Borderlands has been out for a week now but I have played a lot of it… a lot. Here is my point by point review of the game that has been in development for what seems like forever.

The Good
I See Diablo Influence – The millions of guns statements are true and the system that creates them is fantastic because you don’t notice it doing work. It is as if you are playing Diablo II all over again – wait what? More than any other game out there, Borderlands resembles Diablo II the most with its drop system that attempts to truly randomize what weapons drop. For anyone who hasn’t played and subsequently didn’t get hooked on Diablo II, this is a good thing becase it means that the repetition of fighting the same enemies in the same area over and over can be forgotten in light of the hunt for better loot. No other (non-Blizzard) game seems to understand this and so Borderlands gets an A+ for this.

I Feel Call Of Duty – Short and to the point: there is nothing quite as sweet as jumping into a game and feeling right at home instantly. Borderlands makes perfect use of the basics of the Call of Duy: Modern Warfare control scheme rather than going all Halo on us players.

I Hate Half Life – Fighting two legged enemies that simply shoot back can get boring very quickly. Fortunately Borderlands ups the chaos by including enemies like four legged spiders and you guessed it – head crabs… erm, I mean scythids. These things will jump at you while there bretheren float and then jump at you. Fighting gigantic alien insects freaks me out and for this I got to give Borderlands for not flatlining on enemy types.

Of Art & Jokes – Many were skeptical of the art; it is fantastic. It fits and works perfectly for the game while setting it very far apart from Fallout 3 and Rage. After a few minutes of play I forgot all about it being a “copy of Fallout 3″ and started enjoying it independently. And oh how the humor kept me on my floor holding my stomach. The redneck/hick/western humor is a welcomed departure from every single other game on the market today. Seriously, Scooter is the funniest in-game character in a long time.

The Bad
Early Plot Peak – Back in highschool I learned about how plotlines ascend, peak and then descend towards the conclusion. While this theme really isn’t necessary in games (Halo 3 builds until the final cutscene) to be successful, it is important not to flatten out within the first few hours of gameplay. This is a big problem for Borderlands. Scooter is about the only funny character in the game, the claptraps have about 10 lines and character development is non-existent.

The Enemies – I can name them: Bandits, Skags, Scythids, Spiderants. There. You will see all of them within a few hours of playing the game. The rest are insignificant (Rakk, Scorpioncrabs) or modifications on those core four. Again Borderlands crescendos way too early and fails to introduce new enemy types (in a large way) until the last hour or two of gameplay. In fact, Scythids were only included because you run over them a lot in the one vehicle. Really you don’t ever have to worry about them. In fact all you ever have to worry about is Skags an Bandits. Spiderants are easily disposed of with a clean shot to the sac.

Too Many Other Games – It is too obvious what games the inspiration for Borderlands was drawn from: Diablo, Fallout, Call of Duty, Half Life, Halo. Really this game is more of a mixture of features of other games rather than a game of its own. I mean really Gearbox, an AI look alike woman that talks to you through your HUD? Enemies that jump for your head? This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but once the honeymoon period is over it means the game gets boring fast.

Oh The Bugs – I can’t count the bugs anymore. I literally lost count. Did Gearbox even test this game? Things like getting stuck in the terrain are somewhat excusable in such a large game. But hitbox detection for the one vehicle is absolutely horrid. There is no excuse for running into an invisible area around a rock and being stopped immediately. Other bugs are just as annoying – no way to come out of Berserk except hitting the back button which has a chance of not bringing back your weapons until Berserk actually runs out. Another favorite is how it seems that every boss can be “glitched” into an enemy that can’t cause any harm to the player (not that they could in the first place).

The “Bosses” – These bosses are a joke. As a person who sucks at boss fights I can tell you that the bosses in Borderlands are horribly designed, do no damage to the player and can be easily beaten without any tricks. Pro tip: aim, fire, reload, repeat.

