Borderlands (2009)

Game: Borderlands GOTY Enhanced
Genre: First Person Shooter RPG
Developer: Gearbox Software, Blind Squirrel Games
Publisher: 2K
System: Steam (PC)
Year of Release: 2019
Length of Playthrough: 62 Hours

Total Score: 89/100
Value Score: 8.9/10

• Story: 8/10
• Characters: 7/10
• GamePlay: 9/10
• Graphics: 9/10
• Sound: 10/10
• Music: 7/10
• Length: 10/10
• Replay Value: 10/10
• Player Value: 9/10

Pros
+Includes all the features and content from the original release with all DLCs intact.
+Co-Op no longer depends on a third party software and is built in game
+A map replaces the compass
+Auto pick up of ammo and money
+Drop rates for rarer items increased
+Can do multiple side quests
+Improved visuals
+Teleporter/fast travel introduced from Borderlands 2

Cons
-No teleporter/fast travel in DLCs so all the issues from the original like back tracking exist
-A lot of fetch quests that requires you to walk back and forth

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Score wise comparison sake....

Borderlands GOTY (PC): 86
Borderlands GOTY Enhanced (PC): 89

Borderlands is a fantastic game. It combines high paced action with good mechanics, a fun story, upbeat dub step music, humour, filthy jokes and does not take itself seriously.

The story is a little cliché in my opinion but works well for the concept of a looter shooter like Borderlands. Just hunt for a lost treasure which is exceedingly difficult to find.

Borderlands is a massive game with many, huge, open world maps. There are tons and tons of side quests you can complete for a nice new weapon, some cold hard cash, or a new skin (colour for your outfit actually). Each side quest is more ridiculous than the previous one and the use of every inch of the map makes this game worth every penny you spend on it.

The cell shading animations are nicely done, and this is the first game that I saw that used this unique technique. It gives a cartoon feeling, while still playing a fully rendered 3D game.

In the music department, Borderlands does also not disappoint. It got a lot of energetic dubstep fight tracks and nice calming ambient music in the background, while you pump a bunch of psycho midgets full of lead.

The progression feels rewarding and the game is well balanced. Enemies get stronger with you but are still beatable. If you stray to far from the main story line and enter certain areas beyond your level, enemies will wipe the floor with you, so you know what to avoid and come back to later.

The main concept of this game are the guns, finding legendary shields, weapons and relics for your character and develop yourself into a well-rounded killer. It is really fun to play with friends and makes for a good evening of fun. The different elemental weapons you can find is a good concept and makes you think, and plan which gun is best for what situation.

The use of enemies like midgets, psychos and Bruisers makes this game as ridiculous as it is hilarious. Midgets make high pitched screeches when you blow them away with your shotgun and psychos list all the things, they want to do to you when they mindlessly run toward you. Bruisers complain about their beautiful faces when they melt away by the acid in your special Maliwan rifle. It is just great fun. Also, Claptrap and his stupidity is genius and gave a few good laughs throughout the game.

I enjoyed every minute of the game, it is story and the collecting of loot, cash and special items. And then I played the DLC’s. My god, they were even better.
The DLC’s are all over the place and add a fresh new mini campaign in each one of them with a completely different idea and style.

You got Claptrap’s Robot Revolution in which he is tired of your sh!t and goes rogue. You stop his glorious revolution while blasting samurai Claptraps back to the scrapyard, collecting pizza and lady panties. It will not get any better than that.

Then you got The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, in which “totally not Dr. Zed” from the original game brings the dead back to life and you need to stop him. Collect brains, brains, and more brains, kill his monstrosities and eventually “Dr. Ned” himself.

They even added a wave shooter mode in Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot. I personally did not like this DLC as much because of the unforgiving difficulty and the fact that it is impossible to finish in solo. If you don’t have any friends (or friends with time on their hands), bad luck for you my bro.

And lastly, there is The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, in which you search for the holy room of guns to make yourself invincible. Of course, this is not easy, and a ton of Crimson Raiders try to stop you, just as the depressed General Knoxx himself, whose only wish is to die.

I like that they combined jokes, characters, and events from the main game and the other DLC’s into each DLC, it makes everything feel more connected. Examples are Zombie T.K. Baha (killed in main game) and General Knoxx as a puppet in Claptrap’s revolution, who finally died in The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, just like he so desperately wanted, but now is back as a zombie-puppet.

Overall, this game and it’s DLC’s are in my top 10 favourite games of all time, and I would definitely recommend it to everyone.