The Phoenix Nest
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Borderlands Impressions


So, Borderlands. This is the latest game I've gotten hooked on, having played for over 50 hours on multiple playthroughs since I bought it last Saturday. Most of that has been co-op with my brother, which is a blast. Though it's kind of annoying, since he goes for the loot as soon as he can, and most of the time it's me fighting the enemies and him running for the weapons chests to get first pick. Sometimes I just want to kick him in the head for being so damn greedy. Whats worse is that whenever I do that, to prevent him from taking everything, he has a big sad about it! But whatever, most of the time the loot is crap anyway. But onwards to my impressions.

The game is great. No question about that. However there are a few issues I have with it. Most of them are small though. First up, the biggest, is the story and ending. Now I'm not going to spoil it, but I think both are crap. The story is really weak, and the ending is too. Next is that the game includes a lot of copy and pasting from other games. You buy your guns, ammo and health from vending machines. Bioshock. Not only that but the machines also look and sound like Bioshock's vending machines. The Spiderants, an enemy in the game, are straight from Half Life 2. Not only do they look like it, but one sound they make is the same sound the Antlion Guards (the big ones) make in HL2. The shield and health warning sound is taken from Halo 3. This might all sound like nitpicking, but it's there and it's noticeable. It's just a little disappointing, that's all. And finally - invisible walls. Now that's just cheap. Don't give us interesting looking places to go, then put an invisible wall there so we can't get to it! I guess after all the Fallout 3 I've played, I expect to be able to go places easily.

Besides those 3 small points I have no problems with the game. Sure the creatures drop weapons and ammo, which is totally illogical, but the game explains itself in a loading screen by saying that the creatures of Pandora eat everything. Good excuse. On to the good parts of the game then!

The art style is a refreshing change. It's not "Omg!!!" like I've heard many people say it is. It's just cell shaded. It's been done before, get over it. But that doesn't mean that it doesn't look nice, because it does. The guns are cool looking... I think the whole "No two guns are the same!!!" thing is cool, but not that special. Usually it's just a change in accuracy or power. Umm... besides that I can't really think of any stand out good things. It's one of those games where no one thing really stands out, but all together it adds up to be a great game. Totally recommend, though it doesn't have the replayability as some others.

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Okay, now that's done, as you may know I posted a blog on Gamespot recently. No, I am not going back. Basically it's just an advertisement for this blog. Yes, I am sneaky like that. What prompted me to do it was a comment from FlamingR1ft on my last blog. He was one of my buds on Gamespot, but he had no idea that I had moved, thanks the the abrupt nature of my departure. This made me think that there might be people on that site who might want to read this blog too. Now I'm not looking for an influx of readers, I'm not looking for any attention, I just wanted to promote this blog to people that already know me, and might not know of my move here. And on that note, I am out of things to write! See you next time!

Updates (12/01/10)

Oops! I know I said I'd do a blog around the 29th but I totally forgot... But better late than never, eh? The reason I left it so late is because as you probably know Jessica, my girlfriend, came to visit from the Gold Coast. And now she is gone :(. But life goes on, and I am now eagerly awaiting her next visit... sadly it will be in 5-6 months though. However, in that time I have more than a few games to keep me occupied! They are:
  • Batman: Arkham Asylum
  • Borderlands
  • Braid
  • Castle Crashers
  • Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2
  • Mass Effect 2 (pre-ordered the special edition)
  • Prototype
  • World In Conflict + Soviet Assault expansion
That's not including the few games in my collection that I have yet to finish from a while back (Prince of Persia, Stranglehold, GRAW, Banjo Tooie, etc)

That's it for this blog really... yeah, not very big. See you soon.