Patreon button  Steam curated reviews  Discord button  Facebook button  Twitter button 
3DS | PC | PS4 | PS5 | SWITCH | VITA | XB1 | XSX | All

Borderlands (Xbox 360) artwork

Borderlands (Xbox 360) review


"I’ve only ever played Borderlands cooperatively, so I can’t really comment on how it holds up as a solo experience. I’ve heard mixed things – some say it’s fine, while others think it’s boring as hell. Maybe it is; maybe if you’re thinking about investing in Borderlands but won’t have anyone to play it with, you should reconsider. It’s not in my place to say. Usually, that alone would instantly doom the game’s chances of reaching greatness, because I’ve always said that multiplayer..."

I’ve only ever played Borderlands cooperatively, so I can’t really comment on how it holds up as a solo experience. I’ve heard mixed things – some say it’s fine, while others think it’s boring as hell. Maybe it is; maybe if you’re thinking about investing in Borderlands but won’t have anyone to play it with, you should reconsider. It’s not in my place to say. Usually, that alone would instantly doom the game’s chances of reaching greatness, because I’ve always said that multiplayer is circumstantial, and that a game must be able to satisfy a single person if it’s to succeed. But, man. Borderlands sure is a great co-op game.

It’s more or less the sleeper hit of 2009, having become particularly popular amongst the PC crowd, the community of which caters to a very social gaming environment. You can see why they’d like it, too. It’s been excessively compared to Diablo, and while the two couldn’t seem more different from a glance – one a dark fantasy, the other a cel-shaded hillbilly adventure – the parallels aren’t as poorly drawn as you may believe. Borderlands appeals to those looking for the simple pleasures of questing and looting with a few (equally nerdy) friends. It’s a predictable game, but only in the sense that it’s not doing anything new. Nor should it, really – Gearbox knew their audience, and they knew what their audience wanted.

It is more specifically an open-ended “role-playing shooter” (as the ads call it) set in a desolate wasteland, so to that end the game perhaps warrants more comparisons to Fallout 3. That won’t get you anywhere, though, because the tone is completely different. What ultimately turned me off of Fallout 3 was that the game’s somber, depressing atmosphere clashed with its desire to be an immersive experience – I was drawn in and immediately wanted out. Borderlands, despite being composed of many of the same ingredients, remains lighthearted throughout, colorful in both a literal and figurative sense. Its characters have exaggerated Southern accents and move with more grace and fluidity than was needed. The distinct cartoonish visual style and lively soundtrack give the game a feel all of its own. It’s anything but downtrodden – if anything, the more you play, the more time you want to spend in this world.

The game, unfortunately, has very little in the way of a story – or, at least, it doesn’t spend much time on it. Something to do with tracking down a vault somewhere in the lawless countryside? Trust me, it’s not important; the game’s eccentric cast more than provides a context for Borderlands’ escapades. Look up the hilariously expressive Claptrap robots on YouTube if you don’t believe me.

Borderlands is certainly not the first game to mix the FPS and RPG genres, but whereas other games often combine elements of each without ever feeling as though they could function independently, Borderlands nails both. It certainly looks and feels like a shooter, with controls nearly identical to the Call of Duty games, and gunplay nearly as tight. But it’s also unquestionably an RPG. It’s got that free-flowing, quest-based structure. There are four distinct character classes to choose from, each with their own unique traits and skill trees that cater to different play styles. And it’s got loot… lots and lots of loot.

About that. There are reportedly over 17 million weapons to be found in Borderlands, generated from various color schemes, ammunition types and add-ons. You want scoped shotguns? We’ve got those. You say you’d like a sniper rifle that fires explosive rounds? Borderlands has you covered. Play with a friend and you’re likely to wave a particularly rare find you’ve just come across in his face. Or you could recall that this is supposed to be a cooperative experience, and instead divide your joint findings based on how the two of you prefer your shooters. I took all of the sniper rifles for myself, while my roommate hogged the shotguns. Are you beginning to see how well Borderlands works as a multiplayer game?

