Borderlands is a science fiction first-person shooter with RPG elements that was developed by Gearbox Software.The PS3 versions of the game was released in North America on October 20, 2009.
Gameplay:
Borderlands includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading Gearbox to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons. The four characters are: Roland the Soldier, Mordecai the Hunter, Lilith the Siren, and Brick (a Berserker) "as himself". From then on, players take on quests assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item. Players earn experience by killing foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or using his pet Bloodwing to assist in kills and health boosting. Players can distribute points among any of the specializations, and can also spend a small amount of in-game money to redistribute their skill points.
Players start the game with the ability to use two weapons, but later gain up to four weapon slots, as well as slots for an energy shield, a grenade modification, and a class modification. Items collected but not used can be sold back at vendors for money that then can be used to buy better items. One of the key features of Borderlands is the randomly-generated weapons and items created either as dropped by enemies, found in storage chests about the game, sold at vendors in the game, or as quest reward items. The game uses a "Procedural Content Creation System" to create these weapons and items, which can alter their firepower, rate of fire, and accuracy, add in elemental effects such as a chance to set foes on fire, and at rare times other special bonuses such as regenerating the player's ammo. A color-coded scale is used to indicate the rarity of the weapon or item. It is estimated that the random system can generate over 17 million variations of weapons. The Procedural system is also used to create the characteristic of random enemies that the player may face. This allows for enemies of the same species to have widely-varying attacks: for example, variations of "spiderants" in the game could leap around and would jump onto players' faces, while another variant can roll up into a ball and attack people, depending on the content generator.
When in combat, the player can take damage if their shield is depleted, affecting their health. If they lose all their health, they must either wait to be revived by another player or attempt to kill an enemy to achieve a "second wind", or otherwise will be regenerated back at the last "New-U" station that they passed, losing a small percentage of their money in the process. Players eventually gain access to two-passenger vehicles, and can engage in vehicular combat with other enemies. Eventually, a system of fast transit points between the game world is available to the player; until then, players must walk or drive between areas to get around.
The game can be played alone, but also supports two-player cooperative play through split-screen (on consoles), and up to four players playing co-operatively online or over LAN. The game follows the progress of the host player, rewarding the other active players for completion of quests for their characters. If the other players are doing the same quests in their campaign, the completed quests remain the same in their campaign as well as the host's. When more players are present, the game alters the statistics of the generated enemies, balancing the game due to the larger number of players. Players can take part in one-on-one duels anywhere in the game world, or can visit arenas in the game world to participate in free-for-all, 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 combat battles with their fellow players.
Plot:
Characters:
There are four playable characters in the game; though each is given the character's official name by default, the player may change their character name or the colors of various parts of their outfits at "New-U" stations throughout the game. Brick is a Berserker, a tank-style character who is strong in melee combat. Bricks' preffered weapons are explosives and rocket launchers. Brick has the special ability to temporarily enter a berserker rage mode during which he cannot wield guns, instead using his massive fists to rapidly pound his enemies to death, and rapidly regenerates health and is resistant to damage during the rage. Lilith is one of only six known Sirens in the galaxy, beings with superhuman powers but with no way of controlling them. Lilith's Phasewalk ability allows her to temporarily enter another dimension, which renders her invisible to enemies and unable take damage from (and only give damage when exiting phasewalk), her foes and to cause a powerful shock-wave blast on exit. Liliths' preferred guns are elemental tech weapons. Mordecai, a Hunter, specializes in using Sniper Rifles and Revolvers and is aided by his pet Bat-like bird, Bloodwing, which can be used to assist in his long-range attack skills and scavenging for loot. Roland, a former member of the Atlas Corporation's private Crimson Lance army, is described by the game as a "Soldier" and is able to deploy an automated gun turret that can be upgraded with a wide range of offensive and defensive abilities. Roland is a good freewheeler and prefers shotguns and combat rifles. Accompanying the standard weapons, all characters also have a melee attack.
