Reviewed on Oct. 18, 2009
Borderlands' blend of first-person shooting and role-playing works because it puts the shooting first, resulting in a satisfying action game with enough depth and skill development to keep you hooked for 50 hours or more.
Read Jeff Gerstmann's full review
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Quick Look: Borderlands (PC)
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Quick Look: Borderlands
Borderlands is a FPS/RPG from Gearbox Software that puts players into the shoes of one of four playable characters as they traverse the hostile planet of Pandora in search of an alien 'Vault'.
Overview
Borderlands is a sci-fi shooter with RPG elements, such as gathering loot from dead enemies, buying items at stores to improve your combat ability, accumulating experience points and leveling up your character. Borderlands is an original IP created and owned by Gearbox Software. Latest reports indicate the game features over sixteen million different guns. The PC version of Borderlands will feature a "JPEG Card" option allowing players to capture images of rad weapons they find while playing. A separate mouse-friendly interface will also be included for adopters of the PC version.
Backstory
In the distant future, 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 anyone's taking, much like a futuristic gold rush. The colonists soon find that there is nothing for them there, aside from the rumours of vast, decrepit alien ruins. These ruins are a beacon of hope for the remaining colonists emerging in the form of a mysterious vault that is said to contain vast stores of alien technology that - if found - would make the discoverers unbelievably rich. The only problem is that the first people to unearth the vault were completely wiped out before they could claim their prize - their discovery evidenced only by a scattered radio transmission, proclaiming the vault's majesty, but not its location.
Those that can, leave. The remaining population devolves into chaos and lawlessness much akin to a Mad Max style world. While some of the settlers seek the alien technology, most are simply trying to survive. Now, after seven earth years after the first landfall on Pandora, the planet's slow orbit brings a transition from winter to spring, and many horrifying creatures emerge from hibernation, making the planet even more hostile.
Character classes
Roland
Roland, The Soldier
Roland is a former soldier of the Crimson Lance, an elite private military group working for the Atlas Corporation. Roland's Infantry, Support and Medical branches of his skill tree include generating new ammo for both himself and those in his party, increasing his clip capacity and the party's health regeneration. Roland can gain the ability to shoot 'healing' bullets (grenades and rockets also included), which will damage his enemies, but heal his allies. His class specific skill is the deployment of a turret with a shield barrier, which can attack enemies or heal allies within range. Being proficient with all weapons, both long range and short, and having a robust health bar, Roland is considered to be the all-round supportive unit.
Mordecai
Mordecai, The Hunter
Mordecai came to Pandora to find a man named Demosthenes. After learning Demosthenes is dead, Mordecai sets out to find out what happened to him. Mordecai favors a sniper rifle which can be upgraded in regards to both his accuracy and damage through the Sniper skill tree. Mordecai can also be deadly with a pistol if specialized in the Gunslinger skill tree. Mordecai's class specific skill is his pet Bloodwing, which he can periodically call upon to damage or outright kill his enemies. The recharge time and number of enemies attacked by Bloodwing can be enhanced by skills. His melee weapon is a sword that he carries on his back. Mordecai is Borderlands' ranged combat unit.
Lilith
Lilith, The Siren
Brick
Brick, as Himself
Gameplay
FPS action.
RPG Elements
Character Progression
Characters level up as they kill enemies and deliver quests. Leveling is currently capped at 50. At each level, players may assign points to character attributes and skills. Upon
Brick's skill tree
Weapon Proficiency
In addition to skill advancement chosen by the player upon leveling, weapons skills are also advanced based on usage. These weapon skills give bonuses in regards to reload time, stability, damage, rate of fire, cooldown rate and accuracy, depending on which weapon you are using.
Character Customization
Customization is present although it is limited to setting armor colors for your character. The base appearance of your character is static. Of course, you will also see any items you may have equipped.
