Borderlands

Genetics are a funny thing. Just about every living thing takes parts of its genetic code – its DNA – from its parents. Two individual and disparate bits of code that come together to form a new and unique creature, hopefully blessed (or cursed) with the best traits and advantages of its parents. That seems to be very much reflected in the current game development as developers keep looking for ways to create truly inspired titles. Genre blending doesn’t always work, and we’ve seen some dismal failures, but when everything gels together you can end up with something really quite special.

Even the best developers find it challenging and Fallout 3 is probably the best example of successful genre blending at the moment, despite the fact its gunplay (outside VATS) is far weaker than its excellent role playing elements. It isn’t an easy balance to achieve and Gearbox Software – best known for the Brothers In Arms WWII shooter series – was aiming pretty high with Borderlands, its new sci-fiRPG shooter. But by combining impressive FPS action and solid loot-based RPG mechanics that borrow more than a few MMO conventions, and making its game an addictive four-player co-op experience, Gearbox has cleverly blurred the genre lines with a very different and addictive shooter. Better yet, in Borderlands it’s also created a charming Western sci-fiworld, filled with laughable Claptrap robots, psychotic raiders, midget shot gunners and ravenous alien predators, that we simply can’t stop playing in.

From the very moment you step into the world of Pandora – a dusty, barren planet on the furthest borders of human space – you know you’re in for a treat. The intro, rendered in the beautiful cel-shaded style that the developer wisely chose to upgrade to during development, sets the tone and introduces you to its four main characters, on a broken down bus hurtling through the desert. It’s like a moment straight out of a Western crossed with a Tarantino-inspired sci-fiflick, and like everything else in Borderlands it’s done with a great sense of humour.

You, it turns out, are one of four badass vault hunters who came to this deadly sci-fiNew Mexico on a quest for the mysterious ‘Vault’, a repository of advanced alien technology and untold wealth. The Vault is partly why the human race settled this inhospitable wilderness planet, which is plagued by hostile life forms and psychotic bandits forever remaining a backwater frontier world. But despite years of searching that has seen scores of Vault hunters lost to the wilds of Pandora, no one has ever found it. Your Vault Hunter, with the help of a mysterious benefactor and hopefully with your four gun-toting companions at your side, intends to succeed where everyone else has failed.

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