This fall marks the 10 yr anniversary of Gearbox Software’s Borderlands, a title that sparked the rise of the “loot shooter” style. While not the primary recreation to do it, Borderlands clearly impressed the spawn of titles like Destiny, Warframe, and The Division. With a pseudo-cel-shaded artwork model and ridiculous tone that contrasted closely with the super-serious shooters on the time, Borderlands not solely helped cement a burgeoning style however moved us away from the drab and dire trendy fight we had been fed for a number of years.
While the unique Borderlands was the primary style of the loot shooter components for a lot of gamers, I used to be first launched to the world of Pandora by way of Borderlands 2, and fell in love with the quirkiness and frenetic motion the sequence was recognized for. With Borderlands 3 arriving in September, it appeared like the right time to revisit the dusty planet and at last see what the primary recreation needed to provide.
If you’ve performed both of the sport’s sequels, it’s obvious their DNA originated within the authentic Borderlands. Playing it in 2019, nonetheless, is simply a reminder of how far recreation design has come since then. In Borderlands 2, the dastardly villain Handsome Jack is established pretty rapidly. Borderlands lacks that very same path. You start by selecting certainly one of a number of Vault Hunters despatched on a mission in Pandora to gather mysterious know-how. The second your boots contact the bottom, you’re left to your individual gadgets. There is not any backup, and few pleasant faces are keen to offer you any kind of help – aside from a well-known robotic.
Welcome, traveler!
This robotic, named Claptrap, presents a wide range of missions on the native Bounty Board. Enemies hearth pictures at you within the distance whereas creatures snarl and leap up shut. Loot – a lot loot – could be present in each unlocked field, crate, and locker you come throughout, always providing a brand new solution to interact enemies. If you’ve performed the later Borderlands video games or are gearing up for Borderlands 3, the image it paints seemingly sounds acquainted. The world is yours to discover as you see match.
This stage of non-direction might sound chaotic now, however I can see why this components caught on with so many gamers in 2009. Story-focused shooters had largely taken the identical path as Call of Duty, setting the motion in closed environments with direct and obligatory targets. There was little room for deviation or self-expression. Setting your individual tempo and having the selection to finish goals in your most popular order was a liberating characteristic on the time. Being in a position to customise your weapons and skills, and expertise the entire thing with your mates solely helped to sweeten the deal.
Today, taking part in “at your own pace” in Borderlands seems like padding on a razor-thin plot. Even should you’re taking part in by way of a big chunk of the aspect missions provided throughout your journey, you’ll ultimately discover that the following story mission is at the least a stage or two above the one you’re presently at. The resolution to that is taking up a tedious quest that duties you with amassing some arbitrary merchandise, killing an enemy, or doing a little mixture of the 2. Rarely do these quests really feel fulfilling as they don’t improve the primary storyline or present extra context to the universe.
Conversations that transfer the story ahead not often last more than a minute, and most of the occasions proven in cutscenes are even shorter than that. Much of the remaining storytelling is finished by way of the descriptions of the quests, however with such poor story constructing and solely the promise of extra expertise and loot baiting me ahead, I discovered little motivation to proceed taking part in.
Despite finishing missions really helpful for my stage, and infrequently killing enemies above my stage, the rewards had been simply not well worth the effort.
It’s a disgrace as a result of most of the characters in Borderlands are charming, and I discovered myself completely having fun with the goofy and cheery humorousness present in a number of of the voice-acted moments. Most of those got here from Claptrap with my favourite being an animation the place the robotic would start dancing, proclaiming his boogying talents to the world. It had no influence on my journey, but it surely emphasised the silliness that’s on the heart of Gearbox’s work.
It was a welcomed change to the desolate and nigh-apocalyptic settings I’ve grown accustomed to seeing in so many different video games. Metro Exodus, The Last of Us, and even Destiny provide harrowing storylines primarily based on principals of survival and rebuilding society, however moments of levity assist to make the strain extra bearable.
The not-really-cel-shaded artwork model reinforces this. You can solely take a fearsome enemy so critically once they appear like they got here from a coloring e book, and that’s an excellent factor should you’re seconds away from blowing them to bits. While different shooters have lifted Borderlands’ mechanics lately, its artwork model stays largely distinctive.
Pandora’s loot field
Loot is an attractive reward. It’s the rationale why folks proceed to play Diablo III, World of Warcraft, and plenty of different MMOs years after ending the primary storyline. Unfortunately, it’s what makes the gameplay loop in Borderlands all of the extra irritating. Despite finishing missions really helpful for my stage, and infrequently killing enemies above my stage, the rewards weren’t well worth the effort. Most of the time, the weapons I’d get could be lower than ineffective in a firefight.
While its flat story and drab loot struggled to maintain me totally invested, its charming solid of characters and vibrant artwork model shine, even at present.
High-powered enemies that took a number of tries to kill would drop gear that wasn’t even price promoting. The weapon crates I discovered after mowing down waves of “Psychos” would solely often provide a worthwhile reward, and I’d generally be left and not using a weapon I genuinely loved utilizing for hours. I used to be typically left questioning, “Why did I do that?” after finishing one other fruitless encounter.
Loot and storytelling could be much less of a problem in Borderlands if the fight was assorted sufficient to maintain issues recent. The most frequent fights contain strolling right into a seemingly-empty space earlier than a swarm of enemies emerge from close by caves and buildings. I might take cowl, decide off essentially the most harmful targets from afar, after which clear up the stragglers with a shotgun or machine gun. When dealing with highly effective enemies or bosses, the technique switched to working away and infrequently turning round to fireside at weak factors till they acquired shut sufficient to assault. Sometimes grenades would play a task or environmental hazards like exploding barrels.
It lacks the variability I’ve come to anticipate from open-world video games with in depth talent bushes. Enemy ways are related sufficient that I might get away with repeatedly taking pictures at them till they had been all lifeless. Extra talents, like turrets or environmental harm, solely play a minor function in any encounter.
There is one mechanic that stands out in Borderlands and it’s known as “Second Wind.” This brings you again into the struggle should you can kill an enemy earlier than a timer runs out. Despite how easy it sounds, it by no means loses its enchantment, and even makes it into the sequel.
Borderlands deserved the constructive consideration it obtained almost 10 years in the past. It helped form the loot shooter style and had extra character than most different AAA video games available on the market. While its flat story and drab loot struggled to maintain me totally invested, its charming solid of characters and vibrant artwork model shine, even at present. Borderlands ‘ rough edges don’t conceal the clear affect it had on Borderlands 2, which improved on its components immensely, and if we’re fortunate, Borderlands 3 will be capable to do it once more when it launches later this yr.