Killing things is more fun with friends.
If I was forced to sum Borderlands up in one sentence, it'd probably have something to do with my love of both online co-operative gameplay and RPG-style character building. Those, along with the game's charming sense of humor and strong graphical style, are the strengths of this game.
The most immediately noticeable trait of Borderlands is its cell-shaded style of graphics. The visuals were only designed as such due to a change later in the game's development, and the change pays off. Borderlands is instantly attractive to the eyes and retains a realistic visual feel that so many cell-shaded games seem to lack. There are some minor inconsistencies in the textures, but not enough to warrant a complaint. The various character models shine the brightest. The art direction is fantastic and they are strong technically as well.
You'll begin your game by choosing your character. You'll have four different characters to choose from, each one featuring their own specific talents. The balance between the characters is perfect, with none feeling a better choice than the rest, just different. If you've played first person shooters or RPGs before you'll instantly know from their look and short description which character will fit you best. You've got the token soldier, the tank, the mage, and the ranged attacker. Once your character is chosen, you jump right into the game.
The shooting and movement both feel fantastic. At its heart, Borderlands is best described as a first person shooter incorporating some RPG elements. It's not an equal blend of the two. The strongest RPG-type aspects to this game are the sandbox style quest-hunting and the building of your character. Combat is based solely on your skill as an FPS player, but the amount of damage you can inflict and absorb are governed much by your level. The blend, though it leans more toward an FPS, is very good and will be appreciated by RPG gamers as well. I couldn't find any faults in the way the game plays. It's fast-paced, fun, and fair.
Though the graphics are strong, I had a hard time appreciating the bland, unattractive landscapes that the game offers to you. I felt myself having a similar experience as to the one that I had when I first started Fallout 3. The landscapes are all very similar. They're unattractive and they're almost totally barren of any characters other than the enemies scattered about. The storyline of the game is quite shallow and does nothing to help out the lack of friendly characters to interact with. All-in-all, the entire world of Pandora feels dry, dead, uninteresting. There is an occasional dash of humor, which freshens the game, but these moments are too few an far between. These aspects began to wear on me, and I started to lose the desire to play the single-player campaign not too far in.
This was remedied as soon as I jumped into an online co-operative game. The co-operative play is where Borderlands truly shines. Having one to three other people alongside you increases the amount of villains that you'll encounter and gives the game an entirely different feel than just playing by yourself. Having lengthier and more frequent skirmishes alongside allies to chatter with through your headset does wonders to alleviate the desolate feeling of the single player campaign. The shallowness of the story suddenly makes sense during co-operative play, as I found myself rarely paying attention to what any of the characters said during this mode since I was often occupied while other players that I was grouped with were pursuing the actual quests. The lack of a deep story allows the other aspects of the game to step up and be the focus. This is a good thing. The co-operative mode in Borderlands is as fun as that of Left 4 Dead, but quite a bit deeper and lengthier.
You're likely to end up doing most of your Borderlands gaming with other players, even if none of your friends are online to join up with. Matchmaking is quite good for custom games, allowing you to choose from a medley of different games. The game also provides quite a bit of replay value. I found myself playing repeatedly to spec out different characters, the first time I've done this with a game since Mass Effect.
There's a ton of fun to have in this game, but not by yourself. I consider myself a true single-player snob -- I don't do too much online competitive gaming. But I do enjoy some co-operative gaming every now and then, and this is one of the most enjoyable co-operative experiences I've ever had. If you like co-operative gaming, you'll have a great time with Borderlands.