Verdict
The game has a lot of problems and numerous shortcomings, but should you buy it? Yes. Even with the flaws it is a great game that should be experienced by all. Hopefully we can inspire some developer to take the ideas to the next step and add a few buckets of polish.

Oh Fallout 3, how I love thee. The game is fantastic. A must buy for anyone interested in shooting people, leveling up, causing massive destruction or any combination of the above. But oh how the main story is just one let down after another. I have mistaken this game for a game made by Bethesda; a game where your actions directly influence the story at pinnacle moments. Instead this is a game where you are built up to a high and then let down when the story takes a sudden left turn and you have no choice but to follow it. And these sudden left turns, oh how predictable they are, are so basic that it just makes you bleed with agony over what could have been.

But in the end, I am going back to start a new character and do it all over again. That is how good this game is.

I have decided that I should give my opinion about the game. Why? Because this is the internet and if I don’t, who will? This review will not give out a score and is not going to simply list the pros and cons of the game. Rather I am going to give reasons why the game is good or bad and then argue with myself.

What’s good about Fable II?

• Simplicity
  • For: For those that know me, it is no surprise to hear that I am not a huge RPG fan. I never actually completed Fable I and the only other RPG games I have played include Diablo II, KOTOR and Oblivion. Thus I thoroughly enjoy the simplicity of Fable II. The controls were very easy to pick up and the aiming for combat is incredibly easy. Just point, slash, dash and bash! But the simplicity doesn’t stop there: the best part is the quest trail. I hate games that just expect you to know where to go and Fable II fixes that with a dotted trail that shows you the way.
  • Against: I am going to have to disagree. Although the simplicity of controls is good, the fighting leaves a lot to be desired. I wish games would employ both simplicity and depth. Allow those who want to spend time learning controls do so by giving them advanced moves via combos. But the lack of depth and complexity doesn’t always have to be about fighting. The lack of any sort of mini map is incredibly frustrating. The lack of a more complex potion setup is also very painful. Because the game picks potions for you, you could end up munching on fatty foods that suprise suprise, make you fat!
• Short But Sweet
  • For: The game has a perfect length without having to resort to tons of fetch-it quests. The worst thing about modern RPGs is in the name of providing an open atmosphere they just include tons of extra side quests that turn out to be nothing more than walking across the world to get an item for someone. The best part about the questing in Fable II? Some of the side quests fit in with the story and make sense. The second bad thing about modern RPGs is fetch-it quests that just do not make any sense.
  • Against: You couldn’t be more wrong! Fable II is the shortest RPG ever made and it is so short it is actually painful. You know a game is bad when you can spend more time mucking about in town than you do finishing the main story. Furthermore, I do not believe a game has to resort to fetch-it quests at all. Fable II makes good use of interesting quests with side stories that are awkward, funny, and even a bit frightening. They should have spent a litle more time extending it!

What sucks?

• Glitches!
  • For: There is no excuse for game ending glitches whether it is joining a coop game of someone who hasn’t made it to the main game or not being able to get out of dialog. I will go as far as saying that anything dealing with the A button is glitchy. It doesn’t matter, even putting away your weapon doesn’t work sometimes!
  • Against: Yep, no excuse and no argument here!
• Lack of depth
  • For: Why are there so few weapons? So few clothes? So few spots to discover? The world is small, the clothes are boring, there is no armor and there are no weapons to really find except for the legendary ones. Fable II pales in comparison to games like Diablo II where there are almost endless possibilities.
  • Against: Why do you need so much depth? It made sense for Diablo II because the game was about farming. It was a hack and slash where you played just to get better items. Fable II is not about that; it is about the story! If there were more weapons, it isn’t as if you would be using them. You would just get the best and that would be it.
  • For 2: That is true! Perhaps they should try making multiple types of weapons with different looks that all do the same damage or have the same attributes. That way players can at least customize their looks. A game like Fable II needs to support gamers’ desires for being unique.