Trying to start a three day a week thing, so here we go, Borderlands review!

So, Borderlands. Let me get this right out of the way first - if you have played WoW for more than a month and enjoyed yourself to any extent, go pick up this game. If you played Fallout 3 for a while and got into it in any way, go pick up this game. It's like the creators of this game new exactly what they liked and had played WoW since its early inception, and they really liked that whole post-apocalyptic setting, and they also really liked...well, guns I guess, cuz theres a whole BUNCH of those in this game, and they said "DUDES! Lets smash those games together and come up with somethin that will BLOW YO MIND SON!" and alas, Borderlands was created. And make no mistake about it, they have done a very, very good thing.

We'll start with the good stuff, which is the whole point of the game. The point of this game is to blow a whole BUNCH of stuff and shoot a bunch of people in the face. I honestly don't know remember what the story is, but it's nothing to write home about, because its basically this...you are one of four mercenaries, you got the standard cliches here - the hot chic that prefers lighter weapons and is quicker than most, with the added bonus that she can go invisible sometimes. You got the skinny dude whose good at sniping, you got the big bulky guy that can take more hits and slap down a sweet sentry gun every once in a while when things get hectic. Then you got the kinda all around dude. So you got these mercenaries, and they take this bus out to this big apocalyptic wasteland and they are there to kick ass. They help the locals I guess, but mostly just because that's what enables them to kick more ass. Like Bionic Commando, like some other great games recently, the story doesn't matter at all. You are here to kick ass and chew absolutely no bubble gum whatsoever. One of the better parts of this game that is one of its (quite a few) steps above Fallout 3 is that you can grab a few friends with you and go a-ass-kicking with them. Wasting stuff is always more fun with a couple of friends, and plus the more friends you get, the more phat LOOTZ you get too, so everyone wins.

I'll be the first to admit that this game pretty much came out of nowhere for me. During the awesome video game onslaught that happens during the end of the year, I just pretty much assume there will be at least one good game I'll be buying each week from about September to November. I'm ok with it, I've come to terms with it. My bills might not have, but thats another matter. Borderlands just happened to be the "game to get" during that particular week. It looked cool, I figured it'd be fun, and basically anything that is post apocalyptic, be it a movie, book, or game, should just have the words FOR JASON stamped on it. I love that crap, I have since I was a kid and I read the book Alas, Babylon. Check it out if you've never heard of it, it may be a little trite now but I bet you'll still be entertained. Anyways, so I love me some post apocalyptic-ness. This was why Fallout 3 blew me away last year. This is why I'll be seeing the movie The Book of Eli at midnight when it comes out in January (which they should just stop screwing around and call that FALLOUT 3: THE MOVIE, WITH DENZEL WASHINGTON). Borderlands definitely takes place in a post apocalyptic world, and its a pretty big world at that. It's also a very stylish looking world. Cel-shading is a term that might have made others shudder in the past. Anyone remember the trainwreck of a game called XIII back on the gamecube? Probably not. But anyways, cel-shading graphics is a cool style that has kind of a bad rap when it comes to video games. No more should this be the case after Borderlands.

This is a very cool looking game, and there aren't many others out there that look like it. Some of the lighting effects in the game are very cool and almost better than anything out there. While the story isn't going to impress you, you won't care. I'm going to be honest with you here and tell you that I played this game until my eyes hurt the first night I put it in. My eyes literally HURT. I stopped because the sun came up. I had to work the next day, didn't matter. What's funny is, when I talked with a few friends of mine who had it, and people at the local Gamestop, they said about the same thing. This game will suck you in. You may fight a boss of some sort and think "well...there could be some sweet ass guns around this next corner" and you'll keep playing. This is why the game takes a lot of cues from WoW, and why anyone who comes over from that game will want to give the developers of this game a big ol hug. So, we've established that the graphics are neat. I think that having mentioned I was addicted to this game from the first hour and that many other people had the same problem, I've probably just demonstrated that, gameplay be good. Gameplay be very good.

