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Borderlands rises above the RPG parapet
through its love of randomisation ALEX NELSON
PUBLISHER 2K GAMES / DEVELOPER GEARBOX SOFTWARE / FORMAT XBOX 360I find guns
abhorrent. Soulless
killing machines
that humans should
be ashamed to
have ever invented.
I’ll admit,
therefore, the hypocrisy of my gaming
tastes – with ballistic weapons so
intrinsically linked into the DNA of
many videogames, pistols, rifles and
shotguns are often hard to avoid – but
I’ll always take a non-violent game
over one that involves firing off rounds
into hordes of enemies.
So why am I enamoured with
Borderlands? A game that proudly
boasts in capital letters on its box of
the “BAZILLIONS OF GUNS” available
to players. “Choose your weapon
from rocket-launching shotguns,”
continues the box blurb, “enemy-
torching revolvers, SMGs that fire
lightning rounds, and tons
more.” Eurgh. The reason
- I think – is that in a
game that’s vague on
narrative, Borderlands’
most memorable
moments and enduring
plot points come from
the finding and usage of
its weapons.
The way the game’s guns
inform your character’s arc – and
therefore, the narrative – is something
pretty unique. It’s all down to the
game’s Procedural Content Creation
System, which rolls the dice on
everything from enemy types you’ll
face in skirmishes to the items they
drop when they’re taken down. But
it’s applied most noticeably to the
game’s weapons, with firepower,
rate of fire and accuracy all at the
mercy of how generous the game’s
engine is feeling.
That pause as you wait for a
fancy-looking case to fold out and
present to you its wares? That’s
the game having a think on what
to give you, and it can sometimes
add in elemental effects and even
bonuses such as regenerating ammo
on rare occasions. The colour, the
look, the feel of the gun – all taken
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BACKWARDS
COMPATIBLEBELOW Lilith is
a Siren, a being
that can wield
supernatural
powers, such as
her Phase Walk
ability.ORDER FROM
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Essentially everything
in Borderlands is at the
mercy of its Procedural
Content system, from
shield strength to
skill bonuses.into consideration as your Xbox
presumably asks a Magic 8-ball
somewhere what to do (I’ll admit, I’m
not a game developer so I’m not sure
how this wizardry works).
The idea of Borderlands was a risky
prospect when it was first pitched.
Influenced both by games like Diablo
and Duke Nukem (the latter’s dated,
‘edgy’ humour certainly carries over),
the very idea of the game – to meld
together both RPG and shooter
mechanics - was almost a paradox.
Gearbox’s Randy Pitchford had a hard
job melding the two genres which are
after all styles with wildly different
gameplay loops (the long-game
levelling up of an RPG versus the
fast-paced linearity of a shooter), and
industry analyst Michael Pachter even
predicted the whole thing would be a
colossal failure. 30 million series
sales later, Pachter has given
Pitchford his apology.Procedural
everything
It was estimated
before release that the
Procedural Content
system could generate
17 million unique guns,
and while that figure was
a tad hyperbolic (somebody
did the maths, and it’s closer to 3
million), that’s still a mighty impressive
number. That makes every weapons
chest an exciting gamble. On the
one hand, a game-changing piece of
equipment could lay before you. On
the other – a glorified pea shooter.
More powerful weapons are locked
off until your character reaches a
certain level, so in the unlikely case
you find an overpowered rocket
launcher with massive damage early
on, you probably won’t be able to use
it right away. But as I played through
my campaign as the Soldier class,
Roland, I found my enjoyment of the
game, the way I approached each
scenario and the difficulty of the
whole thing evolved fluidly depending
on what tools I had in my arsenal.
To begin with, I was taking as
stealthy an approach as possible,More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 103