I guess that’s the beauty of a good cooperative experience. It’s one thing to simply play alongside another human being, but an ideal co-op game really forces players to work together and rewards them with a true sense of accomplishment for having done so. It’s the player-to-player interactions that make Borderlands multiplayer such a success. There’s a unique mechanic where a player who loses all of his health drops to his knees and is given one last chance to live – if he manages to kill an enemy before the screen turns black, he returns to life. The cooperative twist is that players can actually heal each other during this phase, leading to some unique strategies, like having one player hide behind cover to heal his friend, who’s in plain sight soaking up damage and killing enemies.

Or, how about this one: If you leave a fight, either voluntarily or through death, you respawn at the nearest checkpoint and the enemies (or bosses) you were battling return to full health. Most games do this, of course. The catch with Borderlands is that ALL of the players must leave a battle for the conditions to be reset, meaning that if someone were to die, they could return to the fight without losing progress provided at least one other player remains alive and present.

I have a reason for telling you this. At one point, my roommate and I were fighting an already-infamous boss: Mothrakk, an enormous fire-breathing moth. Alex – that’s my roommate – had already fought it while playing the game alone, so he knew that standing in the open was a death trap. As such, we hid under a nearby roof for the majority of the fight, stepping out to chip away at its enormous health bar whenever it was “safe enough.” It worked, until Alex got reckless and found himself bleeding to death just outside of the shelter we were using. I offered to run out and heal him, but he told me not to. He would simply respawn and return to the fight, he said. No problem.

But then I got reckless too, and I found myself in the dying position just as he did, before he was able to return to the fight. There were no enemies for me to kill aside from Mothrakk, and Alex was still a lengthy trek away from getting back to the battle. So I desperately pulled out my most powerful assault rifle and fired every round I could at the beast. I was close to killing it, but the screen was getting darker and darker. I kept shooting. The screen was almost black. Then it was black. And then, without warning, I returned to miraculously life, because one of the stray rounds I’d blindly fired managed to land the killing blow to Mothrakk, ending the battle and bringing me to my feet once again.

That was my favorite moment of Borderlands, and it didn’t happen to anyone else. That’s what makes the game so great: Its most memorable moments (and there will be plenty) are player-made. It’s an experience so unique to every individual person that you could spend hours trading stories with someone else who’s played it. Maybe the appeal of Borderlands is entirely circumstantial, and for that you receive a word of caution. But under the right circumstances, holy hell is Borderlands ever a good time.



Suskie's avatar
Community review by Suskie (January 23, 2010)

Mike Suskie is a freelance writer who has contributed to GamesRadar and has a blog. He can usually be found on Twitter at @MikeSuskie.

More Reviews by Suskie [+]
Inside (PC) artwork
Inside (PC)

Inside forgoes answering questions that, in Limbo, we were never asking to begin with.
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PlayStation 4) artwork
Uncharted 4: A Thief's End (PlayStation 4)

Still generally a blast to play, and aided, as usual, by Naughty Dog's mastery of the latest technological leaps.
Dark Souls III (PC) artwork
Dark Souls III (PC)

Transparently built as a crowd-pleaser, but it feels like an amalgamation of the series' best attributes.

Feedback

If you enjoyed this Borderlands review, you're encouraged to discuss it with the author and with other members of the site's community. If you don't already have an HonestGamers account, you can sign up for one in a snap. Thank you for reading!

board icon
honestgamer posted January 23, 2010:

I felt that your review went on a bit longer, but it ended on a high note that was utterly convincing because of text that seemed to drag a bit at the time that I was initially reading it. I now want this game. My brother-in-law loved it and could probably swap plenty of those stories with you that you mentioned, and you've made it sound like something that I would thoroughly enjoy. Dang it. As if I really needed that... Ah, well. Maybe I'll pick it up anyway. Good job convincing me!