Oh another thing that sets this apart from Fallout 3 - there are vehicles in this one. Which is good, because frankly, a little too much walking in that one. Yeah its a pretty game and theres maybe a few more things to see in that than there is in Borderlands, but cmon, gamers nowadays have the attention spans of gnats. Cmon have you ever PLAYED Call of Duty or any of those other twitch FPS games, not to mention twitch action games like Devil May Cry, God of War? We don't want to walk around looking at the flowers and the grass and crap. We want to blow crap up and shoot people in the mouth. Borderlands knows this, and just when you start thinking "maaaan, I gotta walk all the way ove THERE?!" they drop a big ol' vehicle in your lap. So if we get down to brass tax and really compare Fallout 3 with Borderlands (its honestly impossible not to, they have very similar ideas), the bottom line is this: Borderlands is much more fun to play. It has alot more ways to hold your interest than Fallout, but Fallout 3 also has the story and the emotional impact, and frankly maybe a little bit more realistic and interesting graphics. Thats not to say Borderlands isn't pretty, it is, it's just that with Fallout 3...sometimes you just felt like, you were THERE, man. You were THERE. And some video games are all about atmosphere, and Fallout 3 absolutely nailed that. Borderlands...not so much. But you'll be too busy shooting things by yourself or with friends and picking up new guns and flamethrowers and other crap that goes boom to care.

Heres an example of some of the many, maaaany people that you will be shooting. They are just random bandits (or, fodder, if you will) to help you level up and make money to either buy more sweet stuff or find more sweet stuff. I'll be honest one more time here too, since its 130 in the morning and I feel like it...I haven't beaten this game all the way through yet. I plan on it, certainly, but fact of the matter is, when I still had a job (I don't now, but thats another story), this game scared me. I played it until my eyes hurt MORE THAN ONE NIGHT. It's amazing, its mind blowing. It has such a simple formula to it, the phat loots/blow crap up formula, that it has so greatly perfected that I had to stay away from it for a little while. I'm going back, don't worry. Probably even after I finish this up. But I guess I'll put this out as a warning to anyone that has a pretty taxing job - be careful with this one. The good news about this is that, unlike WoW, it has a legitimate ending. Probably around 30 hours or so your first playthrough, I'm told. And if you want to get everyone up to level 50 (the max), thats about another half playthrough. You could sink a lot of time into this game and have a big smile on your face the whole time, and again unlike WoW, it will come to an end. So theres a light at the end of the tunnel, and everybody likes those (well, cept people that don't want to die yet, I guess). I think I've said enough here, so on to the scores!

Graphics - 8/10. Very cool stuff. Makes cel-shading in a video game look like an awesome idea, and thats no small feat. Everything moves well, blows up real good, and the violence is cool and not too overdone (well, you CAN blow someones head clean off, so maybe it is, but still! Its cartoony, not kinda realistic and brutal like Assassins Creed II). Me like.

Sound - 8/10. All the guns sound very cool, the voice overs (when there are some) are good, the goofy robot pal at the beginning will make you laugh, and theres some atmospheric jams in some places too. Just as good as the graphics.

Challenge - 8/10. I'd almost do two scores here, cuz you can probably knock that down two points if you grab some friends. By yourself though, some of this stuff SUCKS. Yes the enemies scale in difficulty if you have a couple friends with you (did I mention it can just be you and three others?), but by yourself some of the bosses in this game are JERKS. The good news is, normally there will be a regeneration station close to where you get killed, so you won't lose much but sweet, precious time.

Fun - 10/10. This is where the game nails it. I'd even give it a 12/10. How many games have I given a warning about at the end, that you might be TOO addicted? It hits everything right - the level progression is perfect, the amount of phat lootz you get is always on par with the difficulty, everything works. Even if everything else sucked about this game the main reason we play video games is to have a blast, and this game provides that more so than almost any other game this year.

Overall - 9/10. Put this ahead of Assassins Creed 2 on my list. It's incredible and one of the most fun games I've played in years. If you are curious about this game, just go buy it. And ESPECIALLY if you played Fallout 3 or WoW for any amount of time, go get it now. You will not regret it...but your significant other might.