Borderlands Excitement!

After several years of waiting (4?), it appears that we will finally be getting a new Borderlands game!  This week two new trailers were released--a theatrical trailer announcing the game and a gameplay trailer.  I was very excited to view the theatrical trailer and see which direction the new game is taking.  It appears that we will get a proper sequel to Borderlands 2 as opposed to a spinoff like The Pre-Sequel.  Here is the trailer--give it a gander:

I was a bit surprised to read somewhat mixed assessments of the trailer.  Fans of the series (like me) reacted with joy, but I did see at least one news outlet that panned it as appearing to be "more of the same" and needing something fresh.  I can't fully disagree with that viewpoint--I think the series could use some improvement--but I saw plenty in the trailer to be excited about.

One of my first impressions was joy at seeing the old crew from Borderlands 2 and several other familiar faces.  For me, the highlight of the series has always been the whacky characters and learning about the various vault hunters.  From the trailer, it looks like Lillith, Brick, and Mordecai will be back (to me, it looks like they will most likely be NPC's who are tied in with the story). 

We also get a glimpse at the characters who I am assuming will be our future set of playable vault hunters.  On that front, I do see some similarities to the character classes of the past--there appears to be a siren (a very ripped siren!) who possibly has some melee abilities (six arms for massive punching!); a character with summonable abilities--it looks like he can summon a wide variety of robotic turrets, suits, etc.; there's a character who gives me a very Zer0 feeling--like he's an alien in a suit; and of course, there seems to be a traditional, soldier-like character.

The highlight of the trailer for me, is the premise that the game will stretch over many different worlds.  Tales From the Borderlands revealed a universe wide system of vaults, which is the perfect setup for creating a massive, open world full of new environments.  My major hope is that a big part of the story will be locating vaults and raiding them.  The vault aspect of the game has always been one of its bigger disappointments.

The video also introduces us to two characters who appear to be the new villains of the game--a scarred, floppy-haired guy and a white-haired, evil looking lady.  They look like quite the duo.  I hope they can measure up to the maniacal evil of Handsome Jack.  The video also boasts of new enemies to slay and there looks to be several varieties.

I am also excited to see several notable side characters make an appearance in the video.  We get a brief glimpse of a building that says "Ellie's Scrapyard" and there is a shot of Tiny Tina (only she's not so tiny anymore!).  There's even a shot of Rhys from Tales From the Borderlands!  It's going to be very cool to see what role they play in the new game (and maybe Fiona and Sasha too--I can hope).

And, of course, there's the mention of OVER A BILLION different guns!  What's not to like about that?  And really, why aren't there more guns with legs?  C'mon!

Overall, I'm feeling excited at the prospect of a new game even though I've always had some mixed feelings about Borderlands.  I love the series for its quirky characters and macabre, bizarre sense of humor, but the gameplay can get a bit dull.  Maybe the critics are right to be a bit underwhelmed at the new trailer--it does appear that there are a lot of very familiar aspects--or maybe the critics are just being overly critical?  It remains to be seen.  One of my major fears for the series is that the obsession with making everything "BATTLE ROYALE!!!!" will spill over into the new game.

Another piece of exciting news accompanied the trailer--owners of the previous games will be getting a free, remastered version of all three!  The remaster will add in improved graphics for all three games, but will see the most changes coming to the original Borderlands.  The first game will get some of the better features of the later games--swappable character heads and skins, a better inventory system (with easy flagging for selling items and favorites), a minimap, and golden key chests.  These new features should make playing the first game, which is the weakest, more enjoyable.

The remastered games release on Steam on April 3rd, so mark your calendars and get ready for some lootin' shootin' fun!

A Borderline Recommendation for Borderlands

There are some games that I absolutely love and will publicly laud with no apologies (the Mass Effect trilogy).  Then, there are the games that I loathe (Spelunky and roguelikes in general).  It's more difficult for the games that lie somewhere in the middle.  The Borderlands series has always been set firmly in my "meh" zone.  Since I recently played through the magical episodic adventure Tales from the Borderlands, I had a weird hankering to go back and replay the Borderlands series.  I'm 95% done with Borderlands and am ready with a fresh perspective.

When Borderlands originally came out in 2012 it seemed to contain some exciting new concepts.  Yes, it was going to be a shooter, but it was also going to be an RPG.  This seemingly strange combination of two unlikely genres peaked my interest and I added it to my Steam library.  I don't think I've revisited it for at least five years...so, it has been awhile.

This time around I decided to play as Brick since I had played all the other characters.  Playing as melee oriented characters in a shooter is probably one of my least favorite things to do and I think I've had the least fun playing as Brick.  I had way more fun playing as Lilith or Mordecai.

Pros:
--Quirky humor and characters.  This is the main reason that I've stuck with the Borderlands series over the years.  There's always some whacky, weirdo who wants to send you on a quest to rescue their pet skag or retrieve their increasingly zany lost audio diaries.  I can truly appreciate the dark humor and weirdness.

--Character choice that offers enough variety for replayability.  Each character has his/her own playstyle and can be even further personalized through the RPG talent points system.  You can also find character mods that enhance your chosen abilities scattered throughout the game.

--Co-op multiplayer that is built around the four main characters.  I've only ever played with one other person, but it's very apparent that the characters were designed to take on a sort of traditional RPG multiplayer role--Brick is the tank, Lilith is the healer/magic user, Mordecai is the long-range specialist, and Roland is the support specialist.  I've always been intrigued by the idea of having tougher enemies with better loot as you increase the number of players in the game.

--Tons of loot.  If looting is your thing...there are boxes, lockers, chests, lockboxes, toilets, garbage piles, dumpsters, skag piles...I could go on, but  I'm going to stop.

--Gun variety further adds to personalization of your character.  Each character has certain talents that are oriented toward a certain type of gun/damage.  Brick, for example, has one set of talents that increases the amount of rocket damage he does (I hate rockets...so didn't take that one).

--Large variety of equally depressing environments.  Pandora is clearly only for the desperate.

--Variety of enemies to shoot.  Bandits, rakk, skags, bugs, Crimson Lance....tons.

--Minimal Claptrap.  Thank baby Jesus.

Cons: 
--I'm going to call this one identity crisis.  The idea of combining a shooter and an RPG was kind of awesome.  The execution of this combination is, well, a bit lacking.  The shooter aspect of the game isn't as good as other games that are purely shooters.  Shooting stuff just doesn't feel as fun.

--Loot wheel of failure.  I've found myself frustrated at the loot drops.  It feels like the only loot that drops is at least five or more levels below the level of my character.  Rarely do I find a gun that is of a similar level...and then it's usually a type of gun that I don't really want to use.  When you don't find decent guns for a good chunk of time it can make for a lot of dying.

--The run-around.  I always try to manage my completion of missions in a logical order that cuts down on the amount of travel.  Finish off all the missions in one area and then move on.  Many times throughout the game I've found myself finishing off missions only to then get a brand new bundle of missions for the same area!  This is something that has driven me bonkers throughout the series.

Borderlands is a game that I neither love, nor hate.  It's entertaining enough that I can keep playing, but I just don't get as much of a sense of satisfaction that I do from other games.  If you love shooters, there are better shooters out there.  This goes for the RPG aspect as well.  As a result, I can only cautiously recommend Borderlands.