Borderlands – Review

g-borderlands200Borderlands

(2K Games for PS3)
By Mike Delano

Gamers who grew up playing consoles and not PCs (like me) have every reason to be confused when writers extol the joys of “lootfests” like the Diablo series and World of Warcraft. Console RPGs don’t have many equivalents to games like those, wherein protracted grinding for new and rare equipment is its own reward, rather than the fluff between pivotal story moments. Borderlands provides that “aha!” moment. In no time, you’ll be scouring every inch of this alien environment for cash and items hidden in boxes, lockers, and piles of bones. You’ll spend a couple of minutes fighting a boss character, and then spend 10 or 15 in his empty chamber toggling your stats and equipment for the ideal loadout of weapons and abilities. You’ll do this because it’s not time spent on changes that are incidental to gameplay like your character’s appearance, it’s time spent making real changes that will affect how combat plays out. Will you attack from afar with sniper bullets that cause your enemy to burst into flames and lose health while you move in for the killing blow? Or will you charge into the fray with a shotgun and a melee attack that has a good chance of dazing your enemy, leaving him helpless and ripe for a hail of bullets? Either way, it will be a blast. The FPS action doesn’t suffer under the weight of so many stats, running fast and smooth and, with three other players alongside you online, gloriously frantic.
(www.2kgames.com)