Borderlands

...with a completely ridiculous (or rather, a complete lack of) end payoff.

I won't touch on the DRM issue, as I bought my copy from Steam, and experienced no problems.

The opening of the game sets a mood that is not carried out throughout the game. Early on, the game treats you to small cutscenes to introduce characters and bosses, but after the first few characters you meet, it does away with this, and from then on you're simply introduced to bosses with a small scene that shows their anem in big letters. It's catchy, but it could've been a lot more.

The graphics are taste-dependent, but there were some issues that I had, namely with what appeared to be screen tearing, especially while using vending machines. Other than that, the graphics look amazing when turned up high enough, and if comic book panels moved, this is what they would look like.

The combat is very engaging and satisfying. The different weapons (at last count, the developer said there were something like 17.5 million possible) are, of course, mostly crap and merchant-fodder. However, every now and then, you find a REALLY nice gun. I found it best to keep a couple different damage tyoes in my inventory: mainly shock and corrosive (which is the best kind to use agaisnt late-game enemies). While the weapon drops are randomly generated, bosses (who respawn upon re-entering the area or game) will always drop the same weapon. Keep in mind that their weapons are not necessarily better than the ones you may already have. When fighting higher level or very tough enemies, it's a good thing to know where their critical areas are. Scoring a few crits can mean the difference between wasting a whole magazine on an enemy, or just a few rounds, and therefore between death and victory.

That brings me to the subject of death: I have never played a game in which death is more exciting or satisfying when it doesn't happen. Upon "dying" you fall to a knee and are able to continue fighting while a health bar depletes. If it finishes, you respawn at a New-U station (for an automatic fee) and any boss you were fighting is restored to full health, which is simultaneously annoying and challenging, but both in a very good way. If you score a kill, however, which egts harder to do as your screen goes black, you get a Second Wind!, hop to your feet at partial health and full shields, and continue fighting. You can also remap your skills for a very small fee, and do it many times, which is useful for testing new strategies and skill sets.

Missions are the average RPG fare--fetch this, kill this, kill he who has that item you msut get to go on with the story...which brings me to the most dissappointing part of this otherwise great game: the ending.

I understand being set up for a sequel, but I don't think I would buy this game's sequel, at least not at full price. For some, the ending may break the whole experience--I'm not sorry I got this game, but I won't be playing all the way through again.

Bottom line: if you like loot, esp. in the form of guns, and frantic gunplay with varied and humorous enemies (shotgun-wielding mutant midgets?, an enemy designation that's called "badas$", and various pop-culture sci-fi references), and don't mind minimal story and a poor ending, this game is for you. I really can't bring myself to hate this game, it was VERY fun, literally until the very end. Wait until it's $30 or so, and you won't go wrong.

I started following this game about a month before it was released. I honestly wasn't 100% sure what to think about it, some stuff just seemed like it wouldn't be that great. But the game delivered for sure. I enjoyed it a lot.

You can customize how you want your characters, which makes it fun and adds variety. You see a soldier in the game and you don't know if he will be able to heal you, give you ammo or add a little bit of fire power to your group. This applies to each class. The weapons are fun as well, sometimes it is a pain to get a weapon you want, but when you finally do, after going through many weapon crates it makes the weapon you wanted feel so much better to finally own.

So far the game online has been great as well. I have been playing with a group of about 6-8 friends who swap into each other's groups when needed. There have already been times (Already = less then half way to the level cap) where me and my friends can look back and say "Remember when we were fighting those weird bugs for like 5 minutes straight?"

Overall great game, lots of variety and easily could get a game of the year nomination.

"Borderlands" for PC has finally arrived. This game is playable as a single person, or as a 2-4 person multi-player, which includes 4 player co-op.

About the game:

The game has a very cartoonish quality to it; very obvious at first but you quickly become use to it, to the point of not even noticing it. In fact it really seems to add to the mood for the setting of this game.

This is first and foremost a FPS but has RPG like upgrades (now termed a RPS or role playing shooter) to the different skills of the 4 different characters. Like traditional RPG you have story driven goals as well as many side quests; quests that present your characters for possible significant rewards in the form of money, weapons, upgrade points etc, but at the risk of greater danger.

You get to choose between (and keep) one of 4 characters; you then proceed to develop that player's skills; skills that are kept over from one game to the next, even in CO-OP. The carry-over also applies to any weapons, shields, armor etc. found within the game. Nice!

The four characters that are available to play are:

1.) Lilith, who specializes in incendiary, shock and corrosive attacks. Her unique skill is 'Phasewalk'.(invisibility).

2.) Mordecai, who specializes in sniper rifles and revolvers. His unique skill is 'Bloodwing' in which he can send out 'birds' to attack enemies for him.

3.) Roland, who specializes in combat rifles and shotguns. His unique skill is 'Scorpio Turret'; a portable machine gun turret with shield. Roland is also the 'medic' for the group.

4.) Brick, who specializes in explosives and fist. His unique skill in 'Berserk'.

