Borderlands review

October 21, 11:53 PMHartford Video Games ExaminerBrian Browne

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While I have been looking forward to this title for quite some time, Borderlands might have flown under the casual gamer's radar. Produced by Gearbox Software and 2K Games, this First Person Shooter/Role Playing Game, has something for everyone. The title has you starting off in a bus, where you are given the choice to pick one of the four characters:

• Roland: The Soldier
• Lilith: The Siren
• Mordecai: The Hunter
• Brick: Berserker

Each character has a beneficial special ability that can be put to great use as you play your way through the game. While, the storyline doesn't go far enough into depth as I would like, it still doesn't take away from the fun of playing and blasting enemies away.

The setting of Borderlands takes place in a "Mad Max" style land named Pandora. Pandora is crammed chock full of crazy midgets, mutant dogs, and convicts. So why are you there? Well, because there is a rumor of a vault with advanced alien technology available to whoever discovers it. You are guided throughout the game by an "Angel" that comes into the screen to help you find your way (think Cortana in Halo). While the game starts of a little slow, once you leave town, the world opens up greatly.

While you can play this game solo, multiplayer will provide the best experience for you and your friends. The game lets you play with up to four people at once and will progress difficulty, the more players you add. A strategy to use when playing is that to make sure you and your buddies are around the same level. This avoids the conflict of the low level players not being able to keep up and irritating the top level gamers.  While players have the ability to revive each other in co-op, you can also go head-to-head for wanted items in a duel mode.

Borderlands borrows from a few successful game franchises, but as you see while playing the game, this is not a bad thing. You will notice the WoW experience that puts you on quest with a group of friends to the Diablo style loot drops, while exploring the land of Pandora.

The art is what makes Borderlands stand out. Every time I see video and images, it brings to mind A Scanner Darkly. In a day where games are afraid to use colors, Borderlands art took the opposite route and made it ok to use bright ones as well. When you notice the the landscapes along with the color they take on, it  makes the pushed back release date, well worth it. Enemy deaths are really well done in the title and make it very entertaining to watch, with the variety of weapons available to you. You will notice the audio is well done from the death screams to the crack of sniper bullets streaming past you. 

While Borderlands is not a perfect game, it is a title that allows you focus more on the fun and strong points. This monster is equipped with multiple heads, and will attract more than just the FPS/RPG fan. Just remember while it is ok to roll solo, Borderlands was built from the ground up for multiplayer. This game will be one of the few at the top of the list, when Game of the Year is considered.

Rating: A

Good

• High amount of available weapons
• Multiplayer mode is very addictive
• Concept/Comic book art style stands out

Bad

• A.I. isn't very challenging