Animation

Everything about the art is great; the animation is likewise excellently done. Every character has a distinct quirkiness about them that make them more than just cookie-cutter animations. The death animations are wide, varied and some of them are totally over the top. There’s nothing quite like punching a guy’s head off as Brick and watching it explode like a melon. Or seeing someone electro-shocked by a Siren with a shock-SMG and watching their brain fry. Enemy and monster animations are great as well, with the Skags a firm favourite here.

Physics

Unreal’s built in physics has been used to a good effect here, bodies fly, they twist through the air from a suitable explosion and react to bullet impacts. All in all, it does what it needs to do and what it says on the tin.

AI

I’ve seen mixed feeling about the AI in Borderlands; some people seem to think it doesn’t really do much. I’ve seen it suffer a break in morale, run away, come back from a flanking position, snipe you, relocate and shoot from behind cover. I’ve also seen it run around screaming when set on fire. I’m not quite sure what people want from the game but the AI to me seems to be adequate enough, it provides a good challenge and whilst the boss battles are pretty easy since they don’t seem to have as much work in their AI, it’s still good fun.

Sound

I am a big fan of the sound design to Borderlands; it’s packed with atmosphere as you explore Pandora. From the various monster screeches and the ambient noises out in the badlands and other places, it’s all recorded and delivered extremely well.

Music

I love the soundtrack as well, it has a very Firefly quality to it and I loved that show. It’s part science-fiction epic cross spaghetti western with traces of Gearbox’s humour thrown in, a twangy heavy guitar track might kick in when something big shows up to accentuate the battle and then fade off into a quiet melody when all is quiet and serene.


Voice and Dialogue

Borderlands isn’t a game about reams of dialogue, nor complex multi-choice speeches in dialogue-trees. It’s about getting to the action and shooting things in the face. The voice work is solid and whilst some of the character lines do repeat a lot, there are loads of other non-player-character bad-guy comments and one-liners that let fly during intense battles. However as much as I like TK, Scooter and the other characters, I have to give a massive GOLD STAR to DeaddMan for his portrayal of the loveable Claptrap, its spot on. All the voice work in the game is however great, but Claptrap is my firm favourite.

Multiplayer

Borderlands is a game that’s built on cooperative play, either split-screen for two people on the same console, system link for LAN parties and online through Xbox Live, you can experience the adventure with up to three other players. It’s full drop in and drop out coop, there’s no need for game lobbies or waiting to start and game, as long as the host player lets you play you can jump right in.

The more people you add, the monsters get tougher, the loot gets better and the experience deepens for everyone. There are two Runners that can spawn into the game space and they can be manned by two people. Hot-swapping whilst moving is possible and you can seamlessly switch from one position to the other to give someone a chance to be the gunner or driver.

Your character is also persistent, so everything you earn from one game can be taken into the others. A high level character in a low level game may only earn a few xp but can allow a lower level player to catch up, since the lower level player will gain more xp, benefit from tougher creatures and better loot.
There isn’t a better cooperative experience to be had on the market, so far. As a cooperative shooter, Borderlands nails it in one and delivers a fast paced, fun and frenetic time for everyone. A balanced group of characters can benefit each other, with Lilith drawing the bad guy’s forwards, Roland’s turret to suppress enemies, heal allies and cut off a possible escape route, Mordecai for overwatch and Brick, to pound the enemy into mush.

Levelling together, killing bosses and just experiencing Pandora is addictive.

Should your friends desire there’s an Arena in most of the instances where you can fight it out in a Deathmatch, setting various options and so on to provide free for alls or team based games for you and your crew.

If someone talks smack in the game normally, you can smack them with a melee attack and if they smack you back, you’ll be encased in a protective dome and allowed to duel until one of you is the victor. A fun way to settle disputes over loot, since it’s first come first served unless you’re playing with good friends who share.

Border yet?

I’ve played this game through to its conclusion, and then again on a 2nd playthrough. My Siren is now 43rd level and I am not bored yet, no one else that I’ve played with is bored either and whilst Borderlands might not be everyone’s cup of tea or coffee, it’s a great game. There are a few issues that I’ve not experienced yet and the infamous skill reset bug hasn’t cropped up so far.

There are a few physics glitches and I’ve seen AI get stuck for a moment or two, every game has these teething troubles. I’ve played 4-player co-op with friends, colleagues and even a couple of random groups, everyone has agreed that the pros outweigh the possible cons and for the purposes of this review I can say that I haven’t really had a con yet.

So this is a game that gets a definite high score from me.