I have been playing Borderlands since just before Christmas. I have not been quite so addicted to playing since Fallout 3. Just one more mission, one more thing to do, one more level..... The developers must have employed some gambling consultants, because the punishment reward cycles are just about right for optimizing the addicting dopamine release that comes with playing Borderlands. I have not played the on-line coop side (yet) and am getting through the first play as a "siren".
At the beginning, you pick a character. I like playing characters with somewhat supernatural powers, so Lilith as a phase shifting siren was a logical choice. There are other more traditional soldier, tank, and assassin characters, each with their own set of special qualities. Lilith seems to be surviving just fine without a super high level of brute strength. Her quality of being able to phase shift and "disappear" helps with running away when the odds are really bad, and also with sneak melee and weapon attacks. For the most part, she prefers elemental weapons and can use corrosive, shock, fire, and explosive weapons to her advantage. Very fun.
This game is very similar to Fallout 3 in a couple of ways. It is an open sandbox of many playable areas. Unlike Fallout 3, Borderlands is strictly first person, except when you are entering a vehicle. It is a desolate environment with different baddies inhabiting each area. It is sci-fi on another planet with alien technology. There is a central story line, there are lots of side quests -- some really fun, others not so much -- again much like Fallout 3.
The good:
+Weapons: Literally thousands. The they get better as you level up and battle more dangerous baddies. You learn what you like, and sometimes literal firepower is not all you might want - in fact, different "brand name" weapons with the same specs behave differently and you will probably have a preference. Lilith likes things that burn, shock, corrode, and explode; there are a huge range of handguns, snipers, SMG, combat rifles, and even more alien things, accommodating your skill set as you level up. +Ammo is plentiful from loot and vending machines.
+Loot. Always fun in any game, and it is plentiful and well marked in Borderlands. You learn where the good stuff might have spawned as you play.
+Your own specific power: fun and as you level up it becomes much more useful. Lilith likes phase shifting in and out of action, maybe killing things as she enters or exits.
+Shields: again, lots of choices. My personal favorite came off of a "kill"--notably one that had moderate shielding with an unmarked but speedy health regen. You have choices of shields that do things when they are depleted, shields that regenerate health, and simple super shields that have large capacity.
+Vehicle drivability: unlike many PC games where you might need a controller to navigate and drive a vehicle, you will find the immediate pleasure of not only driving the "sand buggy" but also driving while fighting. A very interesting and fun experience when only using a mouse and a couple of buttons on your keyboard.
+Graphics: simply awesome. Not exactly like playing a comic book, but not photo realistic either. +Skill points and leveling up. Just about right time frames for getting experience points that allow you to pick skills for your character. It will be pretty obvious which skills you probably want right away - notably ones that capitalize on your character skill and raw fighting abilities. Later it becomes more difficult to decide what you might need or want, but that is part of the fun.
+Battles. Challenging, sometimes overwhelming, but always needing some strategy.
+Respawning your character. A great system where you pay a percentage of your money to go back to a prior save. The saves are strictly at certain points where you pass a certain clearly marked post, but they are about right. If you are in the middle of a battle, you will be very close to where you were (sometimes dangerously close), and in most cases things will have stayed down --what you killed will still be dead. If you exit the game, you start over at a more central point outside of the battle. Some might not like this type of save, I personally did not find it too bad.
+Overall difficulty. Well balanced, with plenty of warnings you are about to take on something you will need to spend some time with.
Now, the bad:
--Backpack size. It is too small at the beginning and does not really get much larger as the game progresses. For Borderlands to present thousands of weapons, it is silly to provide 18 slots up to level 30. Double it and I would have been happier. Ammo amounts are limited, but do not count in the backpack slots, and you can purchase more ammo capacity.
-Fetch and grab weapon scavenger hunts are irritating, and after a couple where I had to do multiple attempts at acrobatic moves just for the last piece, just to find out that the weapon I was given was something to drop, I just stopped doing them.
-Storyline. The storyline is not as rich as Fallout 3, and while the sandbox is big, and fun, the story is just not as exciting. --Characters you meet and interact with... no real conversations are ever available, including disappointingly, with the main quest character Patricia Tannis. This is not Dragon Age! No matter, Borderlands was never meant to be an epic, only fun.
--Computer lock-ups requiring pulling the plug on my computer. The screen freezes and nothing will coax it out, or even allow you to exit the program via task manager. While this problem is occasional and predictable (with sound and motion warnings at least 30 seconds up to the point where they occur), I have not found a complete workaround yet. I am running Windows Vista 64 SP-2, on i7 Core 920 3G / ATI-4850HD / 12 G ram combo. All my drivers are up to date. I have tried shutting down almost everything that might be running in the background and tying things up, but nothing has stopped these occasional glitches. Strangely enough, if this does occur, once I shut down and restart, the problem will not reoccur in that playing session. Oh well.
I am still playing, will purchase any DLCs that come out, and find Borderlands just about the most addictive game I have ever played. It is simple fun, without a lot of fluff, nice controls, super weapons/powers/looting, and easy to play right from the beginning. +5 for addictive gameplay. 4.0 for execution. 3.5 for storyline.
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