Borderlands Review
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Rating Guide: How I Review Games
Video Recap: Click for the Controller Banged Video
Review (Prik-n-Lex Controller Bang Borderlands)
To say that putting together this review hasn’t been a task would be an understatement. Irish and I have put some hours into the game and into thinking about how we are going at it on paper. The wait however is finally over and Prik-n-Lex can officially call this game “controller banged”.
Borderlands has morphed itself into a solid GOTY candidate in our opinion. Why you ask? Support is the answer. With a title update in the first week after release, the guys at Gearbox decimated my cons list leaving only two points left for me to make. While Irish has several as well, most of our cons are nitpicky and low level beefs at any point in the gameplay. The pro’s however may be too many to list without some form of spreadsheet or index system. Anybody know how to apply the Dewey decimal system?
Gameplay, Graphics and Sound
The game itself takes place on Pandora. A wasteland with scarcely populated outposts. They have been further run down through the presence of a slew of nasty NPC’s and more weird looking creatures than you can hope to smear on a wall. Don’t worry though the immense number of weapons available throughout the badlands will give you plenty of opportunity to decorate the scenery with the body parts of random baddies. Your goal…a mythical vault packed solid with alien garb that should feed even the worst of you greedy treasure junkies.
The graphics, gameplay, and sound work well together at all points creating a beautiful landscape to play in. Celshading and comic book based coloring give it the feel of a Quentin Tarantino flick that only lacks slightly in the edginess and vulgarity department. Garnishing an M rating may call for a few more expletives to be thrown around but don’t worry these guys aren’t angels. The sound and NPC voiceover work is never overpowering and allows for fluid gameplay and swift mood changes when it’s time to throw down. Graphics A+, Gameplay A+, Sound A.
So onto the good and bad.
Pro’s – Weapons, Graphics(textures and cel-shading), 4 Player COOP, Carrot on a stick loot/weapons/leveling, Mission Depth, Gore/Blood Effects, RPG element simple yet rewarding, Drop in/out coop, Seamless arena style duels, Characters and Specialties, Customizable vehicles, and the most important FUN. Score +12
Con’s on the other hand are a little tougher to blow through. We racked our brains and came up with – Lack of a trading system (items must be dropped), Cant drop ammo for friends, No off character storage system for items that are unusable (higher level weapons/mods), No health hot keying, slower menu navigation, and the Character customization is a bit lacking. I know, I know makes it sound like a bunch right?
None of these truly hamper gameplay and the guys and gals of gearbox fixed the actual bugs and beefs we had with a lack of mission control by multiplayer partners, an inability to view coop players discovered points in the map, and phantom bounty boards that were appearing throughout the badlands before we had a chance to really critique the problems. Score Gearbox 3 – Prik-n-Lex 6 but keep in mind it should be 9-0 us.
Now we get to a fun addition to our review we call the “Inside Five”. Five things to look for inside the game to help you on your journey.
1. Shields – everyone will know about these, but pay attention to the difference between shield regeneration time and the ability of the shield to actually regenerate health.
2. Claptraps – repairing these little boxes of joy will earn you extra space in your backpack, and robots everywhere will love you.
3. Map Location – mental or written notes on your locations/teleport stations will allow you to navigate quickly without unwanted beastie encounters.
4. Green means go – If it’s green check it out, loot awaits.
5. WGBPO – White – Green – Blue – Purple – Orange – Weapons, mods and shields are ranked on a color scale. Orange is popsicles yo.
Conclusion
Overall 3 A’s,15 pro’s, 6 cons and a rating of 9.1.
Numbers, ratings and grades really mean nothing to us in the world of game ratings. We find play through hours, replay value, and fun factor to be much more of an influence on whether or not we want to purchase a game. Using these criteria we can conclude that Borderlands is a great game and well worth the sixty bucks.
The time it would take to level all 4 characters to 50 (max) would alone get you your money’s worth. Mix that with online play (both coop and duels) and the future expansion that will be available through Xbox Live (price currently unknown) and this game may never end. We can only hope.
