to get rich quick by discovering alien technology. Most others are just trying to survive. After seven earth years, the planet's slow orbit brings a transition from winter to spring, and many horrifying creatures emerge from hibernation.
A beacon of hope for the remaining colonists emerges in the form of a mysterious alien Vault carved in the side of a mountain. This Vault is said to contain vast stores of alien technology and secrets. The only problem is that the people who discovered the Vault were completely wiped out by some sort of protective force. The only evidence of their discovery is a scattered radio transmission, proclaiming the Vault's majesty, but not its location.”
I should add that while the story to Borderlands is good, it’s never fully put out for the player, and it actually takes a back seat. Given the gameplay style (see below), it’s understandable.
Setting
Pandora is a bitter wasteland. After the companies left the planet, the various colonists & bandit clans had to fend for themselves, and the world decayed. The world is decrepit, but not in a oppressive way. Instead, there’s still life on Pandora, but the people tended to live in ruins, or dirty hovels. The wildlife lair in caves, and wander around look for their next meal. Doted all over Pandora is the wreckage & garbage of the various companies that once operated on the planet. Although the graphics drawn out the current state of Pandora, they contrast with what the player sees (more on that later).
The site of the play area is huge. Enough so, that the player eventually acquires a vehicle to traverse all over Pandora. Since the bandits also have vehicles, there’s a gun & rocket launcher for you to defend yourself against their ravenous attacks.
Characters
Characters are a strange thing in Borderlands. There’s little in the way of personality within the four classes (although they’ll make a comment once in a while), and while there’s a variety of characters scattered all over the game world, there’s not much to them, kinda like Serious Sam 2. Fortunately, there’s a small few who do have some character. There’s Claptrap, a small robot that acts as a guide in the game, and provides some of the comedy material. There’s Marcus, a grubby weapon merchant that can set aside his greed for the greater good if necessary, and the Guardian Angel, a mysterious entity that reveals the story as the player advances. There’s more to her than what is shown, and at the end of the game, there’s a big twist involving her, but to spoil it would be a crime. Suffice it to say, you won’t see it coming.
Although there isn’t much characterization, one thing I will say is that there is a lot of humor in Borderlands. None of the characters act serious in any way, and even if somebody is serious (like the villains), it feels like 80s cheese. If I were to sum up Borderlands, as far as characters are concerned, imagine Mad Max directed by Monty Python.
Gameplay
Much like Serious Sam 1 & 2, Borderlands is a balls-to-the-wall, FPS action game. Unlike those two games, Borderlands incorporates some light RPG elements to add a little variety. For starters, there are 4 classes that the player can choose from. They are:
Brick the Berserker (Heavy Offense)
Lilith the Siren (“Spellcaster”)
Roland the Soldier (Offense & Defense)
Mordecai the Hunter (Long Range Offense & Stealth)
Each of these classes have rather different styles of play. Brick likes to charge in with his fists & explosives, Lilith manipulates fire, electricity, and acid, Roland can charge in with guns blazing, but he can also provide ammo & healing if need be, and Mordecai hangs in the back, taking potshots with his sniper rifle or revolver.
To add to the RPG elements, each of the classes have 3 skills trees, each of which contain 7 skills. By putting in skill points (up to a maximum of 5), the player becomes stronger over time, and gains abilities like an increased change to ignite targets, or a permanent increase in ammo capacity for certain guns. Before the player can actually increase his skills, he or she must first put a single point into his “action” skill. Each of the characters have a unique skill that can determine whether or not the player will survive a fight. Brick can enter a rage mode, gaining increased damage with his fists & resistance to damage, Lilith can phasewalk all over the battlefield, Roland can deploy an autoturret, and Mordecai can use his pet hawk (named Bloodwing) to attack single targets for incredible damage.
