GotG Round 1: BioShock Infinite vs. Borderlands

Infinite, even though i played a bunch of borderlands i found it boring.

Never played the original borderlands, but Infinite was a fun experience.

Sorry Borderlands...

Borderlands.

I don't particularly like Borderlands but i hate the Bioshock games with a passion. I wake up at night to hate them(not really).

Borderlands is lame.

If it had been Borderlands 2, this would have been a hard decision. Infinite it is.

This is a monstrous choice.

I guess I have to go with Bioshock.

This one is tough. I like both of these games for very different reasons. I'd have to give it to Borderlands. Co-op in Borderlands gave me countless hours of fun. Sorry BioShock Infinite at least your on my top ten of 2013 list.

I got tired of some parts of Infinite but the ending kinda made up for it by surprising me. Borderlands has always struck me as a co-op focused game so I don't enjoy playing it. Feels lonely.

bioshock infinite has to be on this gotg list.

borderlands story was lacking, and the bosses were underwhelming.

One of the legitimate best games of the generation versus a crippled shitty loot grind that ceases to be fun in about three hours? The choice is Infinitely clear.

I don't really care for either game.

Infinite had boring gameplay but it had a neat narrative.

Borderlands had boring gameplay but the RPG elements helped make it seem far more exciting than it was and at the time I was into it's loot lust so it was a bit addicting.

I went with Borderlands.

Missed that it was the original Borderlands before I clicked it. Would have voted BioShock Infinite otherwise. Borderlands 2 is a great game though.

I never cared for Borderlands, just could never get into it.

Borderlands. Bioshock Infinite is a mess. Enjoyable at times, but nowhere near my favorite games of this generation.

Dude, let's be real.

Borderlands is way better than BioShock Infinite.

Catch a Ride.

Bioshock Infinite - a very pretty shooting gallery. Borderlands? Immensely replayable groundbreaking advancement of the loot-centric game.

Both are very good, and I wish it were a little more evenly matched right now. That said, I still kind of prefer Bioshock: Infinite. The narrative is a mess and the gameplay isn't the best but it just has more charm to me.

Infinite sure is pretty and had a nice story, but as a game it really didn't do anything interesting.

Borderlands on the other hand was something unique at the time and still is aside from it's direct sequel. A Diablo like FPS.

You mean I can vote for Katawa Shoujo? Where?

I'm still meaning to take some time to reflect on that ending, and the Luteces, and the nature of the BioShock multiverse, and everything else from Infinite. I'm a complete sucker for that stuff.

Borderlands 1 was boring. Now Borderlands 2, that's a hell of a game. Gimmie a ninja blade, a Jakobs revolver, some sweettunes, tons of things to kill and loot, and I will play the ever-loving shit outta your game.

My vote goes to Bioshock Infinite, but if it were facing Borderlands 2, the decision would be really difficult.

Borderlands is pretty cool, and just about any game that used Diablo 2 mechanics is good in my book, but god damn is that game boring. Infinite doesn't have the same highs as the original, but it doesn't have the same lows either. A consistently good game, albeit a bit slow and meandering at times. Bioshock Infinite has my vote.

Borderlands . Bioshock (first one) would be a better challenger than the over hyped one.

Gosh, this might be a case where I can't vote having not played Infinite yet. That games is so back and forth that I can't trust anyone but myself to judge what it is at this point so to compare it to Borderlands is nigh impossible.

Although if I must invoke "game of the generation" then I think Infinite's contribution to the generation is important in a way that flows counter to its quality. To me Infinite seems to close the book on some of the narrative structures that BioShock made popular this generation. It ended the job that BioShock stared and basically guarantees that anything approximating audio diaries or anything of the sort will likely be too obvious or arbitrary to justify. No doubt there's a lot to appreciate in Infinite and I look forward to playing it but I think it's contribution has been more so the discussions it sparked than the game per se.

Borderlands on the other hand feels like it belongs smack dab in the middle of this generation of consoles and seems to be like a "game of the generation" despite not hitting the highs that Infinite hits. So I guess I'll vote Borderlands.

Hard to compare a multiplayer game to a single player game.

@demoskinos: So Borderlands wins?

I love borderlands 2 more than the first one. My vote goes to Infinite.

@flacracker: The only thing Borderlands wins at is being marginally less awful than Borderlands 2 because of the lack of Tiny Tina.

Fuck, I love both those game, but that first Borderlands made me so happy for many many hours. If this were Borderlands 2 vs Infinite it would be a different story.

I gotta go with Borderlands on this one. Played the absolute hell out of it, and hey, it might even by my overall game of the generation just cause of how much fun I had with it. Infinite is a fantastic game in it's own right and I do love it, but Borderlands felt fresher, especially in '09 when it dropped. Gotta represent that loot lust!

