Borderlands

The current reviews seem to be a little bit unfair. Giving the game a low rating because of buying it from another country isn't really very fair.

When I first bought Borderlands, I got very frustrated because I could not for the life of me get the co-op to work. I bought four copies. One for me, the other three for my friends. Playing co-op with my friends was the whole reason I bought the game in the first place. I then played the game through in single player and had hours upon hours of fun.
After a while, the makers of the game (Gearbox), fixed the co-op issue. This is when the game really came to life. I played through the whole game again, with only one friend. We would play for hours a day, every single day. It was that addictive. Very few games these days keep me coming back for more and more, but so far I have 200 hours logged into Borderlands, and it's charm is far from wearing off on me. I'll soon be playing through it again with three friends.

The graphic style is an interesting one, but personally, I love it. Too many people these days care about graphics and only graphics. Borderlands looks amazing, but more importantly, the gameplay is almost spot on. There are a few tiny flaws, but nothing really worth mentioning. There are four different characters to play as, each one being completely different. They all play differently. Each character also has a "skill tree" which lets you change the play style of your character, depending on where you spend your skill points.

I've played hundreds and hundreds of games in my life, and I rank Borderlands in my top 10 games of all time. I can't quite put my finger on what I like so much about it. Maybe it's the games charm. Maybe it's the graphics style. Maybe it's the humour. Or maybe it's everything combined that makes such an incredible game.

I would definitely recommend this game. Single player is fun, but co-op is definitely where the game shines. If you're on the fence about this game, just go for it. You won't regret it.

I remember seeing this game when it first came out and avoided it like the plague. I read some reviews on it but decided it definitely wasn't my kind of thing. There was too much gore, I didn't like the cell shaded like graphics the game had and just about everything I read about it put me off.

Fast forward a year or so later and I decided after hearing so many good things about the game off friends, I had to give it a go. I'm glad I did now as not only did I enjoy it but it's become my favourite game of all time. Everything that repulsed me before I loved and it only made the game more unique.

Plot: There's not really much of a plot to be honest. There's the option to play with up to three other members and it's all based around you being on a harsh planet called Pandora tasked with searching for a mysterious alien vault. You will need to find pieces of the key to open it first though.

Although that's the end goal of the game, you don't really notice it till it happens. The focus is more on random missions you get given throughout the game. Some are linked but most of them are just random bounty board missions that you can complete whenever you feel ready. It doesn't sound very exciting but then the plot isn't its strong point. Everything else is.

When it comes to the four expansion packs, you're going to be playing expansions that are all very different to each other.

With the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned as you can guess from the title, it has a zombie theme but with very similar elements to the main game (probably the closest out of the four). The main storyline is based on Dr. Ned and his undead experimentation. It's almost like a Scooby Doo story.

With Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, it's an arena based expansion pack. There's no plot to it but you have to first work through five rounds of five for three different arenas and then twenty rounds of five in the same three arenas. I found this expansion the weakest out of the four due to the repetitive element of the arenas.

With the Secret Armoury of General Knoxx, it's quite heavily based on driving from place to place. The main plot within the game involves the kidnap of a woman and you having to save her.

With Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, it's based on the claptrap's (little robots) rising up against humanity and trying to get the rights they deserve. I found it the most enjoyable out of the four due to the amusing plot.

Graphics: Like mentioned in the introduction, I hated them when I first saw them but after giving them a chance, I think I actually enjoy that art direction more then any now. From the landscapes to the sky or ever gunning people down, it's all done so well and very detailed. Considering the gore level involved in this game, it's very pretty.

Gameplay: It's basically a role-playing (RPG) first-person shooter (FPS). Bit of a mouthful I know. What that means is everything is in first person mode and you're armed with different weapons to complete your goal. The role-playing elements of the game includes the different loot you can receive who can be anything from a different type of gun or different modifications that will change your abilities like the way your grenade is thrown. There are also talent trees to choose from that you can mould to any way you want. There's not set way to do anything.

Controls: I didn't get on very well with the default controls but after a couple of clicks in the settings, I soon had the controls set exactly how I wanted them. I used about 10 keyboard buttons with the mouse accompanying them which although sounds like a lot to take in, considering you can map them out however you want, they are really easy to pick up.

Lifespan: You got about a 60 hour game in all with the main game lasting 30 hours and the four expansion packs making up the other half.

There's pretty much unlimited replay ability as you can team with a team as big as three other people and with four different classes to choose from with each having three very different talent trees there's plenty of different set ups you can try.

Overall: It may not really bring anything new to the table gameplay wise, but everything it does do, it does incredibly well.

If it can win over a person who hated everything about it to begin with, it can win over anyone. If you're in to either RPGs or FPSs then it's well worth giving this game a go. Borderlands was the first FPS I've ever played and it's made me want to check out others within the genre now.

Great game with great graphics at a great price (£14.99). The almost infinate weapon/shield combinations with 4 character classes and decent online multiplayer make for a real "one more mission" feeling. The humour is brilliant, with many pop culture/film references and quite adult at times.

Ignore the German reviewing this (it's not the games fault that his country has bizarre censorship laws). The only downside is you have to download the 4 DLCs at a grand total of 5GB - but any half decent broadband connection will pull it down in a few hours. Also be aware that this version is not compatible with the Steam version.