Borderlands touts itself as a revolutionary combination of the FPS and RPG genres. However, our time with the first hour of the game reaffirms that it's a shooter first, RPG second. In many ways, that's a good thing. One simply has to think back to last year's big first-person RPG, Fallout 3, to recall how poor the shooter elements of that game were. Aiming and movement felt clunky, and forced players to use the game's VATS targeting system. Borderlands, reassuringly, gets the basics of first-person movement right.
It shouldn't be surprising that Gearbox, whose previous works include Half-Life expansion packs and the Brothers in Arms series, would be able to competently craft a shooter. FPS vets will be able to jump into Borderlands with no problem -- running, gunning, grenade-ing with ease.
Continue reading Hands-on: Borderlands (Single Player)
