“…Borderlands’ success hinges on the sum of its parts and an aesthetic missing in modern shooters.”
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 *****
November 6th, 2009 at 5:39 am
Agreed.
But the scavenger missions are supposed to point you to the general area, no the specific parts, so you have to look for them (or that’s what I heard and makes sense imo).
Also, if you were a Sniper, you would mention the fact that animation transition is instant, making headshots at long distance have a random chance of hitting. Specially since bullets have to travel the distance, and sound travels at supersonic speeds, so your enemies can turn around and start running before your shot hits them which most of the times generates a miss.
Finally, I hate the skill/class mod system. It’s flawed. I’m surprised they couldn’t replicate Diablo 2’s system.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Some of the scavenger missions are bugged. They will place waypoints directly on items and then revert to their proper behavior. Needless to say, it was quite confusing the first time I had the problem.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:43 am
Oh. I thought only the first item was pointed at.
I only did 2 scavenger missions. Then I realized how bad rewarded they’re.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I’ll go through this point-by-point.
This game is definitely NOT a twitch shooter by any means, your definition “pointing your gun at living things and waging a storm of bullets until you or the target dies” is what console fanboys would LIKE you to think a twitch shooter is because they swear their mad skillz at CoD4 means they’re a twitch shooter. Go play rifles UO and you’ll understand what twitch shooting is.
Yes, it’s an obvious port, but this is a rare time that I don’t care. Why? Because the game is good.
Also, playing online with the PC works just fine: a friend and I each pirated the game, and could make a Gamespy ID IN THE FUCKING GAME THAT WE PIRATED, and use it to connect to people with legit copies, and each other. No, online play on the PC is ok.
I agree however, with the lack of minimap and hotkeyable items beyond weapons makes the flow of the game awkward.
HAI GUISE GUESS WHAT OTHER GAME THAT ENCOURAGES COVER DOESN’T ALLOW YOU TO LEAN? orite, MW2.
Don’t forget crouching to dodge bullets, a staple of the twitch shooter you’re convinced this game is. That’s also an option.
Borderlands is not propped up by graphics at all, I realize we’re on the same page, but anybody who thinks it is needs to learn what the fuck is modern. The ONLY thing done with a hint of effort was water. That’s IT. Granted, I don’t mind, because the art style of the game works, and it looks neat–it’s refreshing from all the games that try to achieve photorealism. And let’s face it, if they tried and failed at photorealism, everybody would be in their grill about how bad the graphics suck.
You really need to do multiplayer, the game SHINES with it–that’s what it was designed for. Think D2 with guns, or rather a not-so-shitty HGL.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:52 am
I can see why you dislike the game in SP, MP is really enjoyable though.
November 6th, 2009 at 11:58 am
Really, a twitch shooter? It’s about collecting loot like in Diablo 2.
I’m sure that you were constantly dodging attacks in Diablo 2 though because that’s totally what that game and this game are about.
tl;dr – you’re a large nerd
November 6th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
@grmnasasin0227: I classified it as modern simply based on time frame. How many shooters in the last five years won a fan base with “over-the-top crazy”? Gears of War is the only one that immediately comes to the top of my head.
As for your other points, GameSpy Arcade has been notoriously bad for some time. And you can crouch in Unreal Tournament. That doesn’t make it a realistic shooter, though.
@both grmnasasin & Q-Veta: I’m looking at the game as a shooter with role-playing elements, rather than a role-playing game with shooting. Justifying role-playing’s weaker elements as “well, that’s what you do in RPGs” is one of the things that holds so many of them back. It’s fully possible for action role-playing games to pride themselves on being action games (Metroidvania comes to mind).
@h4x: With the exception of Halo, I can’t think of a single game built around both single and multiplayer where I said “multiplayer saves this game”, and that’s only because singleplayer delves so impressively into being lazy.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
ghetto, a couple of comments to your well written point of view.
First, as h4x said multiplayer is truly where the fun is to be had on this game. 4 players is best because there are lots of fun intense fights, and 3 can be intense as well.
For the people having trouble with gamespy, which is…most of the people that play the game. I have a solution that has worked for every one that has tried, about a dozen so far.
Lastly, i agree with the great first effort thing. When i finished play through 2 and then went with some other lvl 50 friends to kill upgraded bosses(they upgrade again when you hit 50 and/or beat playthrough 2…i did both at the same time so i am not sure what triggers it) i was thinking about how i hope borderlands 2 will evolve this idea and make something really good.
http://www.gameranger.com/
use this program to host/join games. None of us have had any problems at all with game ranger, so ghetto is correct in that gamespy is bad.
November 6th, 2009 at 5:14 pm
that was strange, i did not format the post like this, the paragraph that opened with the word lastly was indeed the last paragraph…..buggy. And of course any other grammar issue….yea those are bugs too….yea…
November 6th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
Last 5 years? Easy as shit. UO. That was the best shooter ever made, and it even fits your arbitrary timeframe.
Where did I claim the game was realistic? I just said it was good. It’s quite obviously UNrealistic. That doesn’t make it a bad game whatsoever.
Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that either of the areas are weak. Besides very long range sniping, is the combat fluid? Check. Lots of sidequests, loot to collect, and bosses and mobs to beat? Definitely check. This game is basically a better accepted HGL–the only thing holding that game back was the shitty multiplayer brought on by the devs.
November 6th, 2009 at 8:07 pm
once i got guns and the talent to increase bullet velocity head shots became easy to rely on
November 7th, 2009 at 1:59 am
@Chaz: I love multiplayer as much as anyone, but (and this is possibly to a fault) I have a peeve for games where single-player is a novelty in favor of multiplayer, and vice versa.
@grmnasasin: Guess we can agree to disagree. When I hand out three stars, it’s not a bad score. My review style is deliberately critical.
November 7th, 2009 at 2:49 am
“once i got guns and the talent to increase bullet velocity head shots became easy to rely on”
I wish the Sniper had that talent. The only way to hit long range headshots was to think “well, if I shoot, the enemy will detect me immediately and perform a instant 180 degree turn and head towards me, so his head will be probably be…”.
November 7th, 2009 at 7:29 am
Well Ghetto, the SP sucks. I did 2 sidequests I missed out on my own and I one shotted everything that came across me except for the flying badass birds. And then the long travel time, urgh.
November 7th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
@ghetto: i understand your point of view, but i don’t see the single player as being a novelty compared to multiplayer in this game.
And shalafi yea that would make sense for the sniper to have the talent….why they gave it to the siren is beyond me. The siren seems to be better at sniping than the sniper.
November 8th, 2009 at 9:31 am
Where’s the Uncharted 2 review your promised you jew?
November 8th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
Not done yet.