I bought Borderlands on Wednesday after much soul-searching (I didn’t finish Fallout 3, which is in a similar market segment, probably because it was too creepy). Fallout 3 is Role Playing Game that is also a First Person Shooter. In contrast, Borderlands is a First Person Shooter that is also a Role Playing Game.

Anyway, I had some trepidation and finally ended up buying it used from GameStop (for $55) because I could return it in 7 days if I didn’t like it.

So on Thursday I got the flu and spent most of Thursday sleeping it off and playing a little Borderlands. By Friday I was well enough to game a little and I’ve been playing it pretty hot and heavy for the weekend (in between housecleaning sessions).

Here’s what I said about it to a gaming buddy in IM today:

Malcolm: Dude. I got Borderlands on Wednesday and played it during my convalescence.
Malcolm: I think you might like it. Lots of Road Warrior. The occasional blowing heads off of bandits at range with sniper rifles.
Malcolm: Monsters.
Malcolm: Road kills (running enemies over) not only encouraged but rewarded. Stopping and getting out and looting corpses afterward also encouraged.
Malcolm: Sort of a Mad Max, sort of Grand Theft Auto, lots of FPS but Diablo-like grinding, looting, selling, buying new WMD, going back for more.
Malcolm: Missile launchers on dune buggies. I mean, come on!

It is a little grindy. A lot of people have compared it to an FPS Diablo. I think that’s fair. But the gameplay is a lot of fun. And it’s fun to take out targets even when you’re so much higher level than they are that you don’t get any experience for it.

I am enjoying it though. This is one of those 9 out of 10 type games that really makes me glad that video games keep getting better. When I was an early teen, just getting into computers and seeing what they could do, this kind of game was beyond my wildest dreams – games I could play where I would do things I would NEVER do in real life but that were fun all the same to do. And it’s fun, too. And challenging, but not too challenging. Just right. Mmm.

Tags:   borderlands · diablo · flu · gamestop · geek · grand theft auto · mad max · video games · xbox · xbox 360No Comments