Downloadable content
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the first installment of downloadable content (DLC) for Borderlands and includes new quests, items, and enemies - including WereSkags and various zombies. The storyline takes place in an area known as Jakobs Cove which is a small town built by the Jakobs Corporation. Dr. Ned had been in charge of keeping the workers of Jakobs Cove alive, but ended up transforming them into zombies. The main plot revolves around finding previous visitors to Jakobs Cove and investigating Dr. Ned himself after the Jakobs Corporation become suspicious of his work. The playable area includes a large outdoor map with several further areas branched from the main zone - including a dark, abandoned version of previous area 'Old Haven'.
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is the second piece of DLC for Borderlands. It features three new riot arenas (Hellburbia, the Gully and Angelic Ruins) and storage for players' items. The plot of the DLC is Moxxi, a crazed lover who is setting out to find her 4th husband, leading her to make the arenas in the DLC. Players fight several of the game's enemies, including bosses, in arenas. No experience is gained from killing enemies in the arena battles, but experience can be gained from completing challenges or quests in the arena. New game modes are added, such as low gravity fighting, enemy health regeneration, and shieldless fighting. IGN gave Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot a 6.0/10, praising the fact that friends can be added in to play, and stated that everything else needed work. "There's no more gun, money, or ammo drops, and no XP" and stated that "the only decent amount of guns you'll find are in Marcus Kincaid's vendor machine."
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx was unofficially announced on January 21, 2010 via the official Gearbox forums, posted by Gearbox level designer Jason Reiss saying the pack will increase the level cap to level 61 , and is "the biggest DLC we have made". A tweet by Gearbox creative director Mike Neumann on January 21, 2010 said the pack would also include "more Scooter", who is a character in the game. This was followed by an official announcement from Gearbox via Gearboxity on January 29, 2010, confirming the release, level cap increase, brand new weapons, and "brutal, never-before-seen enemies in a huge new environment complete with tons of brand new missions" according to Gearbox, developer of the game. Not to mention, the most powerful creature in all of Borderlands labeled as a "Secret Final Boss" or "Crawmerax".
On March 3, 2010, Take-Two officially announced a fourth piece of downloadable content, stating that they will "continue to support the title with more add-on content, and our approach to digital content for Borderlands gives [Take-Two] a road map for other titles going forward." On July 15th 2010, General Knoxx's twitter page was updated for the first time in months, stating that he had "new orders (sent from the future)" On July 30th 2010, Randy Pitchford, Co-founder of Gearbox Software and current CEO, announced via twitter regarding the content "I get a LOT of questions about more DLC for Borderlands. Yes, more is coming! T2 already said so! Let's talk soon." On August 5th 2010, a long list of content that's supposedly going to come out in the content was posted on the Gearbox Forums. The data was gathered from files in the 1.31 update for the PC version of Borderlands. On August 11th, 2k confirmed the title of the content, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, and its main premise.
Gameplay:
Borderlands includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading Gearbox to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons. The four characters are: Roland the Soldier, Mordecai the Hunter, Lilith the Siren, and Brick (a Berserker) "as himself". From then on, players take on quests assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item. Players earn experience by killing foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or using his pet Bloodwing to assist in kills and health boosting. Players can distribute points among any of the specializations, and can also spend a small amount of in-game money to redistribute their skill points.
Players start the game with the ability to use two weapons, but later gain up to four weapon slots, as well as slots for an energy shield, a grenade modification, and a class modification. Items collected but not used can be sold back at vendors for money that then can be used to buy better items. One of the key features of Borderlands is the randomly-generated weapons and items created either as dropped by enemies, found in storage chests about the game, sold at vendors in the game, or as quest reward items. The game uses a "Procedural Content Creation System" to create these weapons and items, which can alter their firepower, rate of fire, and accuracy, add in elemental effects such as a chance to set foes on fire, and at rare times other special bonuses such as regenerating the player's ammo. A color-coded scale is used to indicate the rarity of the weapon or item. It is estimated that the random system can generate over 17 million variations of weapons. The Procedural system is also used to create the characteristic of random enemies that the player may face. This allows for enemies of the same species to have widely-varying attacks: for example, variations of "spiderants" in the game could leap around and would jump onto players' faces, while another variant can roll up into a ball and attack people, depending on the content generator.
