Anyone excited for this game? Anyone even know what this game is? No?
"A sci-fi / action RPG from acclaimed developer Gearbox, Borderlands combines the best in first-person action with player customization and vehicular combat for incredible layers of gameplay depth. The game features a groundbreaking content generation system allowing for near-endless variety in missions, environments, enemies, weapons, item drops and character customization. Borderlands allows for multiple players to share the same game experience simultaneously online in co-op gameplay. Players can freely join or leave each other's games at anytime, or choose to play in the full single-player mode. The game also boasts lifelike character animations, impressive real-time physics, and customizable vehicles."
Also to note are the really impressive totally not cel shaded graphics. They're meant to mirror concept art for the game, and I think that Gearbox pulled it off in style.
As mentioned before, it's a four player co-op experience set in the distant future. Attracted by fortune, several colonization ships head to Pandora, a planet on the edge of the galaxy. There's said to be massive fortunes and resources on the rock, hence the move. However, it soon becomes apparent that Pandora is a barren wasteland, offering little to no sustenance for the hapless space pilgrims. Those who brought money leave, and the rest get consumed by chaos and lawlessness. Some try to get rich by stealing alien technology from the numerous caves that surround them, but most just try to survive.
After seven years of madness, Pandora's slow orbit finally changes the seasons from winter to spring, and all kinds of terrible creatures come out of hibernation to prey on the people. A beacon of hope for the remaining colonists emerges in the form of a mysterious vault carved in the side of a mountain. This vault is said to contain vast stores of alien technology and secrets. The only problem is that the people who discovered the vault were completely wiped out by some sort of protective force. The only evidence of their discovery is a scattered radio transmission, proclaiming the vault's majesty, but not its location.
So there's your setup for the awesomeness that follows, but it just may be easier to think of it as co-op Fallout with tons of action.
The developers have also cited stuff like Diablo and Halo for inspiration. "Hey, wouldn't it be great to blend Halo with the reward loops of Diablo, wouldn't that be awesome?" CEO of Gearbox Randy Pitchford was quoted saying. "From a design point of view, the bet we're really making here and the goal we have is to take the visceral, accessible action that we love in first-person shooters…and connect it with that compelling and almost compulsory kind of joy, accomplishment, and satisfaction we get when we can get better stuff and loot. And it's not just loot, it's also character growth like developing new skills and becoming more powerful. That exists in games like Diablo and World of Warcraft…and no one, I think, has really blended these concepts together the way we are."
Also, let's not forget the hundreds upon thousands of weapons that the game will have. "Actually, 650,000 guns is the safe number. We've now got some other new types of weapon classes and a lot of different weapon manufacturers and we have created a bunch of super rare and unique epic weapons and other gear, so the actual number of different weapons in the game is quite a bit higher than that. There are more weapons in Borderlands than in every shooter on both the 360 and PS3 added together. It's an absurd number of guns to the point where talking about it isn't really relevant any more. What's relevant is to realize that you'll be able to find lots of varied and better weapons and gear as you play to become more and more powerful."
Borderlands hits store shelves October 20th for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. Leave a little room in your crowded holiday schedule for this bold new adventure.
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