I want to start off by saying that I was surprised by this game. I barely knew anything about it until a few days before its release, but once I heard that the focus of this game was co-op, I was ecstatic. I was ecstatic, because there is definitely a shortage of good co-op games in the market. In fact, I can't think of any other Xbox 360 game that not only focuses on co-op, but also has more than 20-30 hours of campaign. If you guys know of a game please tell me, because I want it.
To move on, the first thing I want to talk about is the overall feel of the game. Gearbox got everything right from the guns, the characters, and the graphics. They all perfectly fit with the style of the game which really enhances the experience. This leads me to applaud Gearbox for how great their drop-in and drop-out co-op feature is. Not only were there no connection problems, but their system is incredibly easy to use and seamless. All I have to do to play online is either join someone's game or create my own. From there I can easily select if I want to play a new character from level one or play one that I already have. Granted, if you are joining someone else's game you want to make sure that your on a similar level with the host. If not, the game is going to be either too easy or too hard. And trust me when I say hard. If you are five levels or more below the host expect to die a lot, because the enemies in this game get stronger as the host gets stronger.
Another nice feature about Borderland's co-op is how the quest books of multiple players are merged when you join someone else's game. When you join a game your quest book will be updated with the active quests of the host, and these quests will stay with you if you leave the game which is extremely nice. That way if you don't finish a quest you can pick it up another time either online or offline. Granted, if you already finished a quest when the host hasn't you can’t get the experience from it again. Which is a downfall, but it makes since, because it prevents players from double dipping.
The next thing I want to talk about are the controls. The controls in this game are awesome. They are so smooth and so easy to pick up because they are very similar to the controls of Call of Duty. The basic features of shooting, reloading, swapping weapons, and meleeing are performed in the exact same manner which should allow most players to adjust easily. Because of this I felt right at home and barely needed any time to get started. This really puts other Role Playing Shooting Games, such as Fallout 3, to shame.
Because the controls are so good in this game, so are the weapons. The weapons are awesome, because every gun feels different. This is really important, because there really is an insane amount of guns in this game. Every gun feels unique because of its stats. Guns can vary from damage, rate of fire, clip size, reload speed, scope, elemental damage, recoil, and more. These differences make it that much more rewarding when you find a gun that fits you perfectly.
Now this game isn’t perfect by any means because it does have some issues. To start the story is pretty much non-existent. In fact, the main quest annoyed me a little bit, because every time a character would pop up on screen my frame rate would drop a little bit. Granted, the drop was so insignificant that it didn’t affect the gameplay, but it was noticeable. A plus for the game is that the only other time I ever noticed that the frame rate dropped was during the last mission, but again barely it affected me and was only for about three seconds.
Second, this game isn’t a true RPG experience where you actions will change the story. Instead, it is an RPG in the sense of upgrading your character whenever you level up. For me this was fine, because every level up felt significant, because I could immediately feel the affect it. Besides, the game is more about grabbing your friend and having a good time, and not the story.
The only other thing I can think of is that the game lacked a trading system. It would’ve been nice if something was implemented, but I never needed it. All of the players I played with where awesome and I never had any problems with anyone stealing loot or anyone being greedy, but I know others have.
Besides these flaws Borderlands was a blast to play and I will continue to play. I would highly recommend to it anyone especially if they’re looking for a fun game where they can play together with their friends for hours upon hours. Overall this game is 41/2 stars out of five and receives my recommendation for one of the best games so far this year.