When in combat, the player can take damage if their shield is depleted, affecting their health. If they lose all their health, they must either wait to be revived by another player or attempt to kill an enemy to achieve a "second wind", or otherwise will be regenerated back at the last "New-U" station that they passed, losing a small percentage of their money in the process. Players eventually gain access to two-passenger vehicles, and can engage in vehicular combat with other enemies. Eventually, a system of fast transit points between the game world is available to the player; until then, players must walk or drive between areas to get around.
The game can be played alone, but also supports two-player cooperative play through split-screen (on consoles), and up to four players playing co-operatively online or over LAN. The game follows the progress of the host player, rewarding the other active players for completion of quests for their characters. If the other players are doing the same quests in their campaign, the completed quests remain the same in their campaign as well as the host's. When more players are present, the game alters the statistics of the generated enemies, balancing the game due to the larger number of players. Players can take part in one-on-one duels anywhere in the game world, or can visit arenas in the game world to participate in free-for-all, 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 combat battles with their fellow players.
Plot:
Borderlands begins some time after the Dahl Corporation's abandonment of Pandora; several fortune seekers, including the player, are drawn to the planet by its legends of an unopened Eridian Vault. After arriving at the town of Fyrestone, the player sees an image of a mysterious woman, the "Guardian Angel", who is aware they are here to seek the Vault and directs them to follow her instructions. The player meets a man called Dr. Zed and the doctor helps the player through the beginning of the game. The Angel eventually leads them to collecting one of the several artifacts needed to open the vault. This causes Patricia Tannis, an archaeologist/scientist, to contact the player and urge them to collect the other three pieces of the Vault key. Tannis reveals that the Vault opens every 200 years and the time of the next opening is approaching. At the same time, Commandant Steele of the Crimson Lance, a well-outfitted mercenary force in the employ of one of the game's several mega-corporations, threatens to declare martial law over the planet and demands the vault key pieces.
While the player is able to secure the second and third Vault key pieces without incident, they find that the final piece is not where it is expected. Steele contacts the player, revealing that Tannis had betrayed them and that there are in fact only three pieces, then proceeds to cut off the planet's ECHO network disabling further communication with the Guardian Angel. The player infiltrates the Crimson Lance's headquarters and finds Tannis locked up; she claims she had no choice but to betray the player under force, but urges him/her to restart the ECHO network and to prevent Steele and the Crimson Lance from using the key. After restoring the network, the Guardian Angel urges the player to hurry and stop Steele. The player finds, as they approach the Vault, that the Crimson Lance are in combat with alien Guardians; after bypassing both forces, the player finally arrives at the Vault, too late to stop Steele from using the key. However, when the Vault opens, Steele and her guard are wiped out by a giant monster that is attempting to escape the vault. The Guardian Angel explains that the monster is called the Destroyer, imprisoned in the Vault by the alien Eridians long ago to prevent it from destroying the universe, with the Guardians present to prevent anyone from opening it. The player is able to defeat the monster, sealing the Vault for another 200 years.
While the player is able to secure the second and third Vault key pieces without incident, they find that the final piece is not where it is expected. Steele contacts the player, revealing that Tannis had betrayed them and that there are in fact only three pieces, then proceeds to cut off the planet's ECHO network disabling further communication with the Guardian Angel. The player infiltrates the Crimson Lance's headquarters and finds Tannis locked up; she claims she had no choice but to betray the player under force, but urges him/her to restart the ECHO network and to prevent Steele and the Crimson Lance from using the key. After restoring the network, the Guardian Angel urges the player to hurry and stop Steele. The player finds, as they approach the Vault, that the Crimson Lance are in combat with alien Guardians; after bypassing both forces, the player finally arrives at the Vault, too late to stop Steele from using the key. However, when the Vault opens, Steele and her guard are wiped out by a giant monster that is attempting to escape the vault. The Guardian Angel explains that the monster is called the Destroyer, imprisoned in the Vault by the alien Eridians long ago to prevent it from destroying the universe, with the Guardians present to prevent anyone from opening it. The player is able to defeat the monster, sealing the Vault for another 200 years.
