Borderlands: Game of the Year Review (PS3)

I need more loot….

Loot – we all love it, right? Anyone who has ever played any RPG or shooter tends to enjoy the different weapons, armour etc. as an integral part of the game. Well, imagine a title where the variation in guns is nearly infinite. Imagine a game where everything you pick up is an agonising choice to swap or sell. Imagine…..

Borderlands is easy to describe: take a typical first person shooter, add an obscene amount of weapons, and a basic skills tree system, and then drop into a world full of psychos, midgets, miners, mercenaries and alien creatures. Think Mad Max meets Diablo and you are halfway there. Tight first-person controls then mix with weapons of varying accuracy, fire rate and sheer stopping power, and sprinkled over with effects such as lightning or acid, and a few “special moves” as well (I have a shotgun that periodically fires rockets, for example). Bang, you have Borderlands.

Presentation is inexplicably good. The tight, cartoony visual style compliments the story and the world brilliantly, and despite some repetition, all character models are well drawn and engaging. Sound is awesome too, with most weapons having good sound effects. Speech is a bit minimal, but well used, and the actual character dialogue is exceptional – expect some seriously well written lines that will really make you laugh.

The plot is throwaway for the most part: you pick a character who has come to the planet Pandora (not the one from Avatar) seeking fame and fortune in the form of a mystical Vault of unimaginable treasure. You pick the character who suits your gameplay style: Roland is a straight up soldier who carries a deployable turret gun, Lilith has skills with elemental weaponry, and can “phasewalk” (read walk through stuff and go invisible), Mordecai is a sniper with a pet bird of prey, and Brick is a meaty Berserker, who likes blowing stuff up and melee attacks. Aside from the special abilities, all characters can specialise in a couple of weapon types, but everyone can use every type of weapon, which all also level as you use them.

So, you pick your character, run through a quick tutorial into the first town of Fyrestone, and set off on your quest. Borderlands is an open world, meaning you can tackle missions in any order you wish (although many quests aren’t available until you pass certain story points) and in any way you wish too. Although the story is a bit light, the characters and world are what really makes the game, as Pandora feels very much like a Gold Rush-era world sprinkled with futuristic technology. Many inhabitants have their own quirks and angles (well, it takes a certain kind of weirdo to live alone in the middle of nowhere), and the whole world is comically believable.

And it is the believability that lifts the game head and shoulders above its contemporaries: you want to help out the embittered town administrator, or talk to the (quite clearly loopy) archaeologist in the middle of nowhere. Although the plot is rubbish, its the responses and reactions that make the world work so well, and the short quest conversations are genuinely hilarious.

The combat is OK, although standard FPS fare. It is significantly improved, however, by the looting system, as you quickly debate the merits of sheer damage versus accuracy, or adding elemental damage over rate of fire. It takes a little while to settle on a loadout, and the game helps further by slowly unlocking weapon slots and backpack space as the title progresses, as well as giving you points to spend on the skill trees. Most skills are either straightforward improvements (increasing damage of a certain weapon class) or useable skill benefits (healing bullets, or stealth attacks, for example).

Co-op is excellent, though: one player loads a currently running game, and can invite up to three friends, using their own characters, weapons and skills. The game then auto levels as a result, and loot quality improves. Everything has a skill level attached, so powerful players can’t drop amazing weapons on their friends, but can make certain battles easier just by being there with an extra weapon. I know I have overcome a couple of obstacles purely by having a friend or two to help out – you can even apply the trusted MMO trinity of healer-tank-damage dealer to great effect. Everyone then shares experience points and money, with loot going to the first to pick it up. Players can also fight each other in arenas, although it doesn’t really add much and is quickly forgotten.

Game of the Year denotes extras on the original though, and I need to touch just a little on the expansions included: Borderlands GOTY comes with four full expansions included, although Gearbox have included a download code instead of the code actually on the disc, which is a bit annoying to download and install(the whole lot is over 2Gb!).

The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is first up, and involves a self contained storyline regarding a zombie infestation. I found it a lot of fun, adding a better story and more campy comedy than the main quest, although the combat was a bit of a letdown due to most enemies being waves of melee battlers. Overall, a good slice of fun, though.

Mad Moxxie’s Underdome Riot is next, and it plain up sucks. It’s purely a collection of arena battles, designed for groups, but lacks any imagination beyond dropping waves of bad guys at you. It does, however, add a bank for you to stash loot in (which the original title sorely needed!), but isn’t really worth bothering with unless you are a Trophy junkie.

Third we have The Secret Armory of General Knoxx (this game sure loves its Xs!), which blends the comedy and excessive violence to an art form. The whole runthrough is great from beginning to end, and has moments that feel like the great raids of an MMO when played with friends. Just taking on Crawmerax the Invincible took me and two friends about 30 minutes, and we loved every minute.

Finally, we get Claptraps New Robot Revolution, which again adds a great, if absurd plot and some excellent gaming in-jokes (spot the awesome Bioshock reference for starters!). It’s not quite as good as Knoxx, but still a lot of fun which extends play time even more.

Overall, you are probably looking at a good 40 to 50 hours of decent content within the whole series, which is quite a feat for a predominantly FPS title. Add in the fact that it is just so much fun to play, and Borderlands GOTY is worth every penny for pretty much any FPS fan. It looks great, it plays well with others, and can keep most gamers up until the small hours.