This week, I’ll be talking about another of my favorite games: Borderlands. For those who haven’t heard of the series, I’ll give a brief rundown. Borderlands is a first-person shooter, meaning that you play from the perspective of your character, seeing out of their eyes. The game is set in a fantasy world called Pandora, a very hostile environment overrun by monstrous wildlife and bandits. In Borderlands 2, the game that I spent the most time with, the main antagonist is a character called Handsome Jack, the evil leader of a corporation called Hyperion who seeks to awaken a monster on Pandora and control it for his own gain.
One of my favorite things about Borderlands is the art style. It’s one of the most noticeable things about the games and although it may seem minor, it goes a long way towards distinguishing it from other, similar games. Basically, the art designers were originally intending on making a very realistic-looking world with a dark, gritty feel to it but they weren’t happy with it (think something like Call of Duty). In the end, they decided against it and relied heavily on a technique known as cel shading. Cel shading is a style of rendering that intentionally doesn’t use more defined shading gradients like most traditional renderings. The effect of this is to make a 3D image appear to be more two dimensional, so when you play Borderlands the entire world looks like a drawing and almost feels like you’re playing in a comic book. This all sounds weird, but trust me, it works. It makes the entire environment unique and visually appealing, and helps set Borderlands apart from the rest of the pack.
Another major draw of Borderlands is the game’s humor. The game is full of jokes, over-exaggerations, and references to pop culture. There are moments in the game where I actually laughed out loud, which is something few other games accomplish. But even when the overall goal isn’t to make you crack up, the humor of the game is always present and it always adds to the game. It takes away the seriousness that is usually associated with games of this style and reminds you that you’re just playing a game, and that you shouldn’t take it or yourself too seriously. It’s hard to explain the jokes in the game in a blog format, but when you’re playing the game, it’s very noticeable and it’s a very welcome addition to the game that helps define it’s identity.
Finally, arguably the most important aspects of any game: gameplay. Borderland’s gameplay excels, and provides a unique experience that is unlike any other game I’ve played. There are four different classes in the game, and each class has their own specific action skill. For example, the Siren class has a skill called phaselock, which allows you to disable and suspend an enemy in midair, allowing you and your teammates to target that enemy. As you progress through the game and level up your character, you can enhance this ability and customize it how you wish. For example, you can make it so that using the ability creates a huge explosion of fire and electricity, you can make the ability chain to another target once you kill the first, or you can make it a healing ability that instantly revives your teammates. This uniqueness and customizability always gives you a purpose to continue leveling up and playing the game, and introduces a strategy element as you change your character’s loadout based on what your objective is. As mentioned, you can also fight with teammates; this is a hugely important addition, as the world of Pandora can feel pretty lonely by yourself. Once you find a friend, though, the two of you can travel together, teaming up to kill as many enemies as possible and progress through the story.
This was only a brief review and doesn’t do the game justice, but I highly recommend Borderlands to anyone who enjoys action games, RPGs, or first-person shooters. It provides an experience unlike any other, and is one of the most fun games I’ve ever played.