Borderlands

I'd like to preface this review with the fact that I'm only 1/3rd of the way through the game. However, my experience with it thus far combined with discussions I've had with other gamers makes me feel that my assessment of Borderlands is accurate enough for me to write this review.

As the title of this review would suggest, if you have played Fallout 3, this game is basically the same thing with a more "comic-book" feel and a little more direct humor (as opposed to Fallout's understated, often tongue-in-cheek jokes). The atmosphere and the core of the two games are one in a same... A lone hero (or villain) out in the wastes, preforming various tasks and trying to survive. As a fan of Fallout 3, I was a bit skeptical when I first heard about Borderlands, but after several hours of gameplay, I'm having a surprising amount of fun with it.

In Borderlands the menus are often just as clunky as they are in Fallout. Often times it's difficult to navigate them efficiently and access even basic information. For example to scroll over descriptions of missions you need to use the left and right triggers instead of the D-Pad or Sticks (Who on earth thought that was a good idea during development??) Comparing weapons with one another also can be mildly confusing - each time you compare one gun with another you are shown a green up arrow or a red down arrow indicating that the compared weapons are better or worse then one another based on three criteria (reload time, accuracy and power). More then once while playing I found myself asking... "Ok are these arrows giving me stats in relation to the two guns I'm comparing, or are they in relation to the gun I currently have equipped?"

One place where the two games differ is in the leveling of enemies along with the player. In Fallout, some enemies will always be more difficult to beat then others, but defeating them is at least within the realm of possibility as the game is programed to adjust AI difficulty as you gain more levels. In Borderlands, this is not the case... there are some enemies you are simply better staying away from while you are relatively low in the totem pole. You will not beat these guys, and the AI is not adjusted to even make it feasible to *maybe* beat them. You will be destroyed plain and simple. This can be somewhat discouraging at times...

However aside from those little annoyances I do find myself itching to get back to Pandora (the planet Borderlands takes place on) as soon as I can. I don't think this game will ever win "Game of the Year" or be nominated for any kind of special awards, but it is a lot of fun and a good break from the often harsh realities of Fallout's "Capital Wastes".

Overall, three stars.

Suggestions: Buy it when it goes on sale and you won't be disappointed!Get more detail about Borderlands.