Borderlands is one of those games that you’ll sit down to play for a couple hours and all of a sudden you’ve lost 6 or 7. It’s easy to just keep going like nothing is really going on in the outside world. Or in my case, I get tunnel vision with my monitor. The keyboard and mouse are my only outside contact from Pandora. NebsiNsaNe and I play together and we might talk to each, other but the feeling is more of two characters talking than gaming buddies. I’m not really into shooters; in fact I’ll tell you flat-out, I suck at FPS, but I’m not terrible in Borderlands. Surprising? I think warming up by rolling so many low-level alts made me practice at the game quite a bit. I’ve got a level 25 Hunter/Mordecai, and I’m in love. I didn’t know I was a sniper at heart! I knew I hated close-quarters combat, and playing a Berserker threw that in my face like the smell of yesterday’s fish. I attempted to barrel through, (I think I even got to level 10) but it came down to being able to run up to the fray without reservation and that’s just not me. Sirens, however, are intriguing beyond all my hopes. Her psychotic laughter is certainly intoxicating and the gameplay feels a bit like playing an elementalist, so I should feel at home, but I feel like the Hunter class has more playability. That’s just my personal opinion. I wouldn’t want to discourage anyone from trying out the really cool and mysterious phasewalk ability.
When it comes to sniping my way across Pandora: cover around areas is clear and easy to spot, the game is straight-forward, and the quests clumped fairly well. Sounds like I’m talking about some weird MMORPG/FPS hybrid. Hasn’t that been done before? Well, certainly not as well as the people at Gearbox did. The game seamlessly transitions between the two genres. One moment you’re reading the lament of a man losing his wife, seeking revenge but unable to; then you’re hunting a killer and exacting vengeance. The lines blur while you’re playing this game, I’ll be honest I’m starting to become an adrenaline junky. Borderlands doesn’t even let you look away, enemies can and will come into town with you; which isn’t a big change if you hail from the FPS side, but it IS game changing for the inbound MMO player. The action isn’t exactly raw, but the emotions that flow over you as your being mauled by a skag are palpitation inducing. After a few run-through with the starting storyline, you begin to care about the NPCs you’ve interacted with. Gearbox pulls at those attachments very quickly, demonstrating the true brutality you’ll run into while on Pandora. The quests are a little cheesy at some points, but most make sense and have a clear story-based reasoning behind them.
I’m not a FPS player but I’m certainly going to try to finish Borderlands. Isn’t that the point of Replay Project? I think I’m actually looking forward to it!
The Replay Project 