Side note: your first paragraph is missing one word in one sentence and has an extra word in another sentence. Might want to fix that once the review isn't as fresh in your mind. I'd stick around to point to specifics, but I'm busy scheming about how to pick up a copy of the game.
board icon
Suskie posted January 23, 2010:

Actually, as soon as I subbed this review, I realized I forgot to proofread it, so hopefully I've gotten all of the errors ironed away since you read it. I was hoping to have it done before anyone accepted it, but you got on it crazy fast.

Anyway, thanks for the comments!
board icon
Billy_theMonkey posted January 23, 2010:

What a simpleton this Suskie person is for buying into the Borderlands hype! It's almost as bad as Mass Effect! He should go play a real RPG like Persona 3. The pussy.
board icon
Genj posted January 23, 2010:

board icon
Halon posted January 23, 2010:

I thought it was a pretty good review and it's basically what I would say about the game. Only part I disagree with is the Fallout 3 bashing. The game was far from perfect, but the atmosphere was what kept me going, since the game was often not so great.
board icon
zippdementia posted January 23, 2010:

Quick question, Suskie, because I AM looking for a good co-op game. Is it only co-op over the internet or is there a split screen option?
board icon
WilltheGreat posted January 24, 2010:

No split screen.
board icon
honestgamer posted January 24, 2010:

Will, my brother-in-law regaled me with tales of playing local splitscreen on his friend's Xbox 360, never going online at all. Am I missing something?

I picked up the game, by the way, but I went with the PS3 version (which apparently has better visuals).
board icon
EmP posted January 24, 2010:

360 is split screen. I assume PS3, too.

I started out loving Borderlands but the game was such a cakewalk the longer it went on, I'm really struggling to find the motovation to finsih it. Though I'm happy to put this down to my gaming brilliance, I fear I may have overleveled by spending ages just wandering around aimlessly shooting things in the face. Even againt Mothra Jr, it was easy enough to just stand out in the open and plug him without much fear. It's quite annoying!

Solid review. Makes me want to try and find a harder difficulty level and try it again.
board icon
Halon posted January 24, 2010:

The game is basically one you play obsessively for about 2-3 weeks and never touch again. I put about 50 hours into the game in 3 weeks then got burnt out and am done with it. Luckily Gearbox keeps on pumping out DLC's, and the 2 thus far are both pretty good (especially Mad Moxxi).

EDIT: I'm pretty sure Emp is right about being splitscreen. PC version is not (then again no modern PC games are without certain patches or console commands) but I'm almost positive 360 and PS3 versions are.
board icon
Suskie posted January 24, 2010:

I've only ever played split-screen. So yes, there is split-screen.
board icon
zippdementia posted January 24, 2010:

Awesome. Well, you've convinced me, Suskie. Come March, this will be added to my trio-purchase (that would be the trio of Heavy Rain, FFXIII, and now Borderlands) to be enjoyed as much as I can in the break between terms.
board icon
wolfqueen001 posted January 24, 2010:

Haha. Nice review Suskie. That battle with the moth thing sounds totally epic, like one of those instances that happens once in a blue moon, but when it does, it's like "Holy God, yes! I'm awesome!"

Sadly, I suspect it'll be 5-10 years before I get the opportunity to check all these cool current-gen games out. Oh, well, I guess.
board icon
zippdementia posted January 24, 2010:

WQ: Then you'll release a bunch of reviews that are like "what was the big deal with these?" and everyone will call you crazy.
board icon
WilltheGreat posted January 24, 2010:

There is split screen? Well what the hell, then...

You must be signed into an HonestGamers user account to leave feedback on this review.

User Help | Contact | Ethics | Sponsor Guide | Links

eXTReMe Tracker
© 1998 - 2024 HonestGamers
None of the material contained within this site may be reproduced in any conceivable fashion without permission from the author(s) of said material. This site is not sponsored or endorsed by Nintendo, Sega, Sony, Microsoft, or any other such party. Borderlands is a registered trademark of its copyright holder. This site makes no claim to Borderlands, its characters, screenshots, artwork, music, or any intellectual property contained within. Opinions expressed on this site do not necessarily represent the opinion of site staff or sponsors. Staff and freelance reviews are typically written based on time spent with a retail review copy or review key for the game that is provided by its publisher.