Welcome to Pandora, a wasteland planet full of hostile bandits, mercenaries, and alien wildlife. It is also home to a legendary wellspring of wealth and alien technology known only as “The Vault,” something that many people believe is a myth…and something many desire to find. This is the setting to 2K Games and Gearbox Software’s First-Person Role Playing Shooter, Borderlands. Having had the chance to play it at PAX 2009, albeit very briefly, I had a few vague ideas about what the gameplay would be like. First-Person Shooters are a dime a dozen these days, but I was under the impression that Borderlands would be a whole different experience. And, I am glad to report, it didn’t disappoint. I spent a good 20+ hours taking on the main story and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Gameplay:

The core gameplay of Borderlands consists of a hybrid of First-Person Shooter and Role Playing gameplay, referred to in promotional materials as a “Role Playing Shooter.” If you were to take Fallout 3 and tip the gameplay scales in favor of the shooter elements of the game, as opposed to the RPG elements, that would pretty much describe the type of gameplay you’d find in Borderlands. The game does not have the standard FPS stage progression, but rather places you in an open world that expands the further you are in the game. The mission structure of the game is comprised of a quest system, undertaking missions in exchange for XP (Experience Points, which are necessary to level up your character), money, and loot (such as weapons and equipment). These missions are usually given out by friendly NPC’s, though different areas in the game’s world contain Bounty Boards, which allow you to take on additional missions and odd jobs for additional rewards.

Gathering XP allows you to level up your character, as is standard in any RPG. Every mission is ranked by experience level and difficulty, with missions becoming easier the closer you are to reaching the experience level listed, ranging from trivial, if your character has surpassed the required experience level, and impossible, if the opposite holds true.  As such, the game requires you to undergo some XP grinding, killing enemy creatures and bandits, as well as undertaking non-mandatory side-missions, usually given out by NPCs or found on Bounty Boards. Each enemy also has their own experience level. Enemies that are at a higher level than you take less damage from your attacks. The higher the enemy’s experience level is, the harder it is to kill them, with enemies that clearly outclass you meaning certain death. However, dying doesn’t mean game over here. If your HP is brought down to zero, you’re given a brief window while as you’re bleeding to kill an enemy, which, if successful, gives you a second wind, restoring your shields and some of your HP. If you fail, you are revived at the last New-U Station you passed, losing a small portion of your money as a result. New-U Stations are everywhere, so dying doesn’t really set you back too far.

At the start of the game, you are given the opportunity to choose from four different characters, each with their own unique character class, defining their specialties and abilities, including a specific action skill, which is unlocked once your character reaches Level 5. Once your action skill is unlocked, you begin receiving a skill point after reaching a new level, being able to strengthen and unlock new skills. Each character has three skill trees, each with its own set of abilities. Furthermore, there are a ton of different weapons to choose from across seven different weapon types, each with its own stats and attributes. Using weapons of a certain type increases your proficiency with that weapon type, which, as you reach higher proficiency levels, grants you added bonuses such as extra damage and faster reloading types.

Aside from your standard weapons, you have other equipment, such as shields, grenades, and modifications. There are two types of modifications that can be obtained; grenade mods, which alter the way grenades work, and class mods, which are mods that give your character new skills based on their specific class. Certain pieces of equipment, including weapons, require you to reach a certain level before being able to use them, with the more powerful weapons being available at higher levels. Additionally, certain weapons, shields, and mods grant elemental damage, such as incendiary, shock, corrosive, and explosive damage, which, if successful, chips away at an enemy’s HP until it wears off. Weapons and Equipment are color coded, based on their rarity, white (most common), green, blue, purple, and orange (rarest). However, a rare weapon isn’t essentially one that’s really powerful, but it will fetch a higher price if you decide to sell. Oddly, in the course of my game, I never came across an orange weapon at all, showing just how rare they are.

In addition to the single player game, Borderlands also offers a four-player online co-op mode, as well as two-player split-screen co-op for the console versions, which allow players to team up and tackle missions together. Playing multiplayer means facing tougher enemies to avoid making the game too easy by teaming up with others. However, enemies drop better loot during multiplayer sessions as well. Unfortunately, there is no fair way to distribute loot, so if you’re playing with random people online, you may want to be quick when collecting loot, or you may find yourself getting beat to the punch by some greedy player. There is also PvP support, which can be activated by two players using melee attacks on each other. There are also arenas, in which player can fight free for all and 2v2 matches against each other. Having played this on the Xbox 360, I can’t say this for certain, but I’ve heard reports of a faulty multiplayer interface on the PC version, which is rather unfortunate, given that the online multiplayer is pretty great.

Graphics/Visuals:

As opposed to most First-Person Shooters these days, whose realistic and gritty graphics tend to mean textures and graphics colored a dull gray and/or brown, Borderlands takes a more cartoonish, cel-shaded appearance, which fits the somewhat absurd tone of the game. It’s nice to see games that aren’t afraid to be colorful, and Borderlands is definitely a fun game to watch. However, there are a few minor graphical glitches that occur time and again which causes textures to not render completely, which usually happens when traveling to new areas or loading your game. This error quickly corrects itself, but it happens more often than one would like.

Sounds:

The game’s soundtrack is pretty well composed, the music usually fitting the mood, especially when it picks up after you find yourself in a dangerous situation. That said, the music isn’t particularly memorable in the game. Aside from the in-game soundtrack, Borderlands also features two pieces of music for its opening and closing credits, which are “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” by Cage the Elephant and “No Heaven” by DJ Champion.

As for the dialogue, you tend to hear the same few lines repeated by your character and your enemies over and over. As for NPC’s, they usually get a few lines of dialogue when you see them, but not much. Most of what they have to say is told in the mission descriptions. I do have to commend a few of the missions which have you collecting audio logs left behind by a researcher, which you hear as you collect them. The dialogue in these logs is well done and chronicles the exploits of a research sent to Pandora who slowly goes insane, which results in some very morbid, but funny and entertaining lines of dialogue.

The Cast of Borderlands. From Left to Right: Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick.

Overall:

The game has a lot going for it, especially because there is so much packed into it. With a limit cap set at 50 and a variety of side-missions for you to complete, along with the online mode and the ability for face friends and others in competitive arenas, Borderlands is a game that will keep you coming back for more, especially with a new DLC campaign coming in a few weeks. The game is essentially built like an MMO, despite that it only supports four players online.

The game is well designed, but if I had to list one major problem with the game, it’s the storyline itself, which is to say it’s hardly even there. Sure, you’re on a quest to get to the vault, but even with a few twist and turns along the way, the storytelling isn’t the game’s strong point. One major issue I had with the game is the characters themselves. Despite their desire to find the Vault, the character’s motivations are never fully explained, which results in them being rather two-dimensional. In addition, most “dialogue exchanges” result in them being told everything, leaving them virtually voiceless, despite them being somewhat vocal during combat. Also, without giving away any spoilers, the ending didn’t really leave me satisfied. Still, the gameplay is done quite well and, story flaws aside, it is very difficult to find fault with the game. I highly recommend it. It’s fun, quirky, and rather enjoyable. If you’re expecting a standard, run of the mill FPS, you won’t find it here. This FPS/RPG hybrid merges the two genres in an interesting way and is definitely worth checking out.

This game was reviewed using a copy of Borderlands on the Xbox 360, courtesy of 2K Games.