By: Justin Spotten
Borderlands has one thing is spades that I think a lot of games need: Presentation. From the very beginning of the game you are immediately set in a believable, Wild West setting on another planet without seeming campy, gimmicky or flat-out stupid. The entire intro to the game, from Cage the Elephant crooning to the Guy Ritchie style credits, is oozing style that makes me want to start carrying a pair of six-shooters and claim that I have no name.
Speaking of style I love the characters so far. This love isn’t necessarily for the playable characters, although I do love going berserk with Brick and giggling along with him, but for the side characters. They all have that “Been out in the sun WAY too long” crazy feel which fits perfectly for the western motif. Once I saw my first psycho midget and the double barrel wielding yokel I was in Heaven.
I admit I was worried at first that this game was going to be very generic. You play as one of four classes that have been done to death since the PsOne was out and have to find a treasure on a Wild West RPG space planet. Whoopty stink. But once I started playing the game, it won me over. I was half expecting Vash the Stampede to walk out and offer me advice about love and peace! There has been a lack of good westerns on any system and that is a damn shame. The idea of the lone gunslinger picking off bandits works perfectly for video games and yet there is a real shortage. Luckily, Borderlands is starting to fill that gap. Now go buy it and delight in blasting away masked psychopaths and watching little robots dance.
|