Characters:
There are four playable characters in the game; though each is given the character's official name by default, the player may change their character name or the colors of various parts of their outfits at "New-U" stations throughout the game. Brick is a Berserker, a tank-style character who is strong in melee combat. Bricks' preffered weapons are explosives and rocket launchers. Brick has the special ability to temporarily enter a berserker rage mode during which he cannot wield guns, instead using his massive fists to rapidly pound his enemies to death, and rapidly regenerates health and is resistant to damage during the rage. Lilith is one of only six known Sirens in the galaxy, beings with superhuman powers but with no way of controlling them. Lilith's Phasewalk ability allows her to temporarily enter another dimension, which renders her invisible to enemies and unable take damage from (and only give damage when exiting phasewalk), her foes and to cause a powerful shock-wave blast on exit. Liliths' preferred guns are elemental tech weapons. Mordecai, a Hunter, specializes in using Sniper Rifles and Revolvers and is aided by his pet Bat-like bird, Bloodwing, which can be used to assist in his long-range attack skills and scavenging for loot. Roland, a former member of the Atlas Corporation's private Crimson Lance army, is described by the game as a "Soldier" and is able to deploy an automated gun turret that can be upgraded with a wide range of offensive and defensive abilities. Roland is a good freewheeler and prefers shotguns and combat rifles. Accompanying the standard weapons, all characters also have a melee attack.
Downloadable content
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the first installment of downloadable content (DLC) for Borderlands and includes new quests, items, and enemies - including WereSkags and various zombies. The storyline takes place in an area known as Jakobs Cove which is a small town built by the Jakobs Corporation. Dr. Ned had been in charge of keeping the workers of Jakobs Cove alive, but ended up transforming them into zombies. The main plot revolves around finding previous visitors to Jakobs Cove and investigating Dr. Ned himself after the Jakobs Corporation become suspicious of his work. The playable area includes a large outdoor map with several further areas branched from the main zone - including a dark, abandoned version of previous area 'Old Haven'.
Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is the second piece of DLC for Borderlands. It features three new riot arenas (Hellburbia, the Gully and Angelic Ruins) and storage for players' items. The plot of the DLC is Moxxi, a crazed lover who is setting out to find her 4th husband, leading her to make the arenas in the DLC. Players fight several of the game's enemies, including bosses, in arenas. No experience is gained from killing enemies in the arena battles, but experience can be gained from completing challenges or quests in the arena. New game modes are added, such as low gravity fighting, enemy health regeneration, and shieldless fighting. IGN gave Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot a 6.0/10, praising the fact that friends can be added in to play, and stated that everything else needed work. "There's no more gun, money, or ammo drops, and no XP" and stated that "the only decent amount of guns you'll find are in Marcus Kincaid's vendor machine."
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx was unofficially announced on January 21, 2010 via the official Gearbox forums, posted by Gearbox level designer Jason Reiss saying the pack will increase the level cap to level 61 , and is "the biggest DLC we have made". A tweet by Gearbox creative director Mike Neumann on January 21, 2010 said the pack would also include "more Scooter", who is a character in the game. This was followed by an official announcement from Gearbox via Gearboxity on January 29, 2010, confirming the release, level cap increase, brand new weapons, and "brutal, never-before-seen enemies in a huge new environment complete with tons of brand new missions" according to Gearbox, developer of the game. Not to mention, the most powerful creature in all of Borderlands labeled as a "Secret Final Boss" or "Crawmerax".
Claptrap's New Robot Revolution
On March 3, 2010, Take-Two officially announced a fourth piece of downloadable content, stating that they will "continue to support the title with more add-on content, and our approach to digital content for Borderlands gives [Take-Two] a road map for other titles going forward." On July 15th 2010, General Knoxx's twitter page was updated for the first time in months, stating that he had "new orders (sent from the future)" On July 30th 2010, Randy Pitchford, Co-founder of Gearbox Software and current CEO, announced via twitter regarding the content "I get a LOT of questions about more DLC for Borderlands. Yes, more is coming! T2 already said so! Let's talk soon." On August 5th 2010, a long list of content that's supposedly going to come out in the content was posted on the Gearbox Forums. The data was gathered from files in the 1.31 update for the PC version of Borderlands. On August 11th, 2k confirmed the title of the content, Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, and its main premise.
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