GetDotted Domains

Viewing Thread:
"[Game] Borderlands"

The "Retro Game Reviews" forum, which includes Retro Game Reviews, has been archived and is now read-only. You cannot post here or create a new thread or review on this forum.

This thread has been linked to the game 'Borderlands'.
Wed 18/11/09 at 23:42
Regular
"Ghosts Can't Die!"
Posts: 774
When you think of the genres RPG and first person shooter, you never picture the two together and quite honestly up until now, I would never have guessed that blending them would result in such a unique and entertaining experience. Borderlands however has surprised me with its simple yet addictive gameplay and amazingly engaging cooperative multiplayer. With Christmas fast approaching titles like Modern Warfare 2, Assassin’s Creed 2, Forza 3 and New Super Mario Bros. are clearly stealing the limelight which is a shame as this could easily stand amongst them as worthy of your hard earned cash.

Borderlands is an open world game with dozens of locations to explore and hundreds of missions to tackle. After playing the certainly underwhelming Far Cry 2, I must admit I was a little hesitant when trying this title out but it’s clear this is how the African shooter should have been done. One major issue I had was getting around in Far Cry 2 and even though the environments seem huge here, it is never a chore getting around as a simple teleport system and set of speedy tanks make moving from point one to two a piece of cake. Already we’re off to a good start. Another thing, are the missions seem more varied and while a lot simply see you shooting a load of enemies or gathering random items, the range of creatures and humans you’ll face help keep things fresh and stop it from growing stale.

Before you even start shooting anything, you need to pick a class of character. There are four in total, each with their own skills and upgradable abilities. The soldier can provide turrets, Berserker uses his fists to literally beat his opponents, Siren has the ability to turn invisible and the Hunter can use his pet bird to attack. Abilities are also unlocked every level you go up and these are different for each character too. The Siren for example can excel in elemental attacks while the Hunter can increase their chances of a critical shot with a sniper rifle. Basically pick someone who matches your style of play as things will definitely be easier for you.

What is most impressive is that the RPG aspect of the title doesn’t feel tacked on at all and in fact feels well implemented. Like RPG’s, you can level up by gaining experience via shooting enemies and completing missions and every level you rise rewards you with more health, increased power and access to more weapons and abilities. There is a certain amount of customisation allowed in your character too with shield types, colours and mods being freely selected later in the game.

Watching recent adverts on the game it seems clear the developers are very proud of its large collection of weaponry. Literally millions are in this game and range from the usual handguns and shotguns right up to bazookas and alien weaponry. While a lot of these guns are the same with slight changes in power, magazine size and other categories, there are still a lot to be found and over time you’ll likely find a good handful you want to stick with.

The game is perfectly playable on your lonesome and it is still good fun going through the entire campaign, but like most RPGs, the real fun is to be had with other people. Being able to interact with others and divide objectives amongst yourselves is both fun and useful. Those of you worried that added people will mean a decline in difficulty, do not fret as enemies get a sharp spike in power and defence and even increase in numbers providing more than enough challenge for even the best of players. If you want a break from teaming up on the enemies, you can opt to attack your partners in a duel. While not exactly amazing, they are a funny distraction, if somewhat basic.

The shooting feels great and controls just as well with the button layout perfectly suited to the hectic battles you’ll find yourself in later in the game. Special abilities, gun changes and grenades are all easy to access and thanks to a simple to navigate menu system the viewing of your inventory, power-ups, map and missions are a breeze.

Length wise the story mode will last anywhere from thirty to forty hours the first time through depending on how many side missions you want to complete. The time flew by when playing this and that isn’t a bad thing since it’s down to how much fun the whole experience is. Once you’ve finished the first playthrough a second, tougher one will become available that will help raise you through the final fifteen or so levels till you reach the games peak. While the story remains exactly the same the added difficulty makes it feel worth replaying once more.

Visually the game is similar to its gameplay in that it’s extremely unique. Cel-shading has been done a fair amount in the past, but thanks to the added power of the Xbox 360 the style looks even more impressive here. Detail is high and animations decent too. While the baron wasteland theme doesn’t leave the developers a lot of options, environment-wise, there are more than enough locations to travel to ranging from caves and deserts to docks and snowy mountains. The music is also fairly good with sombre tunes played as you cross each long stretch of plain and things picking up during the more heated battles. Voice acting while fairly infrequent is well done and each new character you meet is always entertaining to listen to.

Borderlands takes a risk in mixing its two genres together and it definitely pays off. In a day and age polluted with masses of first person shooters, it’s certainly a nice change seeing a twist on the genre and I for one am hoping for a sequel in the coming years.
Sun 17/04/11 at 12:34
Regular
"trick shooting rulz"
Posts: 18
if the name wasent allowed i would have changed it i only use it because its the first word in my xbox 360 gamertag
Thu 14/04/11 at 16:11
Regular
"I like turtles"
Posts: 5,368
Thanks for clearing that up Chris,didn't feel brave enough to type 'pedoman' into Google myself!
Thu 14/04/11 at 14:48
Regular
"How Ironic"
Posts: 4,312
Technically, his name is allowed (searching in google, 'Pedoman' is also a Malaysian IT Network company, and also an old Indonesian newspaper).
Thu 14/04/11 at 12:46
Regular
"I like turtles"
Posts: 5,368
pedoman??? :S
Thu 14/04/11 at 11:18
Regular
"trick shooting rulz"
Posts: 18
i found the game quite fun actully but it got boring with all the modded guns in onlne play nowadays you have to have a modded sheild and gun jut to survive other players it annoying i mean i got beat by a lvl 1 kid im lvl 52 but i still got beat because of a modded gun so i play 2 player co-op or by my self or with freinds only now
Thu 19/11/09 at 14:31
Regular
"Ghosts Can't Die!"
Posts: 774
24th... Probably download it later in December or something. Likely be playing New Super Mario Bros for a couple of weeks :) Can't believe people aren't more excited about this game. I've actually been looking forward to it more than Modern Warfare!!
Thu 19/11/09 at 14:12
Staff Moderator
"Freeola Ltd"
Posts: 3,299
24th of this month. Although to be fair I have not heard Gearbox confirm it :S

But everyone is saying that, and it's going to be $9.99 or 800mp. It may even be American release date actually.... I should really look harder.
Thu 19/11/09 at 14:08
Regular
"Ghosts Can't Die!"
Posts: 774
You're right Warhunt, the story is fairly... well non existant, but the online I thought was great fun. Playing with my three friends we had a right laugh going through a good twenty missions at a time. When is the new content out? May have to give that a look if I can afford some points.
Thu 19/11/09 at 11:27
Regular
"THFC"
Posts: 4,488
Cool, think i will pick Borderlands up again when it is down in price and i have not got a game to play.

But at the moment that will not be for a long while
Thu 19/11/09 at 11:16
Staff Moderator
"Freeola Ltd"
Posts: 3,299
Dr. Ned's Zombie Island, DLC.

Gonna be an entire new map or two with zombies as enemies with more weapons quests etc.

Freeola & GetDotted are rated 5 Stars

Check out some of our customer reviews below:

Great services and friendly support
I have been a subscriber to your service for more than 9 yrs. I have got at least 12 other people to sign up to Freeola. This is due to the great services offered and the responsive friendly support.
LOVE it....
You have made it so easy to build & host a website!!!
Gemma

View More Reviews

Need some help? Give us a call on 01376 55 60 60

Go to Support Centre
Feedback Close Feedback

It appears you are using an old browser, as such, some parts of the Freeola and Getdotted site will not work as intended. Using the latest version of your browser, or another browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Opera will provide a better, safer browsing experience for you.