Originally shown in an issue of Game Informer back in 2007, Borderlands has been hotly anticipated by the gaming community. In this article, we take a look at our impressions of the PC version. Does it deliver? Read on to find out.

The world of Borderlands is a barren wasteland, populated by odd creatures and raiders. Many offworlders show up to raid the “vault”, a hidden location said to contain untold fortunes. Unfortunately, once they land on the planet, most offworlders discover that the planet is mostly empty, save for some rocks. You can pick one of four characters/classes (I myself went with the sniper), and each of the different characters has their own reasons for dropping down planet side. This changes the story drastically, although this won’t seem apparent for the first 6-10 hours or so. Even though the circumstances are entirely different and the art style is different, the world “feels” like Fallout in many aspects; just you against the wasteland…and anyone else you may run into. The music is also very Fallout in nature, which may aid in the feeling of similarity.

Much like the Diablo series, if you are a loot whore, then you have just found your new crack. The number of different weapons will blow your mind, and the artwork for all of them (even the weapons with low stats) displays the devotion the development team had. Details such as connecting pipes, scopes that reflect what is behind you, full recoil animation with every shot, various types of muzzle flash based on the gun’s stats, and great sound effects make the weapons the star of the show. It would have been cool to be able to customize your own; however the procedural generation system keeps things plenty interesting. Your chances of finding the exact weapon with every spec or mod you want are slim, but your chances of finding something that kicks ass that you will want to show off to your friends approach 100%. The weapons that have elemental damage bonuses are especially awesome. Watching a raider get lit on fire, burn up, turn to ash, then sweep away on the winds never seems to get old.

Visually, Borderlands is fantastic. With a not quite cel-shaded visual style that appears like a cross between Crackdown and Okami, this game looks like a comic book in motion. Some of the environmental textures can be slightly muddy, but the draw distance is huge.  NPCs (friend and foe) are extremely detailed, and the weapons look ready to pop off the screen. When you get a crit with the right type of weapon at the right time, you get something that has been severely lacking in games for quite a while: gibs! That’s right, your favourite body-exploding effect from the 90’s is back in full force here, with chunks of flesh flying everywhere. When not gibbing an enemy, there is just the right amount of blood. Certain weapons fire rounds that will pass through an enemy, causing a spray on the opposite side you shoot them on. All weapons create visible holes in the enemies, with the amount of blood coming out determined by the placement of the shot and the power of the weapon.

Borderlands’ interface is very simple, but works effectively. Weapons that you find have up or down arrows in their stats that compare them to what you currently have equipped, and a full comparison between the two is just a single key press away. Inventory management is fairly simple, since you will be selling most of what you find. The HUD is unobtrusive, yet clearly displays all the information you could ever possibly need.

As far as gameplay is concerned, the weapons feel very tight. I was a little disappointed to find that the guns don’t have any real “weight” to them, yet somehow they still have “power” relative to their stats. It’s an interesting combination, one I haven’t seen in a game before. While at a distance the accuracy stat plays noticeable role in your success or failure, your own skills as a gamer are what have the most impact on whether you hit your target or not. Sometimes a shot that looks like it should have been a headshot doesn’t count as one though; it appears that while the headshot zone is fairly large, a single pixel in any direction could turn a critical headshot into a normal body shot. Still, if you find yourself having trouble with headshots in other games, you will get them in abundance in Borderlands. If you get headshots constantly in games like CoD4 or Counterstrike, you will find the headshot hitbox to be laughably huge.

Unfortunately, the console versions of Borderlands are plagued with a myriad of bugs, and the PC version also has its fair share. Getting stuck on scenery and enemy AI wigging out by running back and forth (or in place) are a common occurrence. Unbelievably, the multiplayer is handled by Gamespy. Even worse, the PC version ships with SecuROM(!), although there are no install limits like there were with Spore. There is a built-in mic feature for multiplayer games (awesome) but no push to talk button; the channel is constantly open (not awesome). The easiest way around this is to just run a Vent server, although hopefully they will fix this sometime in the near future. The options menu is rather lacking as well…V-Sync, Antialiasing, and a host of other video adjustments that are standard in PC games are not accessible in the menu. You have to go digging through an .ini file to make these adjustments, although luckily it is rather easy to modify even without a guide from a forum. Lastly, the controls for driving the vehicles are HORRIBLE, taken directly from Halo. It takes forever to get in and out of the vehicle, and you turn by using the mouse. Admittedly, this makes doing a quick 180 super easy (especially with a trackball mouse), but it is quite difficult to drive with accuracy.

Despite its few shortcomings, Borderlands is an absolutely amazing game. With highly addictive “one more quest” gameplay, MMO-inspired skill trees, nigh infinite weapon possibilities, great graphics, and some heart-attack inducing battles, this is one you can’t afford to miss. Clean your mouse, wipe down your monitor, and prepare for your next addiction.