Borderlands is the cell shaded RPG/Shooter hybrid from Gearbox Software that is slated to be hitting store shelves this week. If you haven’t been paying attention, Borderlands features both a cooperative campaign and its trademark random weapon generation mechanics. Now, you may wonder if a shooter/RPG hybrid that is set in a wasteland is a little too much like Fallout. This couldn’t be further from the truth. In Fallout you are a vault dweller that goes out into the world. In Borderlands you are an off-worlder searching for a vault. That’s completely different… right?
Actually, there are some similarities between Fallout and Borderlands, but not as many as you might think. They are probably similar in the same way that Modern Warfare and Halo could be considered same.
The biggest draw in Borderlands is the weapon generator. Weapons are randomly created and dropped in a fashion more like Diablo then anything else. Some estimates put the total number of guns up over 17 million. This is done with random damage, ammo and other characteristics that are generated on the fly rather than being statically placed and predetermined by a developer.
Another big draw for the game is the four player cooperative mode. The game can be played single player, but it was built from the ground up to be a cooperative experience. You can play with a friend via split screen or you can jump in and out of other people’s games on the fly. Throw in Borderlands’ crazy sense of humor, you you have a great buddy game.
Borderlands is bound to be one of the best multiplayer experiences this holiday season, and will give you plenty to do until Modern Warefare 2 comes out next month. You may want to watch the reviews come in, just to make sure something didn’t fall apart late in development, but pending a disaster, this is a must buy game.
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