Before I begin this review I'd like to hang a giant disclaimer over it. Tell you what, I'll write it in bold: I Loved Borderlands. It is important for me to put that there because I'm going to rake up a lot of bad things about it later. I'd been looking forward to playing Borderlands since long before Christmas, having heard news about it for some time. So when I got it just after Christmas I couldn't wait to play it. I had decided long ago that I was going to play as Mordecai the Hunter. This was because I wanted to Snipe things and shoot things with revolvers. A mistake, as it happened, because there weren't many good sniping positions and most of the snipers were so powerful I could pop heads without even aiming down the scope. Anyway my new hunter stepped off the bus and was met by a CL4P-TP or Claptrap. After a brief few fight sequences, during which I picked my character's colour and name because he was obviously a no-name dull-coloured chump before I got to control him, I made my way into a town called Fyrestone.
A few more tutorial hints later and I was sent to go kill some Skags. It was easy enough. A couple of shots from my sniper rifle sorted the job. Any that got too close were given a sharp melee attack to put them in their place. So after that I was sent to find a missing vending machine part. As I picked up the part I encountered some more Skags. Fair enough, only the second mission. After that I bought myself a shield and was told to go kill some bandits. Finally some proper action. On my way towards there camp I was met by more skags. Wait, hadn't I killed you guys? Anyway, I soon got to the bandit camp, which brings me sharply to my first criticism. Inside the camp I found eight or nine bandits. In actuality it was about three bandits that had been copied and pasted. I shot down one of the bandits and then immediately after that killed his clone. Now, the gaming community is no stranger to Cloned enemies, anyone that has played a Mario game, for example, has stomped on the head of the same turtle about five hundred times. It's just that throughout the whole of Borderlands, you are fighting about the same five or six bandits just copied and pasted with slightly different weapons.
After a few more missions my guy was instructed to repair a station for generating cars. A short walk and a mini-boss fight later and I was ready for some wheels. So, onto my second complaint, the cars. My main complaint isn't the fact that the cars slip and slide about as though you're driving on ice, or the fact that the auto-targeting system will often lock onto something that's not attacking me rather than the thing that's riddling me with bullets. No, my biggest complaint is that if a bandit so much as flicks a peanut at the car it will erupt into flames, then explode, removing my shield and most of my health. After this it takes only a few shots to bring me down. The Second Wind idea is a good one, but you can't zoom in while doing it, so I often ended up wildly firing with my sniper rifle, desperately trying to hit something. Also, when you're in a car, all challenge is removed from most enemies as they are literally squished under your car wheels.
This isn't going to end well...
So a few more Bandit Butcheries later and I was instructed to kill their leader: Nine-Toes. This, again, neatly brings me onto my next complaint. While the opening to the Boss Fights are often humorous (such as Nine-Toes having three balls) the boss fights themselves are often quite cheap and, while they appear hard, they can actually be quite easily won. Take Sledge, for example, he wields a massive hammer and a pretty dangerous shotgun. Taking him head on is a short cut to a Hunter Kebab. So instead I lured him next to one of the doors to get into the room, which close automatically, and left him out there. I then attached a class mod, which regenerated my health. My plan went like this: Open door, shoot Sledge a couple of times, door closes, wait for health and shield to recharge, repeat. It's the same sort of thing with Krom, who wields a giant turret, I found a position to stand where I could snipe him but he couldn't hit me. Even the end boss could be defeated in a pathetically easy way. After dying a few times and losing all my ammo, I found that the giant Tentacled Crustacean thing had curled a tentacle around a pillar to my right. Running over to it I found a small space behind it I could squeeze into. I was now protected from all of its attacks and I could kill it by shooting the tentacle in front of me.
Now these have been very specific complaints, but there are a few more general ones, such as a complete lack of Character Customisation other than the points you want to spend in various skills. They can be reassigned for a small price as well, which further draws it away from the RPG Win-or-Fail character design. However while I have brought up a lot of complaints in this review, there are also lots of good points. I'm partial to a bit of experience grinding myself, I have dabbled in MMOs for this reason, and it seemed a whole lot more enjoyable to me in a shooter. The soundtrack is also excellent and kept me hyped and into the whole thing. I also found it incredibly immersive, whether it be shooting Skags away with a shotgun, or running away from bandits that have just destroyed my car. What I really love about it, however, is the fact that it makes no excuses for what it is. There is a lot of humour throughout the whole of it. Whether it be a quest for getting pornography magazines out of skips or rescuing someone called Bruce McLane (Bruce Willis, John McLane, Geddit?). It is for this reason that Borderlands tends to get mixed reviews, I believe, it is either a game you love or you hate. And it's up to you to make up your own damn mind. I've got bandits that need shooting.