Borderlands is just pure fun. Bioshock Infinite is a good game but it's not as good as the original Bioshock, has a very mediocre combat system, and offered a fairly predictable story. It's another well made game in the GOTG list, but mechanically, it's just not on par with Borderlands; for me, gameplay wins out almost every time.

I say Borderlands because it's one of the few modern fpses I actually enjoy playing. Infinite had a great story and setting, sure, but everything else was kind of meh.

The opposite is essentially true of Borderlands, with great character progression and combat but a story that may as well not be there at all.

Borderlands is a fun game, it is no BioShock Infinite.

Borderlands still kinda sucks because you have way too few abilities. You have one active skill, and everything else you put points into is a passive that buffs your one skill, or a passive that buffs your character in some general way. Would it have killed them to give each class like 2-4 meaningful abilities?

So fuck that game.

Bioshock Infinite all the way.

Both were pretty boring as far as gameplay but infinite had a far better story and the world design was awesome.

Bioshock Infinite. I really liked the setting, gameplay and story more than Bioshock and Borderlands 1 and 2 are great but they're hard to finish. I had the same problem with both Borderlands games, Id play co-op with one or two friends and have a blast up until I get to the mid 20s then the missions start getting boring and I start playing a little less and all my friends level up way past me and its not fun to play with them anymore. The gameplay mechanics aren't that great and I wish you could get skill points faster.

Borderlands, for sure. I put hundreds of hours into it and consider it one of my favorite games of all time. It was a great mix of existing genres and mechanics that had never been done that way previously and still really hasn't, until Destiny comes out. The art style is also timeless and very appealing. The game is seriously a ton of fun. And despite the sequel being better in almost every conceivable way, there are a few major problems that is has that makes me vastly prefer the first over it.

Infinite is a fine game. It has an exceptional story and characters and a twist ending that is conceptually amazing but executed a little sloppily. The gameplay, however, is merely serviceable and doesn't exactly offer up anything that fun. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed by it a little bit, but I still enjoyed my time with it. Borderlands was way more enjoyable to me, though.

I'd say Borderlands, at least it's fun to play. Bioshock should seriously be getting the video game equivalent of a Razzie. It was just a horrible, horrible game.

Not the biggest fan of either game, but I'd say Bioshock Infinite edges out Borderlands.

Borderland is such a weird success, I have 2 copies of borderlands one on PC and one on PS3, and I have friends who say "play it multiplayer" or "play it singleplayer" and I can't seem to enjoy it. I mean it's okay, shooting mechanics are broken, and you get guns so they are less broken, so you debate on guns that are broken and less broken as you run backwards and fire. I've attempted at least 20 times and different ways to play this and it still doesn't hook me.

Seriously I'd rather voice for Minerva's Den then any of the Shock games, Infinite is pretty good, really amazed how the AI enemies are like Serious Sam. And the big bad guy's plot twist is just unearned, he's evil because there's racist imigary. But it's a unique game, Minerva's Den is better.

To me, the first couple hours of Bioshock Infinite are greater than most games I have EVER played. The rest of the game is gravy. But it is really hard to compare a game that relies on playing with other people to a single player experience. So for me to pick between these two games, Infinite is one of the best single player experiences I have had, while Borderlands was great, but games such as Castle Crashers, NHL, Super Smash Bros, Mario Kart, etc. have provided more exciting and, quite frankly, more memorable experiences for the multiplayer experience. Therefore I have to vote for Infinite.

Both of those games were not fun at all to play. I kind of liked the bioshock art a bit better so that one I guess?

As much I really liked Borderlands (and as much as I REALLY disliked Borderlands 2), I've got to give it to Infinite. Two great games, though.

This is the real kicker here for me. I even played through most of Borderlands (plus most of the DLC) with a couple co-workers, and it was admittedly fun, but then I think about trying to play that game when people weren't around, and holy crap is it boring. And even with the multiplayer stuff, diminishing returns tends to kick in at a certain point. The missions get repetitive, your repertoire of skills isn't varied or interesting enough (and to be honest, everyone really just has their one main skill), and it becomes a chore.

Bioshock Infinite on the other hand has fantastic art direction, a great story, and I'm one of the weirdos who actually liked the combat in that game quite a bit, especially when you are whipping around on those skyrails shooting lightning and crows. To be honest, now that I'm thinking about it, the set of skills and vigors you get in Infinite are probably more interesting than the Borderlands skill tree.

Bioshock. No contest.

Finally, here's two games I played through completely. Infinite to win it!