Game: Borderlands 

Condition: Pre-Owned 

Included: 2 Game Discs, Manual & Case 

License: Product License Key Included 

Year: 2010 

Borderlands is a 2009 open world action role-playing first-person shooter video game. It is the first game in the Borderlands series, developed by Gearbox Software, and published by 2K Games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows, Mac OS X and Shield Android TV. The game was released worldwide in October 2009, with the Mac OS X version being released on December 3, 2010 by Feral Interactive. The game's story focuses on a group of four "Vault Hunters", who travel to the distant planet Pandora to hunt down an alien vault, rumored to contain advanced alien technology, finding themselves battling the local wildlife and bandit population, but ultimately attempting to stop the head of a private corporation army from reaching the vault first.

The game features the ability to explore the in-game world, and complete both main missions and optional side quests, either in single-player or online cooperative gameplay, with the latter providing additional options for duels and competitive PVP matches in designated areas. Gameplay features include access to various weapons and shields that vary in type and statistics, weapons with special elemental functions, each playable character having distinctive class types and unique abilities for combat, upgradable skills, and the use of two-person vehicles. The game itself is rendered in cartoon-style graphics, to provide greater detail on weapons and environments, and was inspired by various action role-playing games of the time, such as Ultima and Diablo.

Borderlands received favourable reviews upon its release, and sold over two million units by the end of 2009. Its success spawned four DLCs—The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned in November 2009, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot in December 2009, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx in February 2010, and Claptrap's New Robot Revolution in September 2010—and three sequels, Borderlands 2 in September 2012, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in October 2014, and Borderlands 3 in September 2019. A remastered version for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One— was released on April 3, 2019, which features graphical enhancements, and gameplay improvements backported from Borderlands 2. A version for the Nintendo Switch was released alongside Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel in the Borderlands Legendary Collection for release in May 2020.

Gameplay

Borderlands includes character-building elements found in role-playing games, leading the developer Gearbox Software to call the game a "role-playing shooter". At the start of the game, players select one of four characters, each with a unique special skill and with proficiencies with certain weapons. From then on, players take on missions assigned through non-player characters or from bounty boards, each typically rewarding the player with experience points, money, and sometimes a reward item. Players earn experience by killing both human and non-human foes and completing in-game challenges (such as getting a certain number of kills using a specific type of weapon). As they gain levels from experience growth, players can then allocate skill points into a skill tree that features three distinct specializations of the base character; for example, Mordecai can become specialized in sniping, gunslinging with revolvers, or using his pet Bloodwing to assist in kills and health boosting. Players can distribute points among any of the specializations, and can also spend a small amount of in-game money to redistribute their skill points.

Players start the game with the ability to equip two weapons but later gain up to four weapon slots, as well as slots for an energy shield, a grenade modification, and a class modification. Items collected can be sold back at vendors for money that then can be used to buy better items. One of the key features of Borderlands is the randomly generated weapons and items created either as dropped by enemies, found in storage chests about the game, on the ground, sold at vendors in the game, or as quest reward items. The game uses a "Procedural Content Creation System" to create these weapons and items, which can alter their firepower, rate of fire, and accuracy, add in elemental effects such as a chance to set foes on fire or cover them in burning acid, and at rare times other special bonuses such as regenerating the player's ammo. A color-coded scale is used to indicate the rarity of the weapon or item. It was estimated that the random system could generate over 17 million variations of weapons, but actually only resulted in a little over 3,500,000. The Procedural system is also used to create the characteristic of random enemies that the player may face. This allows for enemies of the same species to have widely varying attacks: for example, variations of "spiderants" in the game could leap around and would jump onto players' faces, while another variant can roll up into a ball and attack people, depending on the content generator.

When in combat, the player can take damage if their shield is depleted, affecting their health. If they lose all their health, they must either wait to be revived by another player or attempt to kill an enemy to achieve a "second wind", or otherwise will be regenerated back at the last "New-U" station that they passed, losing a 'ratio-appropriate' percentage of their money in the process. Players quickly gain access to two-passenger vehicles, and can engage in vehicular combat with other enemies. Eventually, a system of fast transit points between the game world is available to the player; until then, players must walk or drive between areas to get around.

The game can be played alone, but also supports two-player cooperative play through split-screen (on consoles), and up to four players playing cooperatively online or over LAN. The game follows the progress of the host player, rewarding the other active players for completion of quests for their characters. If the other players are doing the same quests in their campaign, the completed quests remain the same in their campaign as well as the host's. When more players are present, the game alters the statistics of the generated enemies, balancing the game due to the larger number of players. Players can take part in one-on-one duels anywhere in the game world, or can visit arenas in the game world to participate in free-for-all, 2-on-2 or 3-on-1 combat battles with their fellow players. The original title as shipped for Windows used GameSpy servers for multiplayer modes; as a result of GameSpy's shutdown in 2013, 2K Games patched the game and moved the servers to Steam, as well as providing Steam-versions of the game for those that purchased the title through retail channels.

