Borderlands is one of those games. You’ve heard of it, but you don’t really know much about it. You haven’t played the previous incarnations are there aren’t any. You think you’ll pick up Modern Warfare 2 instead. After all, they’re both shooters, right?
Wrong. Despite being branded as an FPSRPG (first person shooter role playing game), Borderlands is fundamentally an RPG. You will find yourself running around with guns shooting things, but that doesn’t make it an FPS; the scope for customizing your character and its weapons is huge and it’s this that turns the game into an RPG. So we’ve established it’s a shooter that’s so heavily engraved with RPG elements that makes it an RPG. Essentially, RPG fans shouldn’t be put off by the FPS branding. That’s all really.
Borderlands impresses early on with the increasingly popular cartoon style design that looks really stunning; it’s cartoony right up to the moment you blow your enemy’s head off and blood comes pouring out. Which brings me to another point – this is an 18 and some may find the content disturbing. But then the box should have told you that: it depicts someone blowing their brains out.
In true RPG fashion you’re given a choice of missions to play and you’ve got a number of ways to play them – all guns blazing or duck and cover? Very quickly you’ll realize duck and cover works best but as the game progresses and so do your weapons, the all guns blazing option is certainly increasingly possible as you overpower your enemies on your way back to claim your reward for the mission you’ve completed.
Speaking of rewards, Borderlands revolves around money. You die and want to respawn? That’ll cost you. You want some more grenades? That’ll cost you money too. Earning this money is simple enough – completing missions earns rewards although looting is certainly lucrative – a little exploring can find huge stacks of munitions, weapons and dollars. Which brings me back to gameplay. There are a huge variety of guns available to you, some with the rather satisfying features such as setting your enemies on fire! Some of the weapons do feel somewhat underpowered; even the self processed bad machine guns let enemies take a ton of hits before showing any signs of lagging. Other weapons such as the revolvers do seem a tad overpowered, doing ten times the damage of a machine gun. But then again, it’s an RPG, right? Bother. I thought it was an FPS.
You’ll often find yourself fighting ever larger and scarier enemies which can often be easily disposed of as they’re prone to getting stuck on an array of objects – favourites include getting stuck down holes, in scaffolding or in trees. It’s a pity because it’s these little fine touches that hold Borderlands back.
Boderlands is a solid RPG which tries to venture into the world of the FPS, but it’s just too far rooted in the world of RPGs to be considered an FPS. It’s an RPG with a bit of shooting. A good one, too and whilst there are huge worlds to explore and a decent mix of weapons and enemies, nothing really sets it apart from other games in the genre. But that doesn’t stop it from being a great game and RPG fans will definitely want to look at picking it up. But for those looking for a shooter? Not really.
Nometet.com says: 
