Is it an RPG? Is it a first-person-shooter? It’s Borderlands! Many, many, many RPG and first person shooter fans around the country were heavily awaiting this release. When Gearbox finally let hit the shelves here in the U.S. on October 20′th, fans went crazy to get a copy. After selling out at most retailers within the first week, there’s no need to say that it’s been a huge success. This is, in my opinion, one of the few games of the last few years that deserve this kind of success, too.

  After what seemed like a dry spell of boring, predictable and redundant first person shooter releases, Borderlands is a beautiful, refreshing look on things. Seeming like the older, more hardcore cousin of Fallout 3, Borderlands boasts of a huge, colorful world to explore with many “interesting” NPC’s to interact with, lots of ugly enemies to kill and an asinine amount of weapons to choose from. This was enough for me to go ahead and work on getting a copy.

  Once you begin the game, it immediately begins to show you it’s sense of humor. After the first (and hilarious) cutscene, you’ll be asked to choose from one of four characters, or classes if you will, to play as. Brick the tank, Mordecai the hunter, Roland the soldier (medic), or Lilith, the siren. Each of these characters have particular advantages in the world over the other; but in all honesty, you’ll be able to play however you want no matter who you choose. The only real difference will be the skill set.

  All of the characters in Borderlands have somewhat of a backstory, but the game itself is pretty lacking in story. I expected this ever since I saw the first screenshots. I expected ridiculous amounts of violence and a lot of humor. Did it deliver? Oh yes. Some people have been pretty disappointed by the almost complete lack of a true story, and I guess that’s an understandable perspective. What many players must remember is that Borderlands isn’t just an RPG. The RPG elements within the game are pretty thin compared to a game such as Final Fantasy or the Elder Scrolls series.

  Delving into the storyline is not what Borderlands is about. It’s about getting your class, tweaking it to your liking, and blowing some uglies back into the hole they came from. Beautiful, isn’t it? With that kind of game comes a need for tight controls, however. Fortunately for us nitpicky shooters, Borderlands continues to deliver in controls. Everything is tight, responsive and quick, just as anyone could have asked for. My only complaint is the driving. Most followers expected something that lived up to the vehicles in Halo 3; but the driving in Borderlands is kind of awkward for the most part.

  I have, however, heard even more complaints about the artificial intelligence. That being said, I have a few myself. Most of the enemies are smart enough, and they all put up a good fight. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the bosses. If you’re an experienced shooter fan and you’re expecting a huge challenge from the bosses in the game like the infamous “Rakk Hive”, then you will in fact be disappointed. It almost reminds me of Fable II. Once you hit a certain level, everything pretty much becomes a piece of cake. It’s pretty easy to hit the 30-37 level by the end of your first playthrough, too.

  There are no difficulty settings in Borderlands; but after you beat the game there IS a feature called “New Game Plus”. What this allows is for you to be able to go through the single player campaign, starting from the beginning, but with your previous character with all of your experience and loot. That’s pretty sweet. It would be more difficult, but I get the feeling that it would mirror the first playthrough by the end of it.

  None of this would matter without great graphics and sound, would it? Thankfully, yet again, Borderlands doesn’t disappoint. Everything on the world of Pandora is cel-shaded. It gives it an almost comic-book feeling as you play through huge fights and explore around the world. Unlike many cel-shaded games, all of the colors in the world have a particular “pop” to them thanks to the slight border around everything you see. Every character, weapon, rock and piece of garbage stands out and has a place thanks to this.

  The developers must have driven themselves crazy on the sound. Every gun has an individual, satisfying sound when you fire it, making each weapon that much more fun to use. All of the people on the planet sound exactly how you would imagine them too. Back-wood, inbred hill-billys. Borderlands doesn’t have the same monumental, prestigious music that you would hear in something like Call of Duty or Halo; but that’s simply because it’s not meant to. It’s supposed to look, sound, and feel like a run-down piece of trash world; and it does.

  If you want a game that packs a huge punch, a world with lovable, funny characters, while still maintaining the heart of an RPG, then this game is for you. If you want a deep, emotional role playing game filled with mysterious characters, puzzling quests and an epic storyline, then this game isn’t for you. …Why would you even look into it if that’s what you were looking for? Seriously, look at the cover!

  Oh, and this is definitely a game that you will want to play with friends. It’s fun by yourself; but as long as it’s with friends that you can work with, Borderlands becomes infinitely more fun.