Plot

Setting

Borderlands is set in the distant future, at a time when various mega-corporations seek control of various planets to colonise and mine for their mineral wealth and resources. Prior to the events of the game, the Atlas Corporation, one of the major mega-corporations, uncovered an ancient alien Vault filled with advanced weapons technology, allowing them to rapidly overtake their competitors. Finding similar ruins of the same alien architecture on the planet Pandora, Atlas sought to settle the planet in hopes of finding more alien technology, but were forced to abandon their plans due to a failure to find any alien technology on the surface, and being unprepared for the dangerous wildlife coming out during their stay. After their departure, the Dahl Corporation, another mega-corporation, colonized the planet to secure its vast deposits of minerals, using large amounts of convict labor for the mining operations, while initiating their own search for a Vault.

Their research team's efforts to find the Vault were headed up by Patricia Tannis, a respected xenoarchaeologist. Despite losing all of her colleagues to the planet's wildlife and being driven partially insane herself, Tannis found proof that a Vault does exist on Pandora. Her news was intercepted by Atlas, who sent its private military force, the Crimson Lance, to kidnap Tannis and get the Vault's location from her. Faced with their invasion, Dahl abandoned the planet, taking only the wealthy colonists with them, and leaving the remaining population to scavenge for a living amongst the barren wastelands and industrial trash heaps across the planet. To make matters worse, the convict labor was allowed to go free, leading them to form gangs of bandits that terrorize the local populace. Despite the circumstances, the Vault and its rewards transformed into a legend that attracts mercenary "Vault Hunters" to the planet.

Characters

Main article: List of Borderlands characters

There are four playable characters featured in the game for players to choose from: Brick - a large, powerful man, who operates as a Berserker; Lilith - a woman with powerful alien abilities, operating as a Siren; Mordecai - a skilled marksman with an avian companion named Bloodwing, operating as a Hunter; and Roland - a former member of the Crimson Lance, operating as a Soldier. Each character's class defines the style of weaponry they specialise in, along with the unique skill they can use - Brick can enter a rage state for increased melee strength and a short period of health regeneration; Lilith can turn invisible to enemies, moving much faster in this state, and capable of shock blasts when entering and exiting this state; Mordecai can call his companion to attack enemies in his crosshairs; and Roland can utilize an automated turret to take on enemies, and provide additional cover.

Story

Borderlands begins some time after the Dahl Corporation's abandonment of the planet Pandora. Four Vault Hunters (Brick, Lilith, Mordecai, and Roland) arrive in search of the fabled Vault. After discovering the town of Fyrestone, the Vault Hunters begin to receive psychic instructions from a mysterious woman known as the "Guardian Angel". The Vault Hunters meet a CL4P-TP or "Claptrap" robot and a doctor named Zed who help them establish a reputation by killing several bandit leaders, eventually leading to the collection of an alien artifact, being the first piece of a key needed to open the Vault. This causes Patricia Tannis, Dahl's former archaeologist still in residence on the planet, to contact the Vault Hunters, revealing that the Vault can only be accessed once every 200 years and that the time of the next opening is approaching. Tannis also explains that three more artifacts are needed to complete the Vault Key. Meanwhile, Commandant Steele of the Crimson Lance (a well-outfitted military force led by the Atlas Corporation) threatens to declare martial law and demands the Vault Key pieces.

The Vault Hunters secure the second and third pieces by following Tannis' instructions, but the final piece, supposedly in the possession of a bandit lord named Baron Flynt, turns out not to be where it was expected. Steele contacts the Vault Hunters to reveal that there are in fact only three pieces and that Tannis has betrayed and misled them. Steele then disables the planet's ECHO network, preventing further communication with the Guardian Angel and anyone else. The Vault Hunters infiltrate the Crimson Lance's headquarters and find Tannis imprisoned. She claims she was forced into betrayal and urges the Vault Hunters to restart the ECHO network and stop Steele and the Crimson Lance before they reach the Vault. After restoring the network, the Guardian Angel directs the Vault Hunters toward Steele's location. During the final approach to the Vault, the Vault Hunters encounter Crimson Lance forces already locked in combat with the Vault's alien Guardians.

The Vault Hunters finally arrive at the Vault only moments too late to stop Steele from using the Key. When the Vault opens, a giant monster emerges and wipes out Steele and the rest of her troops. The Guardian Angel explains that the monster is called the "Destroyer" and was imprisoned in the Vault long ago by the Eridians, the alien race who left behind the ruins and created the Vault, in order to prevent the destruction of the universe, and that the Guardians were posted to prevent anyone from opening it. Although the Vault Hunters kill the Destroyer, the Vault is re-sealed for another 200 years. The Guardian Angel is revealed to be transmitting her signals through a Hyperion satellite in orbit high above Pandora. The game ends with the satellite sending a signal to a Claptrap robot on the planet, changing it into an "Interplanetary Ninja Assassin" (continued in the plot of the DLC Claptrap's New Robot Revolution).