Borderlands

Developers have been trying for years to combine popular genres with varying success. I can still remember a few years back seeing discussions about how obscene mashing two specific genres would be. Probably the most commented on was about first person shooters with role-playing conventions. It was a divided battle, some dead set on the idea that it could never work, while others were convinced that if done properly it could be as epic as a boy seeing his first pair of boobs. All this discussion was hypothetical as nobody thought it would ever happen. Little did we know we'd end up seeing it happen, and in pretty spectacular fashion. Borderlands is one of those games that comes across as a young developer's fever dream. Just enough about Borderlands is done well enough to hold it together and make it fun, but it also falls short on some key points that make you want to pull your hair out as you wonder just how insanely good the game could have been if some tweaks had been made.

You'll start out on a bus ride to Nowhereville, Pandora, and be given the option of what c1ass of character you'll use. There are four c1ass that fall into some crossover of RPG and shooter stereotypes. There's Mordecai the Hunter, Roland the Soldier, Lilith the Siren, and Brick the Berserker. Every c1ass specializes in using a particular group of weapons, although you can use anything you want to regardless. The c1asses also have unique special abilities that will help you in some of the more hectic battles you will encounter.

Wait...is that a giant...nahhhh, couldn't be.

The combat feels solid, and the shooting is competent. Many times, unless you are sniping from a distance, you'll more than likely circle strafe around your enemies or back-pedal from them depending on enemy type. You can take on the world by yourself or with up to three of your friends. Unless you're a loot junky, playing the game by yourself is going to see you miss out on much of the experience that Borderlands has to offer. This is definitely a game to be played with friends, and although you can play alone it's much better with company.

The RPG elements that Borderlands employs lies largely in its leveling and questing systems. Killing hordes of baddies and completing quests will net you experience towards leveling up. Every level will give you the usual boost in health, and a skill point to dump into your c1ass' skill tree. Quests are bare-bones, lacking much variety and are by and large centered on killing some super bad guy, or collecting a bunch of items. Higher levels also mean better guns and gun drops, which is of course one of the biggest draws Borderlands has. It doesn't quite have a bazillion guns, but it has plenty of randomly generated weapons to roll with. It's always fun when you open a chest to find a triple barrel rocket launcher or doom, or a shotgun with a 4.3 scope and the accuracy of an assault rifle (yes that exists, and yes it's as awesome as it sounds). It's not so much fun when you're with friends though, since it can turn into a free-for-all over drops since there is no trading system to speak of. This is just asking for trouble, and although the game has a dueling system which I guess could be used to decide who keeps the spoils, it still amazes me that there isn't a system for trading in a game where loot is one of the biggest components.

Meet the team. Guess who's called Brick.

Outside of the core game-play lays a barren land sprinkled with things gone wrong. Borderlands has a handful of awesome characters full of personality but they are barely used at all. The story itself is lackluster and has holes in it like Swiss cheese which you may or may not pick up on depending on if you even know what's going on in the first place. A couple of launch day glitches and quirks top the long list of minor quips that make Borderlands fall frustratingly shy of greatness. There's enough done well to make it a package worth playing, but you'll be left with many a sleepless night wondering about the game that could have been. As negative as that all sounds, the game is usually a blast to play, and you'll find yourself losing track of time as you rack up kills and fill up your inventory with weapons of mass destruction.

When it comes down to it though, Borderlands will more than likely scratch some odd itch you've had for years that you didn't even know existed. There are many hours of mindless fun to be had here, and re-playability is one of the game's biggest strengths. If you have a love for loot, shooting things that move, leveling up, or some nonsensical mixture of all three, Borderland's will deliver in sty1e.