Borderlands

[el badman]

Haven't seen a thread for this yet, so I thought I'd start one.

Borderlands just went gold today and is scheduled for release in a few weeks. It's developed by Gearbox, the guys behind a few Half Life 2 mods, Tony Hawk and Goldeneye (for console), and mostly the Brothers in Arms series.
It's set in an open world and allows you to literally obtain hundreds of thousands of different weapons (that was the main selling point from the beginning of the project). It's based on the Unreal 3 Engine but has the cel-shading look similar to the latest Prince of Persia or XIII a few years ago. I don't expect the whole storyline or RPG system to be as deep as Fallout 3, but it seems to be one of the possible comparisons to this game so far.

Here some pretty funny trailers and a preview too:

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

phpBB [video]

[benji]

Tony Hawk and Goldeneye (for console)

They ported THPS3 to PC, developed by Neversoft, but have nothing else to do with the series. And they also ported James Bond 007: Nightfire (which runs on GoldSrc) to PC, originally developed by EA, and had nothing to do with the horrific Goldeneye: Rogue Agent. They also did the Halo PC port. They were also the creator of the Half-Life expansions Opposing Force and Blue Shift. They haven't done anything with Half-Life 2.

[JBreezey]

and back on topic... I reckon it's looking pretty good, the whole game system with, abit of polishing, should end up pretty decently and I've been a huge fan of cell-shading in games since the Auto modellista (PS2 Racing game) and XIII (FPS Cartoon Shooter) days. Couple mates have been looking forward to this title too, so I wont be surprised if I eventually pick up a copy down the road.

[el badman]

They ported THPS3 to PC, developed by Neversoft, but have nothing else to do with the series. And they also ported James Bond 007: Nightfire (which runs on GoldSrc) to PC

Oops, sorry about the inaccuracies then.

They haven't done anything with Half-Life 2.

Sorry, I meant the first Half Life, the extensions were called Opposing Force and Blue Shift.

[Al Ka Pwn]

The game looks good to me. I'll be sure to try the demo.

[Sauru]

i am getting this game mainly (only) because 5 of my friends said they were. so seeing as i am without a mp game right now and i know 5 people already getting this i went and pre ordered it without reading anything about it. only bad thing for me is it comes out 1 week before dragon age which is sure to take most of my game time

[el badman]

IGN gives it a 8.8.
I'm not sure if it's worth it if you're not planning to play it online, but I think I'll still give this one a shot, it certainly looks fun.

[Sauru]

if you enjoy fps games and enjoy the diablo style of constant loot hunting this is the game for you.

[el badman]

Since it's 10% cheaper that way, I decided to pre-order it thru Steam. Pre-loading it right now...

[el badman]

Just started the game and it looks pretty fun so far, it certainly has satisfying FPS mechanisms. The requirements are not that high so it's very smooth, and it definitely has lots of visual style to it.

[benji]

Only level nine, only played about three hours, but pretty good so far. I like the way the music is used, especially in Skag Gully. Once you can take on more than one mission at a time it really gets going.

Almost perfect atmosphere for me, isolation like Metroid Prime. There's still too many cannon fodder humans and I'm not looking forward to having other party members. But whatever, them's the breaks.

[el badman]

What class did you pick Ben? I chose the Hunter because I'm a fairly good sniper, but I think I should have chosen the Soldier, it fits a little more my playing style. And the Hunter's special ability is pretty lame...

Pretty fun stuff so far, already tons of guns discovered and tried, and considering the amount in the game, you always know that what you currently use will be pathetic compared to what's to come.
I just wish the skags and bandits were not respawning so fast at the exact same locations each time, you just never have a second to breathe...Also, despite the great overall look, it does have its fair share of really low-res textures. I wish they could have released a dev kit or something like in Fallout 3, so that mods could be used to improve some things here and there.

[benji]

Hunter. It was him or the girl. I much prefer the strike from the distance play style in everything. (Or from the shadows. Like say, Batman, Hitman, etc.) I'll probably play through again with the girl because I'm intrigued by her abilities. The other two don't really interest me.

