Hybrid. When I think of the word hybrid as describing a video game, my inner “Crap Alarm” goes off. When I’m told that a game is a “something” with certain “something” aspects, I run the other way. Why, because that usually means that a game will try to do a couple of things, but end up doing none of them well.
That said, I received a review copy of Borderlands from 2K Games last week and after spending a good 25 hours with the game, I think I’m ready to give it a review.
Let’s talk about hybrids, MMO’s and Call of Duty 4, after the jump!
First off, lets try to describe this game. I think Borderlands could best be described as Fallout 3, if Fallout 3 was an MMO, but with better gunplay, gorgeous cell shaded graphics, but without Fallout 3′s excellent story elements. The game can also be played with up to three other friends, on the couch split screen, or all by yourself. You’re also restricted to playing as one of four pre-set characters.
Did I lose you yet?
Well, Borderlands is just not easy to pin down. Sure, there’s RPG elements. As you level up, you get one skill point to upgrade yourself with. Sure, there’s MMO style quests where you party up with friends and tackle missions and occasional monsters/bosses. Sure, there’s the excellent gun play. When you combine them all together you get a RPG/MMO/FPS genre bending hybrid that, by all accounts, should fail.
It does not fail.
In fact, Borderlands is an excellent game. Starting off, you’ll get four “character types” to choose from at the beginning, which represent your basic MMO/RPG archetypes: The Soldier (Soldier class), the Tank (Berzerker class), the Ranged fighter(Sniper class) and the Mage (the Siren). Each do their typical “things” well, with the notable exception being the Siren class. She has a unique ability to turn invisible and run really fast for short durations. This power can be changed up a bit to be used to heal yourself, or inflict damage as you run past enemies, which is different from the standard abilities of the Soldier (auto turret), Berzerker (invincible charge attack) and Sniper (attack bird).
In my playthroughs, I’ve spent a lot of time with the Soldier, an all around stout fighter and the Siren, who uses sub machine guns and her phase walk to attack in unconventional ways. The real star of the show in a game like this, however, is the loot.
In RPG’s and MMO’s loot is king. Good loot can make or break a game of this genre excellent and Borderlands does not disappoint. With about a bazillion different types of guns to find, as they are mostly randomly generated, you could conceivably play this game a bazillion times and not experience all the loot the game has to offer. This is a good thing. The weapons in Borderlands are as refreshingly diverse in their type, look and use. It’s the loot in Borderlands that keeps me coming back for more, re-opening chests every time I resume the previous day’s play session and seeking out “just one more quest” at 3 in the morning. The loot in Borderlands can be addictive.
Loot is only half the battle though. Once you’ve acquired your desired bullet hose of death, Borderlands does an excellent job of using their loot. The gunplay in the game is very good. It doesn’t hurt that the default control scheme is identical to Call of Duty 4, which I now beg for more games to adopt. The immediate muscle memory triggered by the set up gives you one less thing to worry about as your sort your quests, deliberate over which weapon to use and how to deal with your immediate threats. Borderlands uses an excellent control scheme to reward skilled gunplay in the form of critical hits, which become more and more, well, critical, as the game progresses and you fight more difficult enemies, which is something I’ve never seen in a game of this kind. Because of the excellent gunplay, the game feels much more like a shooter than anything, and I for one welcome this hybrid to my catalog.
All that said, there are a few issues with the game. The story is extremely weak, to the point that you really stop caring about any of the context or story elements of the game and begin playing for the loot. On the other hand, the game’s setting, characters and architecture exude personality and charm. Second, there is an argument to be made against the repetitive “fetch” type missions you’ll receive, although I didn’t really feel that “repetitiveness” during my time with the game, as Borderlands does an excellent job of dressing up the same old thing and keeps each mission feeling somewhat fresh. Third, you’d better be playing with people you know, because Borderlands does nothing to foster a cooperative spirit of play. If anything, Borderlands rewards selfish, backstabbing play as all the loot is first come, first serve and does not distinguish between class. If you want to play as a soldier with a kick ass sniper rifle, well, all you have to do is get to that weapon first.
In the end, Borderlands is a must buy for any shooter fan. Borderlands is a must buy for any MMO fan. If you’re an “RPG only” kind of guy, with an occasional sprinkle of FPS, this may not be your cup of tea, as the game’s story leaves a lot to be desired and the “rpg” elements are fairly basic.
So, if you’re so inclined, I definitely suggest taking this hybrid out for a spin, it might just be the best game you’ve played all year.
Borderlands gets a “must buy” recommendation of two out of two stars.
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I have been digging on this game since midnight of release day. Very, VERY well-put-together game. Gearbox truly put a lot of thought into the mechanics of this game and I really only have one beef: I WANT A DAMN MINI MAP! By no means is that little detail a deal breaker…I just get lost a lot.
