Borderlands, PC DvD Rom, PS3, XB360

[Dominion]

Title: Borderlands
Genre: First-Person Shooter, Role-Playing Game
Producer: 2K, Gearbox
System: PC DvD-Rom, Playstation 3, X-Box 360
Release Date: October 20th 2009
Price: $59.99 USD
Download Content Zombie Island
Website: Borderlandsthegame.com, Wikipedia.org
Video: Gearbox Studios, IGN Review, NG MNM, Day 2, NG MNM, Day 6
Rating:
"So after an hour or two of Borderlands™ hands-on time, I feel it's safe to say that I've found the online game I'll be playing most this fall." -GamePro

"It's like unearthing the bomb shelter where Walt Disney's head is frozen and finding out he's still animating things. Something like that." -Gamespy

Images: image1, image2, image3, image4, image5, image6, image7, image8, image9, image10, image11, image12, image13, image14, image15, image16, image17



Review:

Color-coded Items Show Priority
For every item dropped from searching objects, or killing baddies, or buying from ending machines -- every item is color-coded to show how they rate on rarity (much like what is seen in Diablo and World of Warcraft). Based on the color of the item's name, you will know if a dropped object is worth picking up, just from a quick sweep of the area, without running up to the item itself.

Items categorize as such:

white = basic item
blue = advanced item
green = scarce item
purple = rare item
orange = godly item

Clap-traps
I've uncovered some more tips to new players of this game. Along the instances/dungeons, you encounter helpful droids called "clap-trap". By completing a quest in order to locate a gear used to repair these friendly bots, you unlock items can are used to grant the player 2 extra slots on your inventory storage maximum limit.

Quests, quests, and more quests!
You can grind on randomly spawned enemies in order to earn experience. But the big experience is in completion of every quest in the game. I have played this game since it was released 2 days ago, and I have YET to complete every quest in the game. Imagine once the later download-able content is released. It shall be within a month or sooner, and we will have a new map to unlock where you get to fight hordes of zombies/undead.

YouTube video involvement
If you have yet to buy this game, be sure to do so soon. The first video for this game shall be up later this week. And so far we have a 3-player team that plays every night in private invite-only matches. If you care to join our team, we have room for 1 more player in our nightly games. And if the games get overloaded, we can always split into smaller teams to get everyone involved. The leaders for this game as Kire668 and Dominion667. Add them and send a message when you are ready to join us in the game, and we shall send you an invite to join in all of the co-operative leveling and help you find some great cash and loot (artifacts, guns, grenade modifications, class modifications, shields).

The first video shall introduce the co-operative ability for off-line players whom do not possess XB Live, or whom only have one copy and system, and can not join up with both players on on-line games. This video was filmed on October 20th 2009, the day the game released, and all non-pre-ordered copies were sold out everywhere, so being without a second copy for my second XB360, I was left to play off-line in a co-operative game with my nephew on his system.

In the second video (after I edit the first and upload it), it will show on-line play with what we have done today, with 3-player co-operative on-line, defeating 3 of the bosses, and completing a few quests and dungeons for some good loot.

The Characters

The game is 1-4 player. Players have a choice on 1 of the 4 various characters (unlike Call of Duty: Nats Zombies). There are 4 classes to choose from, each with a unique 3-branch skill tree, that you can level with 1 skill level per character level (similar to Diablo and World of Warcraft). The class has a pre-determined way the character looks to other players. You can edit only 3 of the color patterns on the clothing of the character to create uniqueness (as seen in Halo 3 multi-player mode).

Genre Mixture

Role-Playing Games are ALL about killing things, and earning experience points at that long-awaited goal of earning levels.

First-Person Shooter games are about having better skill than everyone else around you, and working with a team, sometimes going at it solo. Not the type of "skill" which earns levels from doing a routine day after day, night after night. This "skill" is something that you either have, or you lack. It sets apart the dead from the living, the winner from the loser. This "skill" is the mastery of having a better aim, a steady hand, and a precision trigger finger -- and the ability to have no mercy when dropping an opponent, before s/he drops you.

This game is the ultimate mix of both genres, an RPS (Role-Playing Shooter). Combining both the aim/speed/mastery of the FPS player, combined with the time/devotion/leveling of what the RPG player seeks. This is an idea that we have discussed for MANY years upon years, and that idea is finally into production, and shall be released October 20th 2009.

