Borderlands
X-Box 360, Playstation 3, PC (reviewed on PC)
Developed: Gearbox Software
Published: 2K Games
Released: October 26, 2009

In a world that has embraced Halo and Call of Duty, Borderlands is a throwback to twitch shooters, the story of pointing your gun at living things and waging a storm of bullets until you or the target dies.  It’s not much of a shooter, and not much of a role-playing game, but Gearbox was not kidding when the two had a baby.  In the face of many irrational design decisions, Borderlands’ success hinges on the sum of its parts and an aesthetic missing in modern shooters.

(Let’s get something out of the way: If bad ports offend you and you can live without mouse-keyboard gaming, purchase the console version.  Borderlands was built for the Playstation and X-Box first.  The PC version not only comes with Auto Aim as a feature, it’s toggled on by default.  And playing online?  Have fun with GameSpy Arcade, the Dr. Pibb of online gaming.  The port was bad enough that SomethingAwful dedicated an article to mocking crappy ports that preceded Borderlands.  Just a warning.)

Early on, the game feels destined for mediocrity.  You can’t hotkey health items.  There is no minimap.  It’s possible to get your vehicle stuck on the environment.  Scavenger quests suffer from waypoint glitches.  All of this aside from bugs currently crippling save files and online play.

You heard the billboard.  Welcome to Pandora.

Combat’s issues can be tracked back to “Xboxification”.  The game’s seven weapon types feature enough diversity to promote mid-combat weapon rotation, and that’s where the good news ends.  Continuing trends reinforced by the popularity of console shooters, the sort of defensive-aggressive measures (dodging, wall-jumping) that define arcade-style shooters are absent.  In a game that encourages cover, you cannot lean.  Without exploiting your ability to jump, your defensive abilities are limited to “run backwards”, “hide behind walls”, and “take damage”.  As has been a problem in every arcade shooter ever designed, your ability to dodge hitscan weapons is inconsistent.  And since most of your foes use them, it’s preferable to counter a hail of bullets by taking hits and returning fire.  Borderlands has taken a larger-than-life aesthetic and supplemented it with a combat system that’s closer to Call of Duty than Quake.

Fortunately, that aesthetic is a saving throw, a glorious game world where “dark and gritty” becomes fresh and original.  The only thing conventional about the storyline is your goal to unlock a mythical treasure vault.  With the help of ammunition vending machines and attention-whore helper robots, you’ll Second Amendment your way through the psychologically insane and the wildlife surrounding it.  Weapons look good and sound good long before you become a one-man army.

Does that mean Borderlands is a bad game propped up by “teh grafix”?  Absolutely not.  The game simply lacks anything to set it apart from what preceded it.  As of today, its defining legacy will be its positive reception, favorable became average gameplay can shine in a role-playing genre dominated by grind.  Ultimately, the series’ success will fall on a sequel that can fulfill the potential of what Gearbox has created.  As for now?  “Competent first effort” would be an understatement.

Oh, and the box art is pretty cool, too.

*** out of *****