Loot
The game has garnered comparisons to Diablo for its inclusion of a plethora of procedurally generated weapons. Some enemies will drop loot. In true medieval RPG fashion, treasure chests also appear throughout the world, albeit in more appropriate forms. In addition to guns, players will happen upon grenade mods, shields, artifacts, and class mods which will grant a boost to some of your character's skills. Vending machines are available to facilitate the buying and selling of loot. When you look at a dropped piece of loot, a box pops up giving you vital information about that item. Loot is also color-coded based on how common it is a la Diablo, the color coding rarity scheme is as follows, from least to greatest: Grey, White, Green, Blue, Purple, Yellow, Orange, Dark Orange, Pearl.
Quests
The game contains 160 quests. These are composed of 30 quests in the mainline story and 130 side quests. Most quests will be taken from NPCs and bounty boards in the games various towns and settlements. In addition to quests, the game includes repeatable scenarios complete with bosses that may be farmed for loot and experience.
Multiplayer
Borderlands features four-player co-op online and two-player local co-op in the console versions. The co-op allows for a persistent character to hop from one co-op game to another while keeping all the equipment and experience earned in a previous game. Progress in quests and the storyline, however, is confined to the game world of the player hosting the game. Difficulty scales based on the number of player characters participating. Play with more players and more enemies will spawn in the world. Money and experience rewarded for kills are divided evenly amongst players. Loot and ammo, however, belongs to whoever gets there first.The game also includes player versus player combat to give you something else to do with all those cool weapon drops. In co-op, players can also challenge each other to a duel. One player melees another, and if they melee back a dome will form around them and they can battle it out. In addition, arenas can be found around the world where players can fight each other.
Weapons
One of the big draws of Borderlands is the promise of millions of guns that are all unique, generated procedurally. During the E3 2008 gameplay demo, Gearbox stated that each of the game's weapons manufacturers have rules and materials that define what’s available for them to use to create the weapons. The developers of Borderlands created a program that generates weapons based on a set of rules. According to Game Informer, Randy Pitchford reported that the last weapon count for the game was an astronomical 17,750,000.Traversing the landscape
Designated spawn points throughout the world allow players to summon a vehicle. Players will be able to customize various vehicles with one of two different weapons (rocket launcher or machine gun) and paint jobs. This is one of two preferred traveling methods the other being the now familiar fast travel system that allows for instant teleporting between locations once they have been unlocked. Players will gain access to vehicles relatively early in the game with the fast travel system opening up later.Death
As in Gears of War, fallen characters may be brought back by teammates by running up and holding a button until a revive meter fills. While the teammate is reviving the downed player, he/she is vulnerable to enemy fire since firing the weapon will interrupt the revive process. The healing player may, however, use the action skill and/or crouch without interrupting the healing process. Although the downed player cannot move he/she can continue firing while downed. As the downed player, you will slowly bleed out as your screen loses contrast. If you achieve a kill in this wounded state, you get a "Second Wind," which will revive you with some of your health refilled. However, if you fail, you will respawn at the nearest New-U station for a fee. The fee is a percentage of your total cash on hand.Graphics
Old art style
Pitchford was recently quoted as saying that the PC version "destroys" the
New art style
Downloadable Content
- There has been an announcement for DLC coming out November 24th called the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned. It will include a new area, with about 50 new quests, 5 new dungeons, new enemies, and will cost $10. The DLC will be accessible via the fast travel system. Enemies will scale based on the current level of the player.
System Requirements
- OS: Windows XP/Vista
- Processor: 2.4 Ghz or equivalent processor
- Memory: 1GB System RAM (2GB recommended with Vista)
- Graphics: 256mb video ram or better (GeForce 8 series or higher/Radeon R8xx series)
- Hard Drive: 8 GB or more free space
- Sound: Windows compatible sound card
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| Original US Release |
Oct. 20, 2009
need a fuzzy date? |
| Original US Release |
October
2009 know the real date? |
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Playing Mordecai in Borderlands
Learn to play as Borderlands' hunter character, Mordecai. Includes a list of skills, strategies, and builds for your character.
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Challenge list
An amalgamation from around the internet of the various challenge within Borderlands. Often whilst playing, you will see a popup informing you that you have completed a challenge, but there is no discernible way to view the complete list. Hopefully this guide will shed a wee bit more light onto the situation. Enjoy!
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