Cage the Elephant

As far as games that I will remember throughout my life, Borderlands is definitely on the list. As someone who loves to play EVERY possible combination in games (Dragon Age was a nightmare for me...), I saw the opening credits to Borderlands many, many times. The title song for the game was Ain't No Rest For the Wicked, by Cage the Elephant. After listening to the song so many times, I was hooked on the band. Their lyrics are clever, and the use of slide guitar adds a unique sound to the group. For those who don't enjoy louder music, or are looking for entirely clean lyrics, maybe give this group a pass. But otherwise, definitely check them out (and actually pay for the music, musicians work hard).

A big thanks to my friend Vil for introducing me to the game, and letting me invade his room constantly to play it. I'll never hear this song without imagining a skag getting run over.

Toodles!

Borderlands 1: DLC

After playing through Borderlands (several times, with many, MANY, characters), I was ecstatic to discover that Gearbox had released a bunch of campaign DLC for the game.

The first DLC was Dr. Ned's Zombie Island. This was an amazing addition to the game. There are many jokes made at zombie survival games throughout the campaign, like waiting for an elevator to function while zombies "suddenly" discover your position. New enemies were added, including the beloved Loot Chest wearing bruisers, though the majority of your enemies are zombified bandits. The midget zombies are terrifying, just a heads up. Fast little buggers... A fairly solid storyline accompanies the Halloween-esk theme, and is, as always with Borderlands, hilariously funny.

The second DLC was Mad Moxxi's Underdome. While I enjoy Mad Moxxi's... ahem... "character", this DLC was very disappointing to me. I do genuinely enjoy Moxxi as an NPC, she quite funny and adds so much innuendo to the fights (especially if you play as Lilith). Gearbox attempted to create an arena DLC for the game, focusing entirely on fighting back waves of enemies for freakin massive amounts of time. The concept was sound, but with how long it actually took to reach each checkpoint, how much progress you lost if you were downed, and the lacklustre loot you received from the battles, the DLC was not worth the time. Beating the ENTIRE thing awarded you with one skill point per playthrough difficulty. While valuable, it wasn't worth the literal hours you spent fighting. 

Then came General Knox's Secret Armoury. The crown jewel of the DLC pack. Massive storyline (that also plays a large role in the other games), lots of new areas, tons of new enemies, fantastic loot drops, and even new vehicles for you to drive around in. The Armoury set the standard that Borderlands 2 was held up to. It was by far the best DLC, with a lot of effort poured into it by Gearbox.

After the massive success of The Secret Armoury, Gearbox went in a very different direction for the final DLC. Claptrap's Robolution was the last gift to the Borderlands game, focusing on fun combat and humour. There are many new enemies with different combat strategies, a playful storyline following the robotic uprising, and WAY more guns than you'll have inventory space for. The Robolution does a better job at keeping you in new areas instead of revisiting old ones repeatedly (one of the few downsides of The Secret Armoury).

The DLC is almost always sold at this point as a bundle, so you get all four for a good price. The Underdome is probably best to just skip, but the other three are well worth a few playthroughs.

Remember, NO REFUNDS (in the best Slavic accent I can muster)

Toodles!

Borderlands 1

One of my favourite video games of all time has got to be Borderlands. It was introduced to me by a good friend of mine about 6 years ago, and I've been hooked on the series ever since.

Borderlands is a fairly unique game, in that it combines the action of a shooter with the level and equipment scaling of an rpg. A selling point of the game was that it had "millions of guns". And it did. Each weapon that drops is randomly created from a table of available parts, making for more combinations of stats than you'd think of. Adding in the bonus factor of rare equipment, which often has a special ability or bonus, and you end up constantly upgrading your gear and looking for more powerful items.

You play through the game as one of four distinct classes:

-Soldier: a tough assault rifle specialist who can drop a turret with a variety of effects

-Berserker: a massively tanky man who loves explosives, rockets, and punching people to bits

-Hunter: an agile fighter, flexible with both long range sniper rifles and close range pistols, he can send his pet bird to harass enemies

-Siren: a magical being, with a focus on SMGs and elemental damage, she can temporarily hop into a different dimension to escape or close gaps. 

Each class has three skill trees you can spec into as you gain levels. These progression paths allows you to become specialized in a play style you prefer. For example, the Soldier can progress through a tree focused on weapon damage, one based on your turret, or one that allows you to heal yourself and allies.

The game has a fairly solid, though sparse, storyline. There are many aspects of the world that aren't really explained, but nothing glaring enough to take away from the gameplay. The characters you interact with are iconic, hilarious, and honestly heartwarming. You grow very attached to NPCs throughout the game, both good or evil.

Combat is hugely important in both RPGs and shooters, and the combat in Borderlands is always entertaining. Humanoid enemies shout great one liners at you, fight fairly intelligently based on their weapon type, and will actively try to flank you. Animal enemies follow their specific attack and defense patterns, and pose just as much threat with their claws, teeth, and fluids as other enemies pose with guns.

I will always remember playing through Borderlands for the first time and finding my first shotgun. It was the strongest weapon I had at the time. A skag (basically a dog) jumped at me, and not only did the shotgun slow its momentum, it stopped the skag mid-jump and sent it flying in the opposite direction, very very dead. 

Another great selling point of the game is how easy it is to play either solo or with others. Borderlands has amazing couch play for your real life friends, well done online gameplay, or simply a single player campaign. The other bonus of this game is that you can drop in and out of modes whenever you like. If your friend is online, you can play with them. If they log off and come over, you can till play your character with them, and then continue on with the same character alone when they leave.

Borderlands was recently rereleased as part of The Handsome Collection, a game bundle that includes all three Borderlands games and all the DLC for them. I'll be reviewing the other games and their DLC at a later date. I definitely recommend you pick up the entire collection, they were all good games in their own ways.

Toodles!