TIM BENITEZ

Tim's Humble opinion about

Borderlands

 

So I really don't think about too many games that I've been displeased with. I also don't know of many since I'm very easy to please and I like to think I have a firm understanding of all things. If I actually take the time to think about those things that is.

 

1. The Game

Borderlands is a first person shooter and RPG hybrid released in 2009 by 2K Games. The game boasts a robust multiplayer gaming experience. The game's developer, Gearbox is a self proclaimed independent game developer based in Texas near Dallas. Gearbox has been around since 1999 and started its work on porting titles over to various platforms, including the popular Halo port for the PC and a PlayStation 2 release of Half-Life. The company has also developed many games like the Brothers in Arms, but their crowned glory is the Borderlands series. Since the release of the first game, it has spawned a sequel and a pre-sequel, which is a game between the first and second which recently released. Gearbox is now working on another unique multiplayer FPS called Battleborn.

   Going back to Borderlands, the game was released on the Xbox360, PlayStation 3, and PC. I happened to play the PC version. As said the game is virtually an FPS/RPG hybrid with a robust multiplayer experience, but after reading some interviews, I found out the primary game genre was supposed to be a first person shooter. RPG elements are just in there. Legend has it that some of the staff were wondering what to do after they had finished Halo PC. One of the producers mentioned that they should make a game using the words,”Halo meets Diablo” (quoted in IGN, 2009). Gearbox wanted to use the loot system found in a Diablo game with the action from Halo games. They started with working with guns and the various ways to create them and worked from there and built the game.

   Gearbox says that they are passionate about making products that will bring people joy, fun, and happiness. I believe, especially after reading some of their interviews, that they truly put love into their Borderlands game. They seem to put a lot of talent and patience into making Borderlands. For one thing, they had to change the art style of the game to stand out amongst their competition, which they are very proud of. These guys stand behind their philosophy.

 

1. My Dissatisfaction

So if these guys were so passionate about their game, what did I find so dissatisfying that I feel I have to complain about? I mean, the game has been loved by many so it's not a piece of trash in the market. Now again, I don't have too many games that I'm disappointed in, and I don't know if I'm completely unsatisfied with Borderlands. I mean I haven't finished it so therefore, haven't experienced the game as a whole. I just happened to get bored of it after a while, and it's the last game I remember complaining about. My complaints are a bit nit-picky though so bare with me.

   I like to think I'm a connoisseur of combat in video games. Ninja Gaiden on the xbox is one of my favorite action games, because the combat is fast, hard, and intelligent. I think it's sequel was a little weak because some of the intelligence in the combat was taken away. Ninja Gaiden 2 has more enemies in a group to attack where as the first one had only three at a time. These enemies in the first one provided some awesome fighting, because the AI just felt smarter. Where I'm going with this is that I think the enemy AI in Borderlands were just dumb, and boring.

   It seemed that the enemies were only just targets that will either just shoot at the player or rush him if they don't have a firearm. The actions are way too predictable. The enemies don't do much of anything interesting to create an advantage for themselves or come out with any other techniques. I guess I could say that there isn't enough variety in the enemies of the game. I'd digress about my opinion if I hadn't tried a little more than just the beginning of the game, but I found these same boring in some of the DLC also. I happened to venture into some DLC parts by accident. I got the GOTY edition and that's why I have the DLC. What's worse though is that I have fought a couple of bosses and all they appear as are tanks. Not in image, but in stats. All they would do is come at me and hit me like a freaking zombie. All I had to do to defeat them was dance around an obstacle and jump out and shoot then quickly hide behind the obstacle if they hit me and wait for shield to rejuvenate.

 

1. What I think went wrong

   Now after reading some of the interviews about this game, I felt a little guilty with my nit-picky attitude. Especially since I haven't explored too much of the game so some of these exciting enemies I may say don't exist might be around the corner. I also haven't even tried the multiplayer which I've been told is awesome. The game itself also tells the player that the multiplayer is harder than single player. I guess this is so that players can learn to work together. However, I don't think the multiplayer was the cause of the problem I had with the game. And multiplayer was not a quick add on Gearbox incorporated towards the end. The game was built from the ground up with multiplayer. In fact, multiplayer was successfully working with every build up until release.

   What I think was the reason why the enemies seemed so boring to me is the abundance of weapons found in the game. I think Gearbox was so concentrated on weapons and abilities that they didn't put enough excitement in the enemies. I'm not one to try out too many different weapons in a game. I'm not concerned about all the different weapons I can get, it's getting familiar with what little I have and knowing how much I can do with it in combat. Funny thing is that even Paul Hellquist (senior designer for the game) said that he would forget that he had some skills because he was all into shooting and tossing grenades and such(quoted in IGN, 2009).

   Also because of the game being a loot drop and pickup like Diablo, the weapons were always stored in the memory. What this means to me is that all this loot was using up the memory instead of more intelligent enemy AI with cool abilities to kill you. Now the looting is great in the game. Being able to find treasure everywhere is very satisfying, but I wish it hadn't cost the excitement of imaginative battles.

 

1. What I would have done differently

   Now I think it's pretty obvious what I would have done differently. I really haven't really talked about the RPG elements. I really have no qualms about them. Do I think the game could do without them? No, I think they help define the game well. But I do think some more intelligent enemy AI would have done me some good. Deus Ex: Human Revolution is another action RPG and that has more interesting enemies in it. So it's possible to make a good FPS/RPG with some cool enemies.

For one thing I think I would give enemies some new abilities or tactics when a player reaches a certain level. I have actually thought about this for some of my own game concepts. So it's like the player thinks he knows a certain enemy, but now the enemy has evolved just like the player. I guess games like Zelda kind of does this, but it's more like the enemy has a new color or is in a different area so you know the enemy is different. I would throw a curve ball at players where they really don't always know their enemies. Again, the only time familiar enemies would develop into stronger enemies is when the player gets stronger.

   What I also would do is throw some interesting hard distinct enemies in the middle. Some may see these as a mid-bosses, but I would do it more abundantly. Maybe they wouldn't be as strong as a mid-boss, but would be an enemy that would come out and throw the player off guard. Have the player say something like, “Whoa!!! What is this guy?! What is he doing here?!” These would be enemies that are just different from the ordinary with a wide range of skills. I play action games to live for the battle and part of the battle is having some fun enemies to fight against.

 

   Before I go, I must say that all the thinking about Borderlands has wanted me to go back and continue where I left off. Explore it a little more. I don't hate the game I think. Maybe I just needed a break from it. So I think after I'm done here I'm going to go and play it some more.

 

 

Sources:

 

Borderlands.com - Borderlands. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://borderlandsthegame.com/index.php/game/borderlands#videos

 

Borderlands. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://borderlandsthegame.com/gamesite/borderlands.html

 

About Gearbox Software. (n.d.). Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://www.gearboxsoftware.com/about

 

Onyett, C. (2009, December 9). Building Borderlands - IGN. Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://www.ign.com/articles/2009/12/09/building-borderlands-2?page=1

 

Gallegos, A. (2010, February 25). Borderlands: The Postmortem Interview. Retrieved April 5, 2015, from http://xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/borderlands/1072461p1.html