Borderlands

Platform: XBox 360
Developer: Gearbox
By: Taylor McLelland, Associate Editor

So I finally got around to playing Borderlands, and I got to say. It is a lot of fun! If you like Fallout 3, you will like this game. They are very similar in game play. And if you are unfamiliar with Fallout 3, It is a first person shooter, RPG. Basically, you go around killing things, earn experience, then choose what new skill you would like to upgrade. But Borderlands adds one thing Fallout 3 didn't have, Multi-Player.

First, let me go into the game play. The game plays great. It starts off you get to choose one of five characters. I decided to go with a tank like guy. He is big, and can take a hit. But the big factor of why I chose him was that he started with a shotgun. And seeing how I don't have the quickest aim due to a lack of finger dexterity, the shotgun is always my friend in any FPS.So the game starts, I am on this bus, and some guy drops me off in the middle of no where to search from lost treasure. Then I get this vision of some sort of angel, and she tells me I am the chosen one, destined to find this lost treasure. A feet many have died trying to do apparently. Not the best premise for a game, really, but do we need an excuse to kill some bad guys?

So it's not the best plot or story in the world, but the game play makes up for that in a big way. Very typical to first person shooter RPG's, you are given missionsto go about saving towns from some vicious warlord or another. Each mission getting harder and harder. So you have to make sure you level up before taking on some missions. This can get a little repetitive, but it's the same for any RPG, so not a huge issue. And if you ever come across a mission that is to hard, you can always team up with your friends, with xBox live, and take it on together. And if they happen to be at a higher level then you, all the better. They can take on any harder guy, and you still get the experience for it. this can really help in the leveling up process.

Another plus for this game is all the new content that is continuously coming out for it. So if you ever beat the game, or get sick of the same levels, you can download the new ones. I haven't been able to try it yet, but any level called Zombie island has got to be good in my book. But that may just be the zombie slayer in me.

Replay value of the game seems pretty high, mainly because of the DLC, and also trying it with a different character. Though if your like me, I usually like to play with just the one character, so I doubt I will ever start over again. But the DLC is something worth looking into. So if you have the money, the game will never end.

The graphics of the game really help set the feel for it. It is a cell shaded look, and really helps get the gritty-ness of the planet across. Some people are not going to like the style, but I really did, and as I said, helped get the theme across for the game. All in All, I give Border lands for the 360, 4 out of 5.