Played about six hours, up to level 17. Have weapons now that completely allow me to strike from afar first before approaching. Incendiary weapons are incredible. I have a sniper rifle that sets ablaze on hit, along with another that kills all but a few enemies in one shot. (Although incendiary rifle is doing that now as I've leveled up.) I have a scoped Pistol that does 150-250 damage in one shot, 500+ on head shots. I also have a rocket launcher that does 200+ damage and sets on fire. I've sold back almost every other weapon at this point but those four. The Pistol fires fast enough that I've ditched SMGs and Assault Rifles since I can deliver more damage in one shot with the pistol in close quarters than five or six from the SMG/Rifles.

Only problem with the epic sniper rifle is it only has three shots before reload, and has a higher sway. Plus a crappy scope. My incendiary sniper rifle does about 67% damage, but then sets on fire for about the same damage and is 100% accuracy plus has six shots before reload.

I always set myself into high locations to snipe, rocket, or scope pistol large amounts of enemies who can't get me as I engage an obvious will be group of them. Do some form of damage, then pick them off as I advance through an area.

Having tons of light health packs are seriously underrated since you get a "pause" to activate them. (I've got so much cash I can't spend it all at this point.)

BigKaboom, not so much on the last two paragraphs.

I like playing single player a bit more than co-op so far. Simply because you feel more alone and have no one to save you. Like I mentioned above, the isolation, I love games that deliver that. A recent mission sent me against tons of Skags and two Epic Skags, and I barely survived despite being two levels above the mission and it took me using the health packs and creating distance while they were burning to reload, etc. Love it. Haven't played something like that, especially in FPS, since Metroid Prime 2. (Original set the standard, 3 is really easy for a veteran due to Wii controls.)

I wish the hit boxes or whatever were better, I'll have a dot on a guy and miss him by miles despite 100+% accuracy. Plus even as you level up it still moves using the mouse like you're using a controller when scoped, I'm bumping up the sensitivity with each play through and it still feels CONTROLLER jerky.

Still, one of those games where I'm starting to really overlook the flaws just for the fun I'm having. Like Saints Row 2, Prince of Persia, Batman, etc.

[el badman]

I'm at level 15 right now. I try to improve my sniper abilities by using my latest rifle (damage of 156 I think) as much as possible too, but I must say I'm not using so much the handgun anymore, even if it's supposed to be the other Hunter's specialty. There are just too many cool SMGs and shotguns to try to waste some time on a small gun (even though I just got the revolver, which is pretty damn efficient).

Really fun stuff so far. There's definitely not much of a storyline and no NPCs interactions or anything like that, but I wasn't expecting another Fallout 3 either. The quests are simple and straightforward, and they really mostly serve as an excuse to slaughter anything in your path, discover crazy ass weapons and level up.

I'm also overlooking the flaws to focus on how much fun it is at this point. I was expecting it to be much more online oriented, and I never ever play online, but the single player gameplay is surprising cool. Great game so far.

[benji]

Okay, I'm obsessed with this game.

If you're leveled up and in the proper skill positions, you can dominate anything you come across with a scoped pistol / sniper rifle / rocket launcher combo. Bloodwing just buys you time to heal. (And when you get his extra abilities, it's just unfair. Batman unfair levels.) The other weapons are a distraction that make you think you want them. Whatever pistol I have, it one or two shot kills almost everything. Open with sniper from distance, close and hit with two rockets, then switch to pistol for finish. No situation that hasn't fallen in seconds.

Feel like I'm cheating at times.

Then again I play all games like this, examine the situation, maximize what I have.

Level 20 I think.

[el badman]

I'm at level 17 right now, and it keeps getting better. The weapons are becoming ridiculously cool, but it does not make things that much easier because the swarms of enemies are getting more dangerous too.
Very very cool game, hard to press "exit".

[benji]

I now understand what they're doing with the mission structuring. Once you take down each boss, a huge number of missions open up, but otherwise they're trying to direct you towards specific points and conflicts. I was down to two missions, took on Sledge, and now I have eight missions I can do. The Sledge mission also unlocked some story elements.

Really cool.

I still haven't changed my weapons, got a couple I've kept but unsure about their place in my inventory. I'll probably equip them and go off hunting to see how they perform. I did switch out my incendiary sniper rifle for one that has the exploding element on it. Head shots with it take down any class in one shot if you get the explosion. (Also has higher damage, so non-explosions shots are pretty effective.)

