Borderlands

Welcome to Pandora!

This is where Borderlands is set. The world of Pandora (it has nothing to do with Avatar's Pandora) is a mining colony sponsored by the Dahl Corporation where the player is a scavenger in search for an ancient alien vault. Another of this vaults was found in the nearby planet of Prometheus (it has nothing to do with the movie Prometheus) and was filled with alien weapon technology wich allowed the Atlas Corporation (not to be confused with the Dahl Corporation) to overtake their competitors and in the world of Pandora it's all about the weapons.

There is a really good story that you by follow doing the missions in which you get to know more and more about what kind of world this is and it is a really interesting one but it isn't something you really care about. You care about the humor of the game (it's a really funny game) and the loot. Borderlands is mostly known for having a massive amount of different weapons. According to some official information there is a little over 3,5 million different weapons in the game, well...kinda. There are some base weapons which get different stats and different traits like having a scope or elemental damage and that's how they've turned several dozen weapons to 3,5 million, still...it's very impressive.

Visually the game has a bold cartoonish style which most hardcore FPS players do not like but Borderlands is not a game for the hardcore FPS player. The RPG elements that were put into the game made it different from the other titles, and for some it made it different for better. I know a couple of friends who do not like FPS that cleared the game. Still, it's a beautiful game with maps that are a joy to explore.

You have the standard leveling up that doesn't require you to have the trouble of selecting which stats you want to update, that you decide in the beggining when you select one of four characters which have different atrributes, and they are the Berserker, the Siren, the Hunter and the Soldier. What you can do is to equip up to 4 different guns, a class mod, a shield and a grenade mod that suits the better your playing style. I went for the Soldier and prepared myself to take a lot of hits but to shoot even more. I finished the main game and 2 DLC's this weekend and I think that it worked great for me but I'm tempted to return to the game with a different character. Either that or to take on the playthrough 2 mode which is to repeat everything but with the stats you already have, the enemies get tougher to match you and the loot get even better. I'm more of a solo player but you can also have co-op in the game. I've spent more than 25 hours in the game and I feel like I could easily spend another 25 or 50 hours in it.

One problem with the game is the backpack size. Even though you can expand it by completing side-quests or saving items in the Mad Moxxi's DLC, you always feel that it's not big enough. Many times I've found a crate of weapons and had to leave thing behind to take the new items. You will rarely buy weapons but you do have to sell a lot of them to buy ammo and health packs. I understand that the size you have is most likely the better but I'm a hoarder and I could always use a little bit more space.

The music in the game pumps up the adrenaline for the tasks ahead of you. I really enjoyed it. Sometimes it seems like asian and western music met and had a child. The cutscenes are different and for better.  Overall, not being great it's up to the job and flows nicely with the game.
 

To wrap up this review I have to say that I'm definetly going to buy Borderlands 2 and I do not understad why the success of Borderlands was unexpected to the developers because this is something to be proud of. I highly recommend you to buy the Game Of The Year edition of this game and to try it out for yourself. I had a blast killing hordes of enemies in the game and laughing because it is hilarious. You gotta love Claptrap, that's all I have to say.

Graphics - 4/5

Gameplay - 4/5

Sound - 4/5

Longevity - 5/5

Final Score - 17/20