November 4th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Great review!
November 4th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
Yeah Elite took the words out of my mouth lol
November 4th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
It takes forever to level just one character… To do all 4 is crazy!!!
Great review guys… It was fun playing with you. Now we just need Deac to get on Borderlands.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:41 pm
Super duper review!
Youz guys have no idea how much I want this game!!!! It’s $49.99 on Amazon right now, I just pray that it stays that way until next week so I can get it with my $20 off coupon for pre-ordering MW2 from Amazon. PWEASE! :’(
November 5th, 2009 at 1:35 am
Glad to see Gearbox got it patched that quick. I will buy this game later this year, right now my sights are focused on MW2.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:17 am
nice review, couldnt agree more, borderlands is awesome, im already level 43 and rising by the minute, keep up the good work
November 5th, 2009 at 8:43 am
The game is GOOD!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:07 am
you guys did an awesome job Irish and Pilex!
November 5th, 2009 at 9:11 am
thnx everybody…we had a great time doing it, between the two of us we make 1 solid reviewer/writer….lol
November 5th, 2009 at 9:23 am
LOL @ pilex
November 5th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Some other things missing in the game:
1 – loot rolls on uncommon or rare gear. Who chooses who will pick up that orange rifle.
2 – sometimes the markers on the map for a mission are way off. They need patch that. It’s not hard to deal with, but I did have fight my way through an area twice to find an item.
3 – (not sure this is in the game) Add an option to play with users that are around the level you are. That way there is not struggling with new users when you are level 35.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:39 am
yeah dj irish is good at snagging the higher colored items, in our game unless it’s a sniper rifle it’s pretty much up for grabs. and matchmaking would be a cool addition
November 5th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
To DJ’s Nit-picky issues…
#1. You have to play as a team… The one who benefits most with using that Orange Rifle should get it. Everyone on your team shouldn’t be a Soldier, or has a level for that weapon.
#2. On Missions that make you search far parts of a weapon/Data logs/Canned Skag meat, etc… Are purposely vague. The marker is just for the surrounding location.
#3. I agree, that needs to be an option… However, it is beneficial for low level player to play with people ranked higher than they are. = They level-up faster, & get better loot.
November 5th, 2009 at 5:41 pm
thnx everyone … as Lex said we had alot of fun trying this for the first time … hopefully we’ll get the opportunity to do it again …
and Lex did you just accuse me of swiping all the high colored items in game? lol
November 5th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
it is awesome incarnate.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Great review. I greatly enjoyed this game. I only regret that I was unable to play it co-op and that I only rented it instead of bought it…
November 6th, 2009 at 5:19 am
1. I don’t consider those as nitpicky.. If you are playing with a bunch of strangers they might try to snag all the weapons they can to either sell them or keep them for themselves. World of Warcraft has a roll feature to decide who will get the loot on a dice roll. That is all I’m saying.
2. Most of the time the markers are exactly where the objects are. Sometimes though they are way off. Not a huge problem, just something I noticed.
3. It is beneficial, but if you do join a game where someone is at much higher level, you are slowing them down. Or even worse you might get stuck in an area of level 21 creatures and you are level 6. I’m just thinking it might be a better way of matchmaking.
November 6th, 2009 at 7:13 am
#1 While I agree, I played with Irish and Pilex it wasn’t like that. They were more than generous at giving me stuff, granted I was level 1 and they were level 19 LMAO. But there was a very COOL gun in there that Pilex knew would be good for Irish or the other way around and they told me let him have it and I did. Even if I was high up I would not have taken it if they wanted it. It’s all about fun playing with friends. There will other times to get a specific gun or item
#2 I don’t mind the markers not being exactly where they should be. It lets you explore some.
#3 Well obviously, if they are higher and invite you, then you shouldn’t feel that bad. My God, I was level 1 and Pilex and Irish invited me, and while I myself felt I was holding them back, they didn’t kick me out and I know I made some kills
November 6th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Good job on the review guys!