Borderlands Review (PS3)

Introduction and Concept
To start off, borderlands is a pretty unique game. The concept revolves around blending an RPG with a first person shooter- a concept I have never heard of. In the game you control one of four characters (and if you care, they do have backgrounds) which basically denote the four classes in the game. The game features RPG elements such as levels, talent trees (which were done very well) and missions. There are I believe 30+ story driven missions, but a TON of side quest stuff to keep you coming back to the game. One thing unique about this game: the weapons are generated with random traits. For example, in development they had an assault rifle that shot homing darts (which, a few seconds later the target exploded). There are a variety of guns, modifications and equipment to choose from.


Entertainment
This game was highly amusing. The language content is appropriate for its rating, and I enjoyed some of the sarcastic lines characters in the game gave you. Although the game was set on a foreign planet, the game didn't feel foreign with its mannerisms. Grinding is meh, but I won't complain because my sniper rifle has incendiary tips which light my enemies on fire. One thing that made me laugh early on: Nine-Toes, warlord (and has 3 balls).


Design
The game is definitely polished, and the art style is unique. It's nice to be able to compare weapons to see if something is an upgrade- and I am thankful for that buyback tab. Also, the rarity of loot is very similar to the style used by World of Warcraft- White, Green, Blue, Purple and Orange, from most common to the rarest. The level designs are great, they somehow made an apocalyptic world look cool, though I would have loved a mini map; I constantly had to press select to see where I was going.


Gameplay
This game certainly won't dissapoint FPS fans. The game is easy to pick up and learn. Controls are solid, movement is fluid, though I have to complain that a few of my sniped shots "should have hit". I only ran into minor technical glitches driving and getting stuck in a wall; other than that I really havn't had a problem with boundaries. Capping goons (or "bandits" as they are called) is a lot of fun, but repetitive after a while in my opinion. I feel the game spices it up though with the occasional weapon drop- I love it when I get a sniper rifle upgrade from 3 shot to 6 shot. Missions are straightforward and you can find your way to your mission using the waypoint at the bottom of the screen. You get money and exp for doing missions, and I believe some reward weapons.


Final Thoughts
I havn't finished the game, but from around 20 hours of gameplay on I feel the game is a lot of fun. They did good blending two game styles into one, and borderlands certainly has high replay value with online multiplayer, arenas, and more. The game could have done better in some minor areas, but overall this game is great. I was torn on giving it a proper score, and after reviewing the score a couple of times I took the average: I'll give Borderlands an 86%. If you are above 80%, that's a great game.