Ups and Downs:So far in my 20 levels of experience I have seen many things I have liked about this game and some things I don't like or think they should tweak or add into the game. Consider this post a mini review of the game thus far.
Borderlands offers a wide range of weapons as advertised in their trailer for the game. There are literally bazillions of weapons ranging from pistols, revolvers, assault rifles, sub machine guns, rocket launchers and sniper rifles. Certain classes are more proficient with certain weapons then others. The added effects of weapons that do different things then others is a bonus. You may find a SMG that does lower damage but has the ability to cause its bullets to blow up, or cause DoT incendiary damage. Different weapons although of the same class I.E. two different SMG's could have different sized magazines and different rates of fire which does make a big difference not only in play style but in a sense accuracy as well. High rate of fire is not always best but yet there are situations where you are being swarmed where it would be best. So the options are limit less and in a way if you are playing on the PC, developers have to make the game playable for hundreds of different systems and they kind of made the game playable for hundreds of different play styles with all of the little weapon differences regarding, rate of fire, accuracy and added bullet effects. This is definitely a plus.
There is also a small amount of gear! We're not talking armor but modifications and addons. I can safely say that Borderlands is like the Fallout 3 with Halo 3 campaign style game play. It's set on a planet that's a giant wasteland and offers 4 player coop with similarities in certain aspects. You get an "over shield" with little pieces of hardware you find or buy/upgrade in 1 of the 3 accessory slots. You will see these drop off of random mobs in the game or find them in these boxes as you go along. Again they are all different, unless of course you find the same one, in their own ways. Some recharge faster then the others, some have more shields then the others, some even when depleted will set off an AOE around you damaging enemies in the radius of the AOE. Again this offers tons of possibilities for different play styles. Example, I'm a soldier so I am usually right in the front lines in the middle of cross fire and I will take damage. Currently I am using a shield that has a very fast recharge rate. If I need it to recharge I have to hide or find cover and I don't want this thing taking its time while enemies are closing in on me. It suits my "Up in yo face, run and gun" play style with shooters very well and has satisfied my blood lust for carnage and mass killings hehe.
Even with all the guns in the game you even get grenades! And you guessed it! They are all different from each other! WHOO! You got MIRV grenades that blow up into more grenades, grenades that teleport, yes I said teleport to your enemy and blow up. Grenades that damage your enemy and HEAL you. Proximity grenades, grenades that bounce around until they make contact with the enemy ect... ect... Its a demolition mans version of heaven. To sum this section up...LOTS-O-THINGS that go BOOM in many different ways!
The whole second wind thing. Hmmm I like the idea, down but not out. However I would of loved to have seen them implement this in a different way. If you do happen to bleed out and die, you are simply respawned back at the way point and you run back and continue the slaughter. I would of loved to see them do this. Instead of just making it a "push on till we finally make it" they could have made it so, if you bleed out you have to wait until you are revived by a teammate. But if everyone dies then the team is respawned back at the last way point but all the mobs you killed ahead of that point, respawn and you have to try again. It would of added a higher sense of difficulty and made actual team work more vital to the game. Pretty much do what Left 4 Dead did and BEAT you into working as a team. So although its a good idea, it has serious potential to be better. The game is built well to offer missions or "jobs" so you do not get stuck grinding off mobs that are just roaming around. And when you receive a mission it scales with you. Zeek last night had a mission at 16 that I had at 18. The mobs there since it was his mission were 16-18. Mine when I did it were 18-20. Another note to touch on this since I am talking about mobs is that they do in fact respawn. If you take a little long completing the mission, when you are running back you usually have to face some of the mobs that were there in the beginning areas. Not a big deal but its annoying.
Diablo 2 looting. Gearbox might of well as lubed up a studded "toy" and stuck it where the catholic priests do....
I hate this style of looting, its annoying and if there is lag even though you KNOW you hit the button first the server says otherwise. This type of looting practically made the 4 player coop a trusted friends only game. Good luck getting the uber gear in a random 4 player game. As said above, play with friends and distribute accordingly to how you all like to do it.
Voice chat is implemented into the game, however it has one downside. Its voice activated and not push to talk. So if you have a sensitive mic or one of those who have something with a loud humming noise in your room, (ladies
) that will activate the the mic or just people being obnoxiously loud in the background, get use to using your handy mute button a lot when you want to and don't want to talk.
Skills. This system was built really well. There are 3 different ways you can go for each class. Some more suited for team play then others but they built the game knowing not everyone likes coop play. So even if your style of play would be more suited for team play the game still remains possible to solo it just may take you longer to complete. Now I do not know what the level cap is even if there is one. I've browsed the on-line games and have seen someone at level 50 so far. So that actually lets you go partially into another skill tree with all the allocated points. If its possible to fill all 3 trees I do not know at this point. But going partially into another tree makes sense. You can even split it up between all three if you wanted to. It's all up to you and how you want to play.
That about does it for now. I will update this post for those of you who are considering the game if I think of more things or find out some new things. Speaking of those considering or those who have already got it. It would be cool to get a solid group of 4 or even more to play with each night or casually through the week. Let me know if you want to and when you are usually free. The game is fun with multiple people, its just better to play with people you know considering how loot works.
-Mongoose out-
