By Sam Coles:
The looter shooter tends to be ubiquitous in the gaming
industry, where they tend to be met with a unanimous eye roll. However back in
2009 a little game called Borderlands came out and everyone fell in love with
it, the art style, gameplay, quirky sense of humour and its atmosphere is something
that still stands the test of time. With the release of Borderlands 3 around
the corner (at the time of writing), I want to talk about what makes Borderlands
so special. So join me Vault Hunter, and let’s journey across Pandora in search
of millions of guns and fortune!
Picture this, it is late 2009, I’m 16 years old and I see a
bizarre game sitting there on the shelf. It’s not a sequel or a reboot of a franchise,
no it’s something new and I had no idea what the game was about so you know
what I did? I bought it and it turned out to be really good. Borderlands was a
game I had no idea about because at the time I wasn’t following games media due
to other commitments. What appealed to me right away was its unique and standout
art style, as I have talked about many times before the Xbox 360 and PS3
generation was about gritty realism with colour schemes that resembled an edgy
emo kid, dark and grey. No this game was bright, colourful and cell shaded which
has helped the game age surprisingly well.
The gameplay was something that hooked players, as it gave a
good sense of progression as it would constantly reward the player with new
weapons, armour among other things. Unlike looter shooters of today, where they
would purposely hold rewards back through unnecessary grind. No Borderlands
never really tells you to grind with its gameplay, yes it will attach
difficulty to certain quests, but it won’t bar you from participating in the
quest although you might get seven shades of blue knocked out of you. The game
doesn’t restrict you; it just merely recommends you be a certain level which is
a great challenge for the sadists out there.
One could examine the weapons at first and say they are
generic, and yes I wouldn’t blame you for having that outlook from the start.
However the further you get into the game and the more you level up, the more
exotic and strange the weapons get. For starters they can have elemental
effects, this can range from corrosive damage which melts your foe’s rib cage,
fire damage which is self-explanatory, shock damage and the things that are
more thematically appropriate to the world. Not only that some guns will have
certain quirks to say the least, such as when you reload your gun you can throw
it as a grenade (yes really) or every time you fire your gun it shrieks like
your drunk friend as he jumps from pool table to pool table.
What also stands out with Borderlands is the atmosphere; I’m
talking about the first game specifically as the game had over worldly and
almost a haunting environment. The first game had the humour; however it was
before it got obnoxious in the second game where the writing has aged about as
well an open pot of hummus left out for a week. Anyway the game had a more and
subtle tone with its overall atmosphere, the jokes were there but the tone
was darker and sinister compared to the second. Not to say that the second game
doesn’t have solid atmosphere, but it is overshadowed by the ear grating
humour, which is the reason why I play the game on mute most of the time while
listening to a podcast.
Borderlands is a game that has a great hook to it, it is
rewarding, beautiful visually and has an atmosphere that no other game has. Yes
the sequels can be a bit annoying at times with their writing, but the overall experience
especially with friends is a lot of fun with dynamic weapons that change things
up, as well as a steady progression route. It really put the looter shooter on
the map before it was an actual thing, and to be honest does a better job of
all the modern interpretations.
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