So, after a few weeks of new releases, I'm taking us back a bit to Borderlands, developed by Gearbox, future developers of Duke Nukem Forever. This is, however, the Game of the Year edition, but I won't be commenting too much on the DLC additions.
STORY
Borderlands is a tale of treasure, bandits and alien creatures that doesn't quite reach its true potential. Based on the Planet of Pandora, you play as one of four mercenaries, in search of the Vault. The vault is either a magical place filled with riches or a mythical plot device to drive what little story there is.
The game has some decent writing, but theres very little actual dialogue or cut scenes. Theres alot of exposition for each quest, and usually they're quite funny. Its just too bad that all that humour takes the form of paragraphs of writing.
PRESENTATION
The art style of Borerlands fits in well with its humorous feeling, the cel-shaded graphics giving it a distinct look in todays market of gritty brown shooters. The sound quality is pretty good, with each gun sounding distinct and pretty cool. The voice acting is fairly good, but not enough of it is there to be worth mentioning further.
The soundtrack is forgettable, aside from the opening theme which was fucking cool. No Rest for the Wicked was a cool way to get into the game, and introduce the characters.
The menu systems are horrible. I very rarely mention the User Interface in my reviews, but Borderlands menu system is so cluttered it deserves to be said. Since you'll constantly be dealing with different weapons, you'll need to compare them constantly. However, it takes so much effort to compare these weapons over and over that it sometimes doesnt seem worth it.
GAMEPLAY
Borderlands mixes RPG elements with your usual free roam first person shooter and the gameplay is honestly quite solid, but its just not very interesting. See, just having random quests instead of a structured, well paced story, can be detrimental to the gameplay. Theres really not alot to motivate you to keep playing, except perhaps the levelling system.
There are hundreds of weapons available, but none of theme are actually varied enought to really give a crap. Theres also very little variation in quests, with most being something along the lines of "go here and kill this bandit".
The only really different part of gameplay is the vehicle sections, but they all handle like theres a fat dog taped to the steering wheel, and they make combat too easy to be any challenge at all.
There is co-op multiplayer, but the game can barely stand up on its single player. The game does nothing new and is actually pretty thinly spread.
REPLAYABILITY
While the game may not appeal to most people, those of whom who do enjoy it will find hours of entertainment with the original 40 levels, as well as the additional 18 that come with the DLC. And if you did actually enjoy Borderlands, the DLC will suit you just fine. And you can always play with friends, if thats your thing.
OVERVIEW
Borderlands is a massive grindfest, with very few redeeming points. Its humorous and has a distinct art style, and the mechanics are quite solid. The uninteresting single player makes it hard for me to actually recommend this game however. If you plan on always playing it in co-op, then it should be fine, but it should stand up on its single-player.
So, this one was kind of rushed. Sorry to all the readers, and I'll hopefully be doing an awards blog next week or the week after. See you next time!
No comments:
Post a Comment