Borderlands wouldn’t be a FPS with guns, and this game has a lot of guns. 17,000,000 guns, to be exact. They come in the form of Combat Rifles, Repeater Pistols, Revolvers, Rocket Launchers, Shotguns, Sniper Rifles, Submachine Guns, and rare alien guns with rechargeable ammo. To make the guns more unique, there are a variety of gun manufactures, each of which give their respective weapons different properties. The list of companies, and what benefits they give, are:
Jakobs: High Damage
Tediore: Fast Reloads
Vladof: High Fire Rates
Torgue: Good Damage, High Fire Rates, Recoil Reduction
Dahl: Recoil Reduction
Hyperion: High Accuracy
Maliwan: Elemental Damage (Fire, Electricity, Acid, Explosive)
S&S Munitions: Big Magazine Capacity & Elemental Damage
Atlas: High Damage & Fire Rates
Eiridian: Alien Weaponry, with infinite ammo (although it must recharge when depleted)
In a sense, the guns of Borderlands are a character onto themselves. They handle differently with each type, and the classes have their preferences. Brick enjoys Rocket Launchers & weapons with the explosive damage property, Lilith likes guns that deal fire, electricity, and acid damage, Roland employs Combat Rifles & Shotguns, and Mordecai likes Sniper Rifles & Revolvers. As the player uses certain guns over & over, he can gains bonuses for that gun type (reload speed, increased damage & accuracy, etc...).
The only flaw with the gun manufactures is that there's nothing that really separates each of the guns from one another. It's true that each of the manufacturers have different properties, as well as different paint jobs to signify what company they come from, but there's no difference between the form of the guns. If you have a Maliwan revolver and a Tediore revolver, for example, they'll look very similar, almost to the point of looking exactly the same (if both revolvers have different elemental properties, however, then the two guns with have different colors to show their different damage types).
The player also has grenades & shields at his disposal, and they have variety as well. Throughout the game, the player often find Grenade Mods, which imbue your explosives with different qualities (teleportation & healing tendrils are just two examples). Shields are also varied, with some granting a health boost, or a elemental nova forms after your shields are depleted (shields eventually regenerate after a certain amount of time).
The player will need those guns, grenades, & shields, as the various bloodthirsty inhabitants of the world are out to get you. There are rage-filled bandits, psychotic robots, and some of the weirdest wildlife you’ll ever see. With every kill, there’s a change that loot will fall from their bodies (money, guns, grenade or shield mods, etc), and there’s a chance that it could be crap, or it could be high quality.
Before I go on, I should mention the quest system. In addition to the primary quest, there is also a horde of side quests. Although the primary quest does net you experience, money, and loot, the side quests bring in not only more experience & money, but the chance to find one of a kind guns (some as quest rewards, some as treasure finds), or other bonuses, not the least of which are permanent carrying boosts to your inventory. Skipping the side quests might make your play experience faster, but with doing all the side quests, you'll be able to get about 10 to 15 hours of play time from Borderlands. About the only negative thing I can say about the side quests is that once they're exhausted from an area, they're aren't anymore to find, and thus going back to certain areas is a waste of time.
Graphics & Sound
Graphics are a plus in Borderlands. Drawing upon the Unreal 3 Engine, the game looks very good. Everything moves smoothly, and things rarely if ever slow down. The only problem, depending on how you look at it, is that the graphics are stylized in a cel-shaded manner. Cel-shading is a method of graphics manipulation that gamers will either like or hate. While it doesn’t make things look cartooney (ala Serious Sam 2), it is weird to look at.
Luckily, the sounds don’t go for the weird route. Of important note are the sound effects for the guns. They all have firing noises, reloading noises, and selection noises that differentiate themselves from the other gun types. Voice acting is also important, but it doesn’t quite have the impact as the noises the guns make, yet it’s easy to remember certain voices.
There’s other sounds as well. The bandits shout out insults, the various wildlife howls, growls, and screech, and there’s a host of other noises that’ll the player will hear as the journey all over Pandora.
Overall & Rating
Borderlands is a good game. A damn good one at that. It’s full of action, loot, humor, strange characters, and despite a little weakness in the characters, side quests, and odd graphics, the game is perfect. What makes Borderlands all the more surprising is that the developers (Gearbox Software) did not expect this game to get popular. With some of their previous properties, it’s understandable why they didn’t expect Borderlands to get big. After becoming a massive hit, Gearbox has become a well-known game company, and once that’s going to go places...given time.
Borderlands gets a 8.5 to 9 out of 10.
For the time being, this’ll be my last review for a while. If I get picked for jury duty, I’ll have little time to post up reviews. Also, I’m think of restructuring my work on this blog & such. Plus, Borderlands 2 will be out, and I’ll be distracted by that as well. So, until next time, stay Otaku!
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