Borderlands Review [360]

28 Oct 2009 at 18:18:00 by
Systems used to review this title: (360)

Borderlands has a lot to live up to. Earlier this year, Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford told us that if you like Fallout 3 "you should absolutely get Borderlands".  Many hours of gameplay – and a gazillion weapons - later, it's safe to say that there are elements of truth in his statement.  But only elements.

Borderlands is a “role-playing shooter” set on the planet of Pandora. Once thought to be resource-rich, the gold-rush has passed and Pandora has since become a lawless frontier planet. You play a rogue mercenary in search of the mythical Vault, rumoured to contain priceless alien technology. Your goal is simple; to gain access the Vault and claim the spoils.

So, what’s a role-playing shooter, you ask. Well, simply put, Borderlands is a shooter first and an RPG second. Skill trees are simple yet generous and therefore spur you to level-up at any opportunity, affording you access to better weapons and upgrades.  You are given the choice of playing as one of four characters: Roland (the Soldier) who is fond of rifles and can deploy turrets, Mordecai (the Hunter) who excels with long range weapons such as the sniper rifle, Lillith (the Siren) who is able to slow down time and become invisible and Brick (the Beserker), a dab hand with explosives who can also knock an enemy’s head clean off with his fists. 

Each class has a special ability and, as I played the Hunter class, mine was being able to deploy Bloodwing, my trusty and electrifying dinobirdbat thing which hunts down and destroys any enemies in the vicinity. Bloodwing is also upgradable, along with other perks such as higher critical hit damage rate, and a more accurate aim. Each class has its own specific progression tree and every time you level up you get one point to spend on your progression tree.

Leveling up is a familiar affair too. In classic RPG fashion, you're given quests to complete which reward you with experience points and money. Experience points can also be gained by killing the many interesting inhabitants of Pandora, such as the Skag - a dog-like, teeth-bearing vagina-mouthed beast. One of Borderlands’ main selling points is the variation in enemies (and weapons, which we’ll get to later) and, for instance, you’ll see a wide range of skags from spitting skags to skagzillas. Or you can take out crazy ants, giant slugs and even humanoid badits (usual wearing a pretty ridiculous set of clothes). Initially any kill helps to boost your level, but after the first few levels it's really not worth the grind as you gain less XP from non-quest kills. This is by no means a bad thing, and instead of grinding to level up, the game encourages you to work through the quests.

The quest structure sticks to the RPG formula too - the main plot-line can be pursued exclusively, or you can sidetrack with side quests. It's worth doing a few side quests as they usually offer a fair amount of XP and money which will come in handy, providing access to better weapons and upgrades.

You can pick up quests either at billboards or from specific mission NPCs. And you’ll want to complete the quests because they focus on what this game is all about: the guns and the loot.

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