This post has not been edited by the GamesBeat staff. Opinions by GamesBeat community writers do not necessarily reflect those of the staff.
Editor's note: I have to admit, my own Borderlands hype levels are reaching dangerous territory, and this post didn't help. If it doesn't turn out to be everything I'm hoping for I'll have no one to blame but Evan. -Demian
If I only had $63.29 (the cost of a new release after tax in California) to spend on one game for the rest of the year, my pick would be Borderlands. And this is why:
Reason 1: The Missing Link
Borderlands has the potential to become the model for future role-playing-shooter titles in the same way that Gears of War naturalized the third-person cover system. This will (hopefully!) be achieved by successfully and gracefully creating a stronger balance of skill-based first-person-shooter mechanics with the addictive nature of leveling and looting found in role-playing games.
Borderlands features four different character classes, quests, looting, vehicles, and leveling all wrapped up with a sparkly FPS bow. Tons of games, including FPS franchises such as Killzone, have had multiple character classes and leveling, however, it's the execution and implimentation of those features that can make them more than just bullet points on the back of a box.
Take the skill tree system as a small example. Borderlands uses a World of Warcraft-like skill tree with three branches for each character class. Not an entirely new idea, but the customizability allotted by the branches sets Borderlands apart from games such as Resistance 2 and Killzone 2, while its clean and colorful design differs from games like Fallout 3.
Reason 2: Randy Pitchford
I have been following this game since it was mentioned on the Bonus Round show back in December 2007, but it wasn’t until I saw a few interviews with Randy Pitchford, Gearbox's President and CEO, that I really came around.
Here is this guy, well, President/CEO, who is legitimately ecstatic about his team's game. It's nice to put faces to the games that we play or even the developers that we support. Seeing people who worked on a game talk about that game is much more valuable to me than some outragous ad campaign or over-the-top trailer.
It makes you feel good about your purchase. “Sure, I’ll give you my money, 'cause I know you love your job, you are really adamant about making a good game, you're open to new ideas that benefit the game, and plan to support the community for at least a little while before you move on to the next title.”
Reason 3: Progression
Leveling up and distributing attribute points in Borderlands seems like it will provide a better sense of progression than earning perks or unlocks in FPS games like Modern Warfare 2.
Unlocks in Modern Warfare 2 resemble a long array of sprint-like check lists, while leveling in Borderlands has the potential to generate a progressive feeling of growth. Both types of play are fun. Rest assured, I intend to spend a lot of time with both games, but Borderlands will be refreshing because it is bringing something new to the FPS genre.
Reason 4: Multiplayer
I can’t say how excited I am about the co-op gameplay of Borderlands…but I’ll try. Ever since I played Secret of Mana back in 1995, I wished that more RPG games featured multiplayer.
Even while playing games such as Fallout 3 and Mass Effect I find myself getting a bit lonely, or in the need of some tactical advantage. Sure, in a squad-based game like Mass Effect you can have the A.I. flank one side of a room, but it’s not the same as playing with another human.
One of my favorite aspects of MMOs and multiplayer RPGs is strategizing for raids and boss fights. Resistance 2 had an MMO-like squad-based co-op feature, and it was awesome. Left 4 Dead is another great example of a co-op shooter done right.
Speaking of Left 4 Dead, drop-in co-op is one of those features that works so well, but must be hard to implement considering how few games actually have it. So kudos (in advance) to Gearbox for including it in Borderlands. I also like that Borderlands will allow characters to play together regardless of their relative levels.
Reason 5: The Promise
Over the years we've all been pulled in, hyped up, and broken down by crafty marketing ploys. From morality choices that supposedly affect gameplay to real-time growing trees, overzealous marketing and advertising has a history of disappointing consumers.
Borderlands has its own red flag: a claim of roughly 87 billion different guns for your destructive pleasure. I'm not going to say whether I believe the game will really have that many guns, if I think there will only be 20 guns with alternate variations which eventually add up to some ungodly number, or if I flat-out think the claim is just bogus. To me, it doesn’t matter which of those statements is true.
What does matter is how many of those alleged bazillion guns feel natural and are fun to use. Gearbox has experience working on multiple iterations of great FPS titles such as James Bond 007: Night Fire, Halo: Custom Edition, Half-Life, Counter Strike, and a slew of Brothers in Arms games — with that kind of pedigree, I expect Borderlands' gun play mechanics and user interface to have a classic feel, matched with a new and unique style that I hope will set a new standard for the fairly new FPS/RPG hybrid genre. And it will probably have a hell of a lot of guns.
