Borderlands

Call me old-fashioned but I don't like the DRM/spyware aspect that I have to be on the internet to install. Bad Netiquette. And what happens when I rebuild my (by then) retro PC to play the game in five years time and the DRM Web site no longer exists? bye-bye my goods which I have purchased. I don't like being treated like a thief. I paid for this with money I earned.

I was hooked on the game all weekend and will be throughout the week. The game is fantastic, the amount of weapons available from the generated software they have is amazing. Thousands and thousands of different weapons and items for your character.

There are slight online issues where people cannot connect to other players but they are working on a patch which will be released soon.

Overall the game is a must buy for those who like a shoot-em-up and like to gear and quest at the same time. Another plus is some downloadable content will be released soon which i have read about that will have more quests, items and enemies.

Its pretty refreshing when something like Borderlands comes along. Its been ages since i got as much satisfaction from a game like i have done with this. If your thinking of buying, but cant really get your head around what to make of it, imagine the best of all the FPS and RPG games you love, mix them all together and you'd probably end up with something like Borderlands.

Its really easy to appreciate the immensly good thought that Gearbox and 2K have put into this, from the ground up it feels flawless, everything just... works! Its as if they've sat down, looked at what people loved about FPS and RPG games over the past 5 years, and used their ideas to create this.

For what it is, i would more than happily vote this game as game of the year, yes, its been a pretty dry year for gaming, but never the less, this is up there with the best.

Its not a joke about the guns either, theres a stupid amount, definitely something for everyone, from sniping to support gunning, no one will feel left out.

Enemies come in all different shapes and sizes, and have suprisingly very good AI, doing things like dropping their weapons and running if you scare them.

Gore isnt missed out either - there's plenty of it. The script is another plus, its fantastic, much more realistic and beleiveable.

On top of all these great things about borderlands, the thing that really gets me is the atmosphere. You wouldnt have really expected what im about to say, given the fast paced, adrenaline fueled fury of combat, but its true!

The whole time your playing, there is a feeling of lonliness, kind of similar to Fallout 3, that no-hope desolation feeling. This is credited by the music (fantastically arranged), the unique artwork that is the graphics (dont even worry about them if you are, they're superb), and the script/characters.

On the whole, i'd say 95% for this title, expect everthing from immensely fun gun battles at all ranges to travelling through settlements meeting people to some seriously intense fights with the games many boss characters!

Runs perfectly on the following system:

3.8ghz Quad Core
4gb RAM
Nvidia 8800gt
1280x1024 resolution

So to round off -

Graphics - 10/10
AI - 9/10
Storyline - 8/10
Characters - 7/10
Weapons - 10/10
Originality - 9/10

Overall - 9/10 MUST BUY MATERIAL!

Thanks for reading!

I love this game, had it on XBOX 360, it's one of the best co-op multi player experiences out there, I have recently bought it for PC though and they've left Gamespy to run the servers. This was a terrible money saving move that causes disconnections after 5 minutes online in most games you enter and to be able to host games take's a lot of manual router tweaks, they no longer support the game with patches either it seems. Unless they change the multi player hosts from gamespy I would not recommend the PC version. Epic massive shame as the game itself is very well designed, the single player is fun but the co-op mode is so much more fun and anyone wishing to set up private matches with mates will suffer more. Investigate before you purchase!

I was a little dubious at first, the video reviews I had seen put me off. More FPS than RPG and very little depth to the NPC's and missions, the world no where near as explorable as Fallout for example. These were my only real complaints however, when I actually played the game. Otherwise I think the style works brilliantly, and looks fantastic. I found the experience system and weapons options to be fun, which sums up the game really. Ran through the game once on single player campain did not become bored once. May well run through again with another character and will be buying the DLC. 90% overall score I think.