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Borderlands

First game on the new PC.

“Think Diablo, but FPS.”
I got this game via recommendation.

What it is
Borderlands is an action/adventure FPS-RPG. A hybrid of genres, so to speak.

First Impressions
Cartoonish. But in a good way. The game is beautifully designed to have a hand-drawn feel throughout.
Everything has that hand-drawn black border around them.
It feels like you’re playing a character inside a Marvel comic.

The opening cinematics sets the rythmn and feel of the game, giving you an idea of what’s coming up ahead.
I immediately related Borderlands to three things: Kill Bill, Inglorious Basterds, and Crazy Taxi.
You will imagine that it was developed by the same people who made the movie. It’s THAT similar.

Story
The setting is a chaotic world called Pandora. The goal of the game is to access the contents of a vault carved into the side of the mountain. The contents are said to contain alien technology and secrets.
All sorts of people are trying to hunt it.
They are….vault-hunters.
You get to be one of them.

Gameplay
To start things off, you now get to choose a class.
There are 4 different classes.

Each character has its own skill tree, weapon specialty, and special ability.
The game starts with a short tutorial, only because controls are pretty straightforward.

You get off a bus and start your journey as a vault-hunter. A mysterious lady appears on your HUD and proceeds to guide you throughout the game. Your objective is simple: Find quests, kill enemies (or collect items), get better weapons (and shields), and level up.
Go to new area, repeat.

Think Diablo, but in FPS.

There are tons of quests for you to do, each offering XP and good cash. You can use the cash at shops to upgrade your gear, but I found that most of the better gear were found as loot from enemies.

The items remind me of WoW and Diablo.
Regular items are white in colour, but special items have their name in green, blue, and purple. These items have enhanced attributes (damage, reload speeds, recoil, extra ammo, elemental damange, etc.)

Honestly, though. The game can get a little repetitive.
Some special side quests, and the unending choices of weaponry rescued it, making it pretty fun to play.

Game response and interface are simple yet pretty; Graphics are gory and awesome, and the landscape of Pandora is beautiful. Eye candy eye candy eye candy. Gun designs can get wacky, and all your enemies die in such lovely manner.

Downsides
The game is pretty easy. The AI is programmed to just rush at you and fire. They don’t hide, dodge, or do anything that makes them seem anything but a scripted bot. Their actions are thoroughly predictable. Even boss fights were a walk in the park. Find a nice spot, camp and shoot. A trick is to get them lodged (stuck) behind a pole of somesort, and fire at them without taking any damage.

Summary
Point and shoot. Fun to play if you are into the whole levelling up and gear-collecting. (which i am)

Pros
Nice graphics. Tried and true gameplay. Simple and straightforward. Impressive array of gear. Interesting.

Cons
Can get repetitive. Predictable AI.

Rating
7/10