Vehicles? Hell Yes!

Remember back in the days of early multi-player games, which Halo and lately with Unreal Championship 3, where vehicles play a major impact in transportation across larger maps, along with giving the ability of added armor during a fire fight, or having the joy of earning a platter spree on unsuspecting ground units?

This game puts that type of game to the test, by giving the ability to not only man, gun from, and seek refuge within one of these vehicles, but you can earn levels through the whole RPG aspect of the game, along with completely trashing the vehicles of bandits.

Closing

So, I hope to see everyone in the game. If you have pre-ordered Borderlands, plan to buy the game upon release date, or later, be sure to post a response here with your XB360Live gamertag, and we can get the ball rolling on this new-age FPS RPG. Below is the list of current known gamertags whom shall take part in this glorious online multi-player.

NG-Borderlands members

Dominion667
FxFire
GanjaMeka420
iBrutalityl
Kire668
MarvelMan444

This post has been edited by Dominion on Nov 7 2009, 03:21 PM

[Golem19]

Looks good I'll have to try it out. Although i don't get on the xbox much at all anymore.

[Dominion]

Golem19: That's fine. But the first time in the history of the world some game developer was brilliant enough to actually combine Multiplayer Online, with a hint of RPG, throw in a mix of FPS, and to actually pull it off with some graphics that are at the quality level of Team Fortress and Grand Theft Auto. This game shall be VERY worth it, and take many hours of members here at NG in order to daily level skills and accounts in order to help the team kill bigger and harder bosses, and get some good loot similar to Diablo 2 with random drop rate, enemy stats, and randomized map locations every time you sign on.

Plus there is single player, for those whom lack the funds or the connection speed in order to maintain a high quality game with 4 players, such as this.

But I shall test it, first hand, and give my personal response and feedback as I do with every game I purchase, so you don't have to. And if I think it is good, then it might just be worth the investment for your own enjoyment.

[Dominion]

Only 31 more days until Borderlands releases on PC, XB360, and PS3.

The NG expansion has been posted on the forum header, for ease of access to members of Runescape and World of Warcraft, whom may not yet be aware of this game, to perhaps consider changing their secondary game, or finding a new primary game, after reviewing the videos and screenshots for this one.

On release day, we shall begin groups of team with 4 players per round, group leveling seeking some loot. Afterwards, I shall post a second review on this game, after testing it out first-hand.

[Zg7]

So it's like Left 4 Dead but instead of zombies, you kill aliens?

[Bobbydown]

So the game doesn't have the graphics in that photo? cause they look crap

[Dominion]

Zg7: It is FallOut3, just multiplayer online.

Bobbydown: The graphics are compared to Grand Theft Auto and XII, with the style of Comix Zone or Viewtiful Joe. They kept the graphics to a cartoon look, since running 4 players in a single game such as FallOut3, where users can venture across a large map with free roam, would cause serious lag, unless they were getting well paid servers to host this like they have on World of Warcraft.

So, for a start of actually seeing FPS attempt an MORPG is a shock. If they start charging $15 per month, and allowing 2000 per world at a time, then it would easily overtake World of Warcraft by storm, with every fan from Halo, Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto, Metal Gear, and Left 4 Dead -- all residing in a single FPS earning experience to max out their stats and arsenal.

But then again, it is anyone's guess, until that actually comes to pass.

[Dominion]

Computer version was postponed for further graphics updates and features. Expected release on October 23rd 2009.

Playstation3 and X-Box360 are still scheduled for October 20th 2009.

Still no sign of Diablo 3, so this will be the fix for our RPG addiction, until that game arrives, or perhaps this will make it big, and we won't even have a use for Diablo3 once it FINALLY releases.

[Gary]

i'm getting this..

through the digital five-finger discount

[Dominion]

Gary: You know piracy is wrong? But as long as enough of us actually go out and buy the game on the first day, they still make their multi-million dollar sales record.

5 days and counting. And IF you manage to find a copy of this game BEFORE release date, post it on YouTube and you will instantly be as popular as Fred. Some guy for Prototype from K Mart 2 days before release date, and it was well over 100000 views on first week.