Life and Love in the Wasteland?

Borderlands

Close your eyes and imagine with me a moment if you will.  You look around and see nothing but desert for miles and miles.  Burnt out cars litter the streets of what used to be a bustling metropolis, and in the distance, you hear the howl of god knows what.  This is America, after the “impending” nuclear holocaust, and for some reason, it seems to be all the rage.  What with numerous post-apocalyptic movies coming out and the massive return of the Fallout series, it seems like the general public has forgotten the craze of zombie outbreaks for a landscape once glimpsed Beyond the Thunderdome.  And I do have to admit, I kind of like it myself.

I have always been a huge fan of the Fallout series due to the unique vision of a world that we once knew and loved in shambles.  With the launch of Fallout 3 last year, we gamers got to explore The Wastes in a new way that wasn’t possible in the mid 90’s, with beautiful graphics and expansive (alebeit desroyed) vistas.  Now, imagine the rush of emotions that I felt when I first glimpsed Borderlands.  At first, I thought this game was going to be a shameless ripoff of the aforementioned franchise.  However, the more and more I looked into it, the more I became intrigued.

First and foremost, I have to claim my love for the graphics in this game.  I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the “cel shading” technique before, but I honestly like it.   This game oozes comic book style and the visuals help accentuate that.  Now pretty graphics are great, but they are nothing if the characters are lifeless and dull.  Trust me, this game has one of the most memorable casts ever.  Everything from the lovable, yet foul mouthed Claptrap robots to the hockey mask sporting psychos, this world breathes its own unique life into what is a usually dreary and bleak atmosphere.

Expanding on that, this game has a lot of gut busting comedy.  Mentioned earlier, a lot of this is supplied by the Claptrap robots, who cheer you on in some battles while also spouting profane insults at your enemies.  Also, most bosses have almost a Tarantinoesque introduction sequence, which made the movie nerd in me smile from ear to ear.

OK, so we’ve got a good setting, but what about gameplay, you ask? Well, the game does the best describing itself on the cover, claiming that it is the first true RPS or Role Playing Shooter.  What that means to those who aren’t big into gaming jargon, this game pretty much plays like a good mix between Diablo and Doom.  Now, the actual gunplay is not as refined as something you would find in a game like Call of Duty, but it is more than enough to suffice.  The biggest draw for me however is the claim that there are over a million different guns to pick up in the game.  Now before you start fretting about having to manage that much firepower, let me explain something.  This is where the shades of Diablo come in.  Yes there are a TON of guns that can drop randomly off of enemies, but there are 5 main types (Shotgun, Pistol, SMG, Sniper, Assault)/  However, every gun has different properties, such as finding an assault rifle where every shot has a chance to cause an explosion or a pistol that fires like a shotgun.  Some might call it overkill, but the loot whore in me absolutely loves it.  Also, every character gains XP from killing enemies and completing quests,  which in turn means you level up too.  This is a pretty basic function, as you don’t have to worry about assigning stat points, but you are given a point to put into whatever skills you please, and with three different skill trees per character type, you can tailor your avatar to your liking.

And, just like Diablo, this game really shines in multiplayer.  The 4-player co-op is amazingly fun and the great thing is that it can either be played online or on couch.  I have a very strong group of people that I play with on Xbox Live and if they want to come to the house to get some face time, it’s easy as cake to port their character to my box and jump right back where we left off.  Not that I minded it much, but there isn’t a true head to head option.  You can duel in your co-op games, but there is no real stat tracking or anything, but then again it wouldn’t really fit in the games framework.

Overall, Borderlands is a funky retake on the typical post apocalyptic setting.  With literally millions of gun combination, miles and miles of waste to explore, and the pure unbridled joy of co-op gaming, I can guarantee that you will be popping this game into your gaming system of choice for a long time to come!