Xbox 360's Borderlands

Borderlands. One part Fallout, one part Unreal Tournament, one part.... i dunno.

A game I might never have played. They call it the RPG shooter, which.... I suppose is correct. I remember overhearing multiple co-workers mention "this game is like Oblivion or Fallout" well.... not exactly. With Fallout you have a slower AC based shooter, as in you have so many action points and you have so many skill points, with a limited number of ammunition so shootouts are few and far between and when they do occur, planning is the key to success. (Although this isn't a fallout review, oh how I wish it was)

Instead of trying to define Borderlands by using other games as examples, I'll tell you what it's like. It's a first-person shooter first of all. The basic storyline is something about hidden gold in caves, and you pick one of 4 treasure hunters to find said gold. The story kinda disappears from there. Luckily there isn't an overall looming objective for you to constantly have to get back to. It's almost an mmo feeling in the sense that the ultimate goal is to kill a final boss, max your chars level and get as much gold as possible.

Now this shooter is fast, extremely fast if you want it to be. Hundreds of thousands of weapon possibilities. Some shoot electricity, some shoot fire, some are crossbows that shoot fire, others are revolvers that shoot electricity or poision, and pretty much any combination in-between. The problem is, after you pass about lvl 10, most of the pick-ups are way too under powered for you, making it harder to find a proper weapon combination that works. You'll have eventually 4 weapon slots, and a limited backpack, so you won't be able to carry everything. However, depending on which character you choose, you'll have a select choice of weapon set. For instance with the hunter, I always carried a shotgun, a sniper rifle, and a smg.

Which brings me to the characters, one of the bigger aspects that keeps Borderlands a decent replayable title. There are 4 characters as perviously mentioned, each with their own skill sets and special abilities.

A hunter, your standard sniper/rogue.
A soldier, the fighter/ human / DD of the group
A tank, the largest and yet strongest of the group
A cleric/mage (the girl) with magical powers.

Once you've played through each character a bit you'll find one you like especially. Between all of them, there are more hunters floating around online, but the solider and tank are the easiest to play by far. Each character has upgradeable skills and specialty abilities (i.e. melee attacks do more damage, or sniper rifle bonuses), which are a nice touch to make each character personal.

Co-play, which is why i bring up each character, is interesting in this game. You can go it alone if you'd like, and while you're playing, if someone else wants to join into your group and help you with a level or boss they can. Basically think PL'ing on crack, but a nice way to jump up levels quickly. Otherwise you can have 3 others and yourself at about the same levels tackle multiple objectives for each person, advancing each individual character but making it easier to go about. The drops during these co-op situations are decent, but usually always one of the higher level characters is left with nothing, since they won't need it. Eh, it happens in these types of games.

The controls are solid, even in the vehicles. (Which you have two of, a rocket launcher or a machine gun car). Nice and responsive, which is all you can ask for. Actually playing the game you won't notice too many control issues except if you're picky. There are times i wish i could use cover effectively, but if you're having much trouble with a level, try an easier objective and come back.

The game runs quite well, with no slowdowns and very few loading screens (usually the only ones are if you change maps, and the maps are huge). Even with multiple people on screen you can still move as quickly as needed.

The music of this game kinda let me down. it opens with Cage The Elephants "Aint no rest for the wicked", but from there the music basically turns into the ambient orchestrations you find in Fallout 3 (dammit, I won't mention them again!!)

Overall its a solid shooter, it mostly didn't get a lot of attention based on when it was released (yet another death to COD). It's worth a rent, you won't play it for the rest of your life, but it's a nice break from the standard run and gun. Nothing too memorable here, but a solid shooter with depth is a rare thing on the Xbox.