Of course all the above 'unique' skills are time limited and require a cool-down period before reuse can occur.

In addition all players earn points to increase their skill tree (which tend to automatically level up somewhat as player level increase). This includes, to mention a few, such things as in damage inflicted, resistance to damage, health regeneration, increasing rate of fire, reload time and weapon ammo capacity and many more; some skill tree enhancements are related to the particular individual and his/her 'unique' skill.

As well there is a significant vehicular component to this game, giving you the opportunity to show your driving prowess, either alone or as either driver/weapon user.

GAME PLAY: SINGLE PLAYER...

Initially, I was very disappointed with the game; the cartoonish quality, the very irritating and repetitive dialogue from the robot (Claptrap), the fighting, etc. The overall effect was less that I imagined, considering all the hype.

However, once I got to level 5 and started to earn XP points that I could apply to my skills, thing improved significantly. I started to meet some better opponents and also began to find some very interesting and powerful weapons.

Also, seeing the hit points fly off enemies as you hit them with gun fire and watching their life bar disappear is a real rush. Making it to the next level and getting points to increase your 'skills' was also a very rewarding part of the game. These were the aspects that made this game a very good FPS with RPG qualities.

Almost no two weapons are the same; most have some benefit and drawback,(increase damage but slow reload time) etc. BUT there are some weapons out there that real gems; having almost all strong positive attributes and few or no drawbacks. And that is what, along with the XP upgrades, make the game SO interesting.

Shops, random chests and hidden caches can, at times, provide exceedingly rare and powerful weapons and add-on modules.

Another nice bonus is the fact that you can RESET your skill points (with some minor costs) allowing you to 'respend' your XPs, if you've chosen unwisely the first time. This is a great feature.

Negatives for Single Player

1.)Game becomes quite repetitious as you go along, especially as you advance in skills/weapons.
2.)Respawns are from the same place, with the same 'enemies' every time.

GAME PLAY: CO-OP (ON-LINE):

From a team orientated co-op point of view, well in a word...disappointing!

Through GAMESPY...initially I had difficulty just trying to get connected but lately I've been able to join on-line games fairly easily, however these are with random players...these games were basically undisciplined and chaotic. There was little or no concept of 'team' play, nor did I have any control over choice of missions, where we traveled to, etc.

I was NEVER able to set up a private game with my friends. And I now understand this is because I didn't have the correct 'ports' open on my computer to allow people to join a game I hosted...you'd have thought there would have been some explanation or instructions regarding this...but no, nothing!

Through LAN...have never been able to connect with anyone.

SUGGESTION REGARDING ON-LINE PLAY:

HOWEVER, on-line is a great way to met tougher opponents and level up more quickly. Do this by HOSTING an on-line game, (name it whatever you like and then save it, so then you'll be able to play this game on-line whenever you want). If you have the right 'ports' open you may get other players to join you...if not, then just play like you would single person, but reap the rewards of better loot, XPs etc. While 'hosting' you control where and what missions to accept, where to travel etc.

COMMENTS:

I'm really liking the Single player game a lot more than I thought I would; after play co-op L4D for months I didn't think I every say that again about single person.

With regard to on-line co-op play: well it's too bad they didn't use 'Steam'. The on-line play through STEAM is so well set up; easy to connect and simple to invite 'friends' to a private game.

The 4 player co-op, may turn out to be a great game, if you can set it up with your own team. And while the co-op game features harder opponents, it also brings to light the crucial downfall of the multiplayer game (and in fact, the single game as well), that being, THE LACK OF RANDOM SPAWNING OF ENEMIES (a feature that has made L4D so playable game after game). The same enemies spawn at the same spot, every time through. If anything, this game has made me realize just how unique and well constructed the L4D format of co-op gameplay really is.

The 'carryover' of improvements and skills from one game to the next, it's easy to see a co-op team (with the same 4 players) could very quickly became a formidable group.

And finally, some minor annoyances:

1.) There appears to be no way to get rid of (or by-pass) the half dozen or so flash screens at the launch of the game,. Spacebar, enter, or Esc. does nothing to abort this tedious repetition every time you start up.

2.) The mapping system; when you turn on the map (and you'll use it often as the layout is somewhat confusing) always start with a close up shot of where you are. The problem is that your target (waypoint) is usually off the map, requiring you to zoom-out to find it. This occurs with EVERY visit to the map, even seconds apart.

CONCLUSIONS:

To me, there was that compelling quality to "Borderlands" style of play initially for the SINGLE PLAYER game, however this was not enough to prevent it from becoming quite repetitious and even boring towards the end.

The on-line co-op game...so far unable to set up with friends to have a team oriented game. Whether the co-op on-line play will prove popular...well, I've some doubts! Only time will tell.
However playing on-line by hosting a game is a great why to speed up your results.

STAR RATING5:
1.)Single player...2 1/2
2.)On-Line Co-op...1 1/2 Stars (maybe even less)

R. Nicholson (cujo)

P.S.
A MANUAL is now available on the STEAM web site.