Information Review

Borderlands was a rather curious entry for me in that like a lot of games where it looks so awesome in previews but turns out to be crap in playing, I kind of saw one thing that made me know that it'd be awesome: it's similar to Fallout 3. I'm not saying that it's a rip-off but if you've played that and then this, you'd notice the similarities. Borderlands starts out real slow and almost at the very point of being boring, but it picks up after a few missions. I played a ways through the single player, just taking it easy and learning the ropes. It holds up well as a single player experience, but when you jump into the multiplayer mix, that’s when Borderlands truly shines!

When starting a new game you must choose 1 of 4 characters. A fast, stealthy female character - the extremely accurate sniper (deadly at long range) - the well rounded soldier character - and the tank, a beast in almost any combat situation. Each character has their own advantages in battle, and a unique special attack. Specials vary between a shielded turret, invisibility, an attack hawk, and berserk mode. The unique feeling of each character adds tons of replay value to an already lengthy game.

The cell shading graphics took a bit to get use to after playing games like Gears of War 2, Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and Halo 3 but grew on me quit fast. While not detailed like the traditional FPS game like GOW2 the look has an unusual blend of detail yet gel animated. While buildings and characters have the gell cell look, the ground and water is almost realistic. The character, which you have to choose from, look more out of some Saturday cartoon yet fit nicely in.

Vehicle controls are very similar to those of Halo 3, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your taste. The shooter side of this encompasses just about every other aspect; you must keep getting more powerful weapons to survive against more powerful foes. And it isn't just that weapons are more powerful, but that they have new features, such as electrifying foes, dousing them with acid or fire, causing explosions, etc. Some of these work against certain foes and not as well against others, so carrying more than one sniper rifle, for example, pays off. I carried four different grenade mods throughout the game. The final battle requires very unique weapons to win; if you go in with just a basic machine gun (or with any machine gun, since you will run out of ammo), you will never win. Then there is Bloodwing, the attack bird... In comparison, in Fallout 3, once you get the A1 plasma rifle and the Alien Blaster, you are pretty much set for the game.

Overall, this is a very strong game with only a few flaws. I recommend Borderlands on any platform, but especially to any FPS fan that wants something slightly different from the standard Halo and Call of Duty fare that is so popular. Fans of online RPG titles such as WoW and Phantasy Star Online may also enjoy this game. The emphasis on multi-player co-op puts this game in good company with Halo: ODST and Left 4 Dead, so fans of those games should definitely consider this title.

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