May 25, 2011

Redeeming Borderlands over a year later


Over a year ago I tried Borderlands and concluded that it stunk.  You can read the original article for clarification as to why, but I think there were a lot of factors that lead to me thinking the targeting system sucked and missions were lame.  And a lot of it is because I didn't have the patience to try it again later.

The Boyfriend, or I guess I should call him Mystic now due to the podcast, urged me and a friend to give  it another try.  So we did, and we did it with a friend who did all 4 co-op before.  And it definitely got better.

This is definitely a game where you're not going to get a good taste of the experience in the first 30 minutes or so.  You have to level up decently and be sure to avoid over-challenging missions for your group.  Don't attempt anything too many levels above unless you're all superb tacticians knowing what you're up against.  Also, make sure everyone has a different job.  It does make the game a lot more fun.

Why did I change my mind?  Well to be honest this time I think the file I had was less buggy, so I felt I had actual control over my character.  Not like I was suddenly a hundred times better, but I felt that my (lethargic) reaction time was accurately portrayed.  Also, the special powers you get when you are finally at level 5 are definitely worth the wait.  With the people I'm playing, we have 2 hunters, me and another friend.  I focus more on my attack bird's bonuses and stick to my sniper rifle.  My friend is becoming a bit of a Jack of all trades, but focusing on revolvers.  We will never be doing the same exact thing at once.  And it makes for a better game and better teamwork.

I like how you can have your teammates save you but you can also save yourself when you're pinned down in case your team is on the other edge of the area you're fighting on.  The vehicle travel is pretty sweet considering the scope of the maps.  The music is pretty good.  And over time you do notice a difference as you level up, it's not just meaningless numbers.

I'll be playing it, hopefully finishing the game with my friends.  I'm glad I decided to revisit this one there was a lot more potential fun than I had anticipated.

3 comments:

  1. Borderlands never gets old to me!

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  2. The biggest problem I think we had was the game was unstable when we first played it because of your motherboard problems... now that we swapped that board out everything seems more stable. Never going to buy Gigabyte again.

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  3. Soldier, focusing on support and heals. I didn't really care for any of the other classes, I love my turret too much to let it go. Not to mention never running out of ammo.

    Sadly, I play on PS3, and it is a curse of my life that I have friends that have PS3s and I have friends that have games I play, but none of them are the same people.

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