Nice to see you liked the game as well Lono.
-Razz
SOLD! I passed this off as a generic fallout 3 clone to be obvious but this sounds awesome! I kinda like your reviews better then anyone else lono seeing as your not afraid to say what you really think about the game.
This game’s bragging right is having a ton of guns but it only has the same guns that look slightly different have the same couple of different types of sights and possible element effects that all makes it sound like there’s alot of guns but if you think about it their all the same general guns with different attachments and maybe an element I just wish they’d make more truly different guns with different gameplay
Well, yes, there are a set number of “classes” of guns, but IMO, the looks of guns within a class do vary substantially.
I disagree, Lono. This game is only a must buy if you have two or more close friends to always play with. They do boast a “bazillion” guns, but 80% of that is vendor trash. Plus, after playing WoW, the quests felt FAR too familiar, and I’m sure that’s why I got tired of them so quickly.
The game itself is great, but only an instant purchase if you’re looking for something exactly like it with co-op. If you want a superior shooter, there’s MW2. A better rpg would be Demon’s Souls or Dragon Age. Aion is also a stellar MMO that came out recently.
Borderlands is an awesome rental, but simply not worth your $60 if you’re just looking to kill time until MW2 or Dragon Age. Rent it for $5 and play it with your buddies. Save that full retail sale for something bigger.
I’ve played about 80 percent of the game by myself… I actually enjoy it more playing alone when going through new sections and discovering stuff than when playing with friends.
Also, you haven’t played Dragon Age yet, so it doesn’t count… I have and my short time with it was good, but not better than Demon’s Souls
WoW is an universally world open for the whole planet as ounce where as borderlands is a four player at a time game, hard to tell when the two might excatcly. Also it dosen’t mean 87 billion guns, the games company in question didn’t think we’ld see that trailer thinking “awesome, that many guns? We’ll never get bored!”
i have a patch never to knock the review intill playing the game otherwise i might as well be explaining nuclear physics to a nuclear fission scientist.
I’ll be going and picking this game up later today, looks really cool.
And I have to walk away until it’s on sale… great review, but I love a good story, so it’s likely to disappoint me specifically.
Thank you!
Great review. I am in love with this game, this game was worth every penny that I paid for it. I just finished the story the other day and I’m in no way feeling worn out from it. I’ve started my second playthrough with the Hunter instead of going to another class. (Which I do plan on doing eventually) Nothing feels better than beating an enemy that’s a higher level than you and seeing your gun proficiency raise.
I also have no problem playing it single player, as it gives the game a different feel than doing it co-op. You get two completely different experiences which is very welcome to me. It’s a blast trying to find all of the different class mods, guns, artifacts & grenade mods. There is so much incentive to go back and keep playing. I feel like I’ll be playing this game for quite a while.
I have been really thinking about gameflying this game. The co op experience sounds fun (and since I have a couple of friends who would be getting the game at around the same time as me, I won’t have to deal with all the crap from some players on xbox live). I’m not a big fan of wow, but this game seems like it could keep me interested more than wow did.
and yes, I have pronounced gameflying an official word.
I just played through the game and ive done every mission and I am at lvl 37… i know this isnt the right place but ill ask anyway: What is the fastest way for me to get to lvl 50?
starting over with the same character and playing it again.
When you go to load your character it will ask you if you want to load your 1st or 2nd playthrough.
That option is pretty sweet.
awesome! thanks for the help guys!
How exactly is Fallout 3 and MMO? WTF?
I think you meant RPG there.
Actually, just re read that sentence again, consider the comma and think, and then I’d bet you’d withdraw that comment.
EPIC FAIL! Lono was saying that borderlands is like fallout 3 if it was made to be like an MMO, safe to guess how much of the articule you read. I’m also assuming you just read the words epic fail and am coming back with something without checking why i said epic fail
Looks decent, but Uncharted 2 is a better game.
I just last night finished the game for the second time and achieved all the achievables, unfortunately once that happens the game gets rather stale. I don’t think I’m going to trade it in though, perhaps all I need is a breather.
My biggest gripe with it is that the majority of the game takes place backtracking A LOT in the New Haven areas which are very boring, basically just a huge junkyard.
This game is much better on PC and all you xbots and ps3 fanboys can suck it!
I’ve been working my way through with my best friend. It’s definitely a fun, but really challenging game. If you’re not in co-op, you’ll probably have some trouble. We do split the loot pretty evenly though. Whoever finds the chest gets first pick and half the weapons, other person gets the other half. Works out pretty well. I’m definitely getting the GOTY edition for the dlc in a couple weeks.