Up to level twenty and have unlocked my first "class mod" or whatever it was. Also got threatened by someone else and opened access to other areas. (Don't want to spoil.)

Might be GOTY so far. I'm engrossed in this as much as I was in Batman, but there might be more to this overall. Especially as I add different areas.

Both games are aping the Metroid vibe. Just going about it differently.

[el badman]

Up to level twenty and have unlocked my first "class mod" or whatever it was.

I think that's when you take down Sledge. I was level 16 or 17 when I killed him, and after you go back to Zed to collect your reward, that's when he gives you that "class mod" device. For the Hunter, it mentions that it gives you "fast hands", I'm assuming that it speeds up reloading times, but I dunno.

Might be GOTY so far.

I agree, fantastic game so far.
I really like how they managed to keep the gazillions of weapons interesting by having such distinct features. You can find a a badass weapon that has a crazy damage rating or has burn/shock effects, but it might not be as fast to reload and might only hold a couple of shells/bullets. It's all a matter of compromise with weapons, to fit with your character and playing style.

Nobody else has been playing this so far? If so, you guys are missing on something really cool.

[StupidBoy]

I have been playing this, lvl 18 so far, I think. Doing all available missions before going at Sledge.
So far, I'm loving this game. Fantastic fast-paced combat. My class is Soldier and it fits my style perfectly. Shotguns and SMG's FTW.

EDIT: Playing it on PC. Only thing that frustrates me occasionally is driving.

[el badman]

Only thing that frustrates me occasionally is driving.

Yeah, that's certainly not one of the strengths. You start using the vehicle's minigun, then the rocket launcher, before realizing you might as well just drive over all the enemies and they die instantly...And the driving part is definitely awkward using keyboard + mouse.

[benji]

The driving is stupid, I spent the first few hours driving into everything in sight. But now I've got it pretty down pat, you just have to think that you're "aiming" the vehicles. Making sharp turns while turboing though...

Okay, so that "class mod" is Sledge related then. I thought it might have been Level 20 triggered. I did like StupidBoy is doing and put off Sledge until there were no other missions to do. I've been pecking around the outside of all the seeming "story" missions so that I'm way overleveled when those go down.

I think we're the only ones talking about this game, and we're all about the same level so I'll do away with spoilers until I seem to get too far ahead. It's probably Sledge, but I've unlocked the path to New Haven, which I think is the "big city" and have a ton of missions along that path, but I doubled back to the original town out of fear and now need to figure out if I'm going to do those missions or these other ones scattered about. Have to go back into Sledge's Mines at some point, but there's just so many people to shoot in those. Also got a mission located in some place I've never been and don't even know where it is.

[benji]

Sorry for the double post. The Dahl Headlands are awesome.

And I'm so loving the progression system of the missions in terms of how they give them to you.

[shadowgrin]

What's the game's system requirements? Tried googling it but it seems like they are not the official ones. The official website doesn't have it either (or I missed it).
Is it demanding on the hardware? Like if you lower the settings it still looks good (L4D).

[benji]

What's listed on Steam:
System Requirements
OS: Windows XP/Vista
Processor: 2.4 Ghz or equivalent processor
Memory: 1GB System RAM (2GB recommended with Vista)
Graphics: 256mb video ram or better (GeForce 8 series or higher/Radeon R8xx series)
Hard Drive: 8 GB or more free space
Sound: Windows compatible sound card

It has tons of graphics options so you could turn off a lot of fancy stuff and keep others. The textures aren't all that great to begin with. It's really the scope that makes it better so you could easily turn some stuff down and probably not lose too much.

I don't think it is that demanding. It runs as well as Batman and most other things this year for me. Only thing I don't have on is AA. Remember, it's a console port, so if you can run most other 360 ports, there's some setting you can run this. It's a good port from what I can tell.

[el badman]

The game runs really well, it's not anywhere as demanding as Batman AA for PC. Like Ben said, a lot of textures aren't that great to begin with, so it's certainly not a system hog like Crysis or GTA IV. I'm playing with everything to max, AFx16 and AAx4 and almost not a single slowdown in sight.

I reached level 19, still having tons of fun.
I completed the Arena mission, the first two rounds are easy as pie, but the last round was pretty damn hard, swarms of skags just keeping rushing your way. The weapon management system is some of the best stuff I've ever seen in a PC game, it's very very addictive.