Borderlands Review
Mon Jan 30. 2023
Gearbox Software are a well-known game developer – and if you think about it, that's a curious fact considering they've been coming out with only a handful of games (most of which based around their own franchise, Brothers in Arms).
However, looking at their release history, pretty much every title that's come out from their studio has been a highly successful one – and their newest Borderlands is set to solidify their name as a developer in gaming history.
Gameplay
Borderlands is a combination of first-person shooter and RPG. The game takes place in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, reminiscent of the world from Mad Max – everyone is fighting for their own survival, anarchy prevails, and people have split up into small groups to increase their chances of making it alive. In the beginning, you get to choose your character from four possibilities, and each will offer you a completely unique gameplay experience.
The game follows a non-linear plot, where you have one main quest you're following, but can also take on various side-quests that are given by friendly characters. Doing so gives you access to more money and upgrades, which in turn helps you progress through the game at an easier pace.
Scavenging is a major part of the game's play style, as you'll have to collect the weapons of your fallen enemies to sell later. One of the interesting aspects of the weapons system is their semi-random generation – much like in Diablo and similar RPGs, you have a set of “base” weapons which the game modifies before giving to you. That way, you can find the same-looking shotgun with completely different stats, for example increased firepower or reload speed, better accuracy, etc.
This makes it important to constantly look around for new weapons and collect everything, as you never know if the one you're using won't turn out to be a kids' toy compared to the one laying on the ground that you just passed by.
Graphics and System Requirements
Borderlands is unique not only in its gameplay, but also its graphics – the game is designed in a cel-shaded art style, and it looks simply outstanding. It's not as cartoony as, say, XIII, but also looks less realistic than even Valve's Team Fortress 2. Borderlands is a great example of the flexibility provided by the Unreal Engine 3, as most companies are using it to create highly realistic environments, while Gearbox have managed to do the exact opposite and have done their best with the engine to draw the animated characters.
The game is a bit lighter than most other UE3 games, mostly due to the simplicity of its assets – with fewer polygons and lower-resolution textures (as anything more detailed would've spoiled the looks), it can easily run on a 2.4 GHz Pentium 4 coupled with 1 GB of RAM and a GeForce 8600 GS.
Other
Beating the game on your own is fun, but if you give it a go with a few of your friends in the co-operative mode, you'll never want to go back to the single player again – the online play in Borderlands is a truly captivating experience.
Conclusion
A game that will surely be talked about for long, Borderlands pushes the boundaries of the FPS genre in ways few developers have dared go so far.
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