A few more tutorial hints later and I was sent to go kill some Skags. It was easy enough. A couple of shots from my sniper rifle sorted the job. Any that got too close were given a sharp melee attack to put them in their place. So after that I was sent to find a missing vending machine part. As I picked up the part I encountered some more Skags. Fair enough, only the second mission. After that I bought myself a shield and was told to go kill some bandits. Finally some proper action. On my way towards there camp I was met by more skags. Wait, hadn't I killed you guys? Anyway, I soon got to the bandit camp, which brings me sharply to my first criticism. Inside the camp I found eight or nine bandits. In actuality it was about three bandits that had been copied and pasted. I shot down one of the bandits and then immediately after that killed his clone. Now, the gaming community is no stranger to Cloned enemies, anyone that has played a Mario game, for example, has stomped on the head of the same turtle about five hundred times. It's just that throughout the whole of Borderlands, you are fighting about the same five or six bandits just copied and pasted with slightly different weapons.
After a few more missions my guy was instructed to repair a station for generating cars. A short walk and a mini-boss fight later and I was ready for some wheels. So, onto my second complaint, the cars. My main complaint isn't the fact that the cars slip and slide about as though you're driving on ice, or the fact that the auto-targeting system will often lock onto something that's not attacking me rather than the thing that's riddling me with bullets. No, my biggest complaint is that if a bandit so much as flicks a peanut at the car it will erupt into flames, then explode, removing my shield and most of my health. After this it takes only a few shots to bring me down. The Second Wind idea is a good one, but you can't zoom in while doing it, so I often ended up wildly firing with my sniper rifle, desperately trying to hit something. Also, when you're in a car, all challenge is removed from most enemies as they are literally squished under your car wheels.
This isn't going to end well...
So a few more Bandit Butcheries later and I was instructed to kill their leader: Nine-Toes. This, again, neatly brings me onto my next complaint. While the opening to the Boss Fights are often humorous (such as Nine-Toes having three balls) the boss fights themselves are often quite cheap and, while they appear hard, they can actually be quite easily won. Take Sledge, for example, he wields a massive hammer and a pretty dangerous shotgun. Taking him head on is a short cut to a Hunter Kebab. So instead I lured him next to one of the doors to get into the room, which close automatically, and left him out there. I then attached a class mod, which regenerated my health. My plan went like this: Open door, shoot Sledge a couple of times, door closes, wait for health and shield to recharge, repeat. It's the same sort of thing with Krom, who wields a giant turret, I found a position to stand where I could snipe him but he couldn't hit me. Even the end boss could be defeated in a pathetically easy way. After dying a few times and losing all my ammo, I found that the giant Tentacled Crustacean thing had curled a tentacle around a pillar to my right. Running over to it I found a small space behind it I could squeeze into. I was now protected from all of its attacks and I could kill it by shooting the tentacle in front of me.
Now these have been very specific complaints, but there are a few more general ones, such as a complete lack of Character Customisation other than the points you want to spend in various skills. They can be reassigned for a small price as well, which further draws it away from the RPG Win-or-Fail character design. However while I have brought up a lot of complaints in this review, there are also lots of good points. I'm partial to a bit of experience grinding myself, I have dabbled in MMOs for this reason, and it seemed a whole lot more enjoyable to me in a shooter. The soundtrack is also excellent and kept me hyped and into the whole thing. I also found it incredibly immersive, whether it be shooting Skags away with a shotgun, or running away from bandits that have just destroyed my car. What I really love about it, however, is the fact that it makes no excuses for what it is. There is a lot of humour throughout the whole of it. Whether it be a quest for getting pornography magazines out of skips or rescuing someone called Bruce McLane (Bruce Willis, John McLane, Geddit?). It is for this reason that Borderlands tends to get mixed reviews, I believe, it is either a game you love or you hate. And it's up to you to make up your own damn mind. I've got bandits that need shooting.
