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What's Good: Soundtrack is wonderful - Constant flow of action - great multiplayer - tons of weapons and variety - DLC boasts extra hours - four unique and fun characters to use - comedic touch fit’s the game - art style is unique and a breath of fresh air on the market

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What's bad: Suffers from many lag issues - Storyline is short and forgettable - online riddled with “modders” - very anti-climactic ending

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Borderlands takes what we all know and love about our favourite games, and gives it a love and hate twist, the game mix and matches elements of RPG and Story Telling games with vibrant funky colored First Person Shooter elements, the end result is a game your either going to love, or your going to hate.

STORY

Borderlands takes a fictional world, characters and time and tosses you in the middle of it, you play as one of the four characters, either Brick, Mordercai, Lilith, or Roland in an adventure to find the “Vault”, which you’ve heard so much about as a youngster. The game starts off with the character you’ve chosen getting off a bus while being spoken to a mysterious Guardian Angle, this Angle will guide you to the vault and all of its treasure, while you defeat the obstacles in your way. Throughout the game you are in a constant race with the enemies to reach the vault first. (though it only feels like that nearing the end) Nobody knows what the “Vault” holds inside, and its your job to save whatever may be.

VISUALS

Borderlands is unlike any other First Person Shooter on the market today, it took the less grim and dark road by using an array of vibrant, bright colors to make up its Cell-Shaded display. By doing this, Gearbox was able to toss in so many elements that would other wise look out of place. Everywhere you go, colors will be bright rainbows, you never get the essence of a dark, bloody, bug-infested tunnel. Instead you get a bright blue sky, an open badlands, a bright, dessert town and places alike. There is nothing to be hated with this style, but its not everyone’s first choice for a game, and the Visuals and Art either sell a game or they don’t.

GAMEPLAY

Borderlands, in its core is in-fact a First Person Shooter, that’s not to say its like any other you’ve played though, its fast paced and content and action is constantly being pumped into your face from a fire hose. Whether your delivering a message or killing twenty of those things over there, the music will guide you with the up-beat tunes pounding out of the TV set whenever an action packed moment is coming your way. Throughout the game, you unlike many new features, such as the ability to make and use your own vehicle and a fast travel network like something straight out of the “Matrix”. Traveling is a huge part of this game, the way you discover new places, items, weapons and more. You will constantly be presented with new places to go and new things to do, never do two places look similar. You will constantly be picking up quests like, fix that robot, grab that piece of the gun, talk to this guy over there. Every quest you pick up and finish unlocks new items and experience for you, allowing to outfit your character with the abilities and weapons you choose.

If you don’t like the ability you spent your level-up point on, then you can always reset it by visiting a “New-U” station around the world, and for a cost it will be changed. Much like the “New-U” station, weapons and items are purchased out of vending machine, along with vehicles built out of Vehicle Stations, similar to “New-U”.

Borderlands, is an RPG, its and FPS, it’s a game like no others, and for that deserves a look by any average Joe. If you’re an FPS fan, or an RPG fan this game is a game you’d like to have in your collection, and with the massive amounts of replay value and the ability to replay through the game a second time with stronger and enemies and all of your stuff, Borderlands earns the money you will spend on it.