Do you have what it takes to get a review published right here on Kotaku? Steven does, as he dumps that purple for a sweet orange.
Yes, that’s right, we’re now publishing reader reviews here on Kotaku. This is your chance to deliver sensible game purchasing advice to the rest of the Kotaku community.
And thanks to the very kind chaps at Madman Entertainment, purveyor of all kinds of cool, indie and esoteric film, the best reader review we publish each month will win a prize pack containing ten of the latest Madman DVD releases.
This review was submitted by Steven Bogos. If you’ve played Borderlands, or just want to ask Steven more about it, leave your thoughts in the comments below.
Borderlands (PC)
Borderlands is an FPS/RPG hybrid that takes place in a futuristic, open world, desolate landscape. While that seems like a familiar concept, Borderlands is very different from that other game, and it’s not just the lack of a 1950’s aesthetic.
Loved
Not too hot, not too cold: The main problem with other games that meld genres is that they try to balance all elements. This seems like a good idea, but doesn’t work out, because the RPG elements make the game too complex to keep a fast paced FPS feel. Borderlands is more accurately a core FPS with added RPG elements. Each character has but a single action skill that they can upgrade through three different trees, and loot is limited to guns, class mods, shields and grenade mods. It keeps it simple, and it works.
Tell your friends: Too many games tack co-op onto their campaigns, making player two no more than a clone of player one. Borderlands, on the other hand, feels as if it was built primarily around co-op. The good part is that single player doesn’t really suffer from this, as the dynamic difficulty of the game makes sure the challenge is accurate according to player count and level.
HATED
I thought I bought the PC version? Borderlands PC bears the telltale signs of ‘console portitis’. There are many irritating quirks that are obvious holdovers from the console versions, but the most annoying of the bunch is the horrible online server browser, and the lack of push-to-talk voice chat.
Change the quest, please: The quest tracking and map system in Borderlands is the only real gripe I had with the core mechanics. The fact that you can only track one quest at any time, and only the host of the game can select which quest is being tracked means that you should expect to spend a lot of time backtracking through areas where multiple quests are present, and politely asking the host to change which quest he is tracking.
What else can I say? It has a few flaws, but nothing really game breaking. In all other regards it is a fantastic game that recaptures the feel of the old school dungeon runners of yore in a new format. If you’re still not sold, know that Brick can upgrade his berserk ability with explosive power, meaning his punches can MAKE PEOPLE EXPLODE.
Reviewed by Steven Bogos
You can have your Reader Review published on Kotaku. Send your review to us at the usual address. Make sure it’s written in the same format as above and in under 300 words – yes, we’ve upped the word limit. We’ll publish the best ones we get and the best of the month will win a Madman DVD prize pack.
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