GB Feature: Borderlands Review
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The light-hearted feel is probably one of the game's strongest points. It (borrows) from other titles in rather obvious manners, from its Fallout-esque billboards to its BioShock-ish quest screens, but when it comes to overall style, it's all about having an over-the-top, irreverent style reminiscent of a lot of recent Quentin Tarantino flicks. Sadly, this style is big at the beginning, with a great opening sequence and giving cool introductions to nifty characters like TK Baha and Dr. Zed, but for some reason it completely gives up there, with only the bosses staying zany, and the rest of the quest-givers being stock and about as interesting as the bottom of my foot...Long-time GameBanshee readers will no doubt notice that this particular review doesn't have any sort of score at the end. After much deliberation, we've made a decision to go 100% scoreless with every review we post from now on. We put a significant amount of time into our reviews, and we feel that a score only detracts from what we actually have to say about the game in question.
...which leads me to the story, and the world it's set into. Both are irredeemably boring. The arid desert world of Pandora is exactly like any other arid desert world, complete with requisite dangerous creatures in the skags, scythids, raks and antlions spiderants. Your overall quest is to find the Vault, a mythical storage facility of alien origin holding tons of loot, while being guided by a pretty bland Guardian Angel who communicates with you through a device that also represents your on-screen interface. Only the first time she talks to you, you don't have that device yet. A plot hole in the opening cutscene? If that ain't a record.
Hopefully there isn't much disappointment out there over this decision, but if there is, feel free to tell us what you think in the comments below.
