Borderlands IGN Videos and Previews

ThomasN7

October 20th for the PC,Xbox 360 and PS3. International release is the 23rd. Game of the year!

Videos:

xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/957206/borderlands/videos/borderlands_gmp_aridhills_91409.html There are 4 more videos after this one. Enjoy!

 

 

Chatacter trailer - www.youtube.com/watch

 

ClapTrap Webisode 1 - www.youtube.com/watch

G$TV.com Hands On - g4tv.com/games/pc/47775/borde...n-Impressions/

Team Xbox preview - previews.teamxbox.com/xbox-36...orderlands/p1/

PS3 Gamezone Preview - ps3.gamezone.com/gzreviews/p33524_03.htm

ThomasN7

The well-armed man is king: Borderlands preview

Borderlands features an intriguing art style, a setting that's part science fiction and part Stephen King, and a few million weapons to play with. The single-player game may drag in places, but co-op makes this game something special. Our thoughts on the preview code inside.

By Ben Kuchera | Last updated September 16, 2009 11:46 AM CTText Size Print this article Leave a comment On a planet past its prime, a few settlers on the wrong side of a failed gold rush are desperately clinging to survival. There is hope, but not much, in the form of a recently discovered alien vault. Of course, with wild mutants and bandits roaming the land, crossing the street can kill you. Questing for what may be an ephemeral reward? Uh, no. This is the world of Borderlands, and we've had the pleasure of exploring it for the past few weeks. The verdict? Load up on guns, bring a friend.

2K Games sent over a preview disc with a few hours of gameplay, and the cell-shading-meets-Mad-Max graphic style is a nice change from the hyper-realistic gray and black style we've become used to in games like Gears of War. The game also has a sick, winking sense of humor: a robot who explains the lay of the land at the game's beginning spends his time absent-mindedly humping the air, and runs screaming at the first sign of danger.

You can play as one of four characters, each of which is a familiar archetype. Mordecai, the sniper. Roland, the soldier. Lilith, the magic user. Brick, the tank. You pick one to play, and the other three can be used by other players with the game's drop-in, drop-out multiplayer. Co-op is a go, and seems to be the way to play the game, but arenas pepper the landscape and allow players the ability to test their skills and weaponry against one other. And make no mistake, this is a game about weaponry.

We need guns. Millions of guns

The game promises to deliver literally millions of procedurally generated guns. I can't speak to that, since our demo was limited to the first 15 character levels or so. Basic types of guns mixed with buffs and scopes and effects mean that you never really know what you're going to get as you fight your way across the barren countryside. My favorite? The Ladyfinger, a handgun with a scope stronger than many sniper rifles that's fully automatic. Plus, it's red. I'll also cop to falling in love with a handgun that carries a chance to set enemies on fire.

When you hit an enemy, you see how many points of damage you inflict, perfect for the RPG fan who lives by the numbers. You can also upgrade your favorites at automated ammo and gun vending machines you find around the landscape. The game features an elegant way to increase proficiency with your weapons; simply use shotguns primarily to upgrade your shottie skills. Want to be the perfect sniper? Stick to your sniper rifle while out in the field. With so many guns, ammunition could be a problem, but the game deftly sidesteps that issue by making the weapons class-based. There may be hundreds of thousands of variations on handguns, but the handgun rounds will work in all of them.

Constantly checking the weapons you gain for special effects and power is one of the chief joys of the game. One shotgun I found fired a long line of energy-based projectiles that moved in a wave-like motion. Looks like I have a way to clear rooms.

If you loved the loot-collecting aspect of Diablo—and make no mistake, this is a First-Person love letter to Diablo—you're going to be in heaven here.

Roll with a friend and liven up the quests

The quests we played tended to fall into the "go here, kill X of Y, and return the trophy to me" variety, although the game hinted at a wider story in a way I won't discuss here. Death also carried a very light penalty; you lose some money, you get sent back to a spawning station, and you're back in the fight. In fact, despite my gamer-like lust for the science-fiction weaponry and Gunslinger-light setting, the game started to drag on relatively quickly.

That is, until I grabbed another gaming writer who happened to have the same preview code. The netcode was tight, with very little lag in the game we played, and playing the game in co-op was much more enjoyable. Ambushed by a pack of Skags, four-pawed animals that attack like coyote lizards, my companion dropped into an invisible mode to confuse them, I dropped my turret to do damage while I gained some space, and switched to my flaming rounds to set a few of the lower-level skags on fire. As they burned, I threw a few grenades at the "Badass Skag," seemingly the pack's leader.

Once they were all taken care of, we divided up the loot and went about our way. Playing with other people added quite the tactical punch to the game, and allowed you to explore your special abilities and take on missions together. Again, this is very much like a first-person Diablo; if you have a tight group of gaming friends, you may have found your next addiction. Just for fun, the other writer and I jumped into an arena to see who had the best guns and to play his teleportation ability against my turret. Good stuff.

One to watch

The guns pack a punch, and everyone will find something to like. Knowing how hard you're hitting your targets means you can easily see how powerful each gun is in practice and allows you to perfect your arsenal, and the game earns its M-rating with some delightful ultra-violence.

The world of Borderlands may be a lonely place to tackle by yourself, but once the main story gets going that problem may be alleviated somewhat. Our recommendation for when the game comes out on October 20 on the 360, PS3, and PC? Find some friends and bust some skulls.

 

Source: arstechnica.com/gaming/news/2009/09/the-well-armed-man-is-king-borderlands-preview.ars

Rikimaru_X

Wow, I didn't know they changed the graphics from realistic to cell shaded. It looks good though. Can't wait to see more screens and videos of this game.

ThomasN7

Across The Border: Noteworthy Loot Of Epic Proportions

As this is still Wasteland Week with Borderlands, yours truly managed to scourge and find some weapons of interest that seem to drop out of some random villain or two in the sickly parts of Pandora.

- I should point out that I wasn’t kidding about calling this game “Diablo II with a shotgun.” Seriously, the shotguns you use here feel great, ranging from the usual two-shot-then-reload variant to one with a high fire rate and ammo capacity that also zooms in. Case in point, the T.K’s Wave Shotgun which shoots out blue bubbles of death that has a better chance of blowing someone or something up into gibs if I shoot them up close.

You’ll get it as a reward from mission-giver T.K Baha after a mission in Skag Gully where you hunt down a huge elite skag named Scar. He’s big and spits out a special garbage-spewing attack that just empties your shield and puts you in a critical state.

- In the Arid Hills (the second instance dungeon you’ll come across), a random drop revealed a Scattergun that fires rockets instead of buckshells. Aiming it was a bitch, as it shoots in a trajectory rather than straight on through the crosshair, but the results are oh-so bloody splendorous. Unfortunately, this one’s pretty rare.

- Lady Fingers is a good pink-colored repeater pistol that’s good for aiming from far away, picking off enemies from a distance even if you’re not a sniper person. You’ll be getting it after

- The Clipper is a repeater pistol that fires bullets that set people on fire. I got it from killing the first instance boss of the game, Nine Toes (check out the GAX Point video to see it in action). While it’s got an insane rate of fire, it doesn’t zoom and isn’t that accurate. Oh, and dropping it actually hurts you, as it warns you on its description.

- My playthrough with Davina the Level 16 Siren managed to acquire a revolver that shoots out bullets of lightning. Electric attacks might be okay against mutants and animals, but they work better on humanoid enemies with shields. But I can’t really spam my attacks with the revolver; it’s only got six bullets in its chamber and reloads pretty slow.

And the kicker is that this is just a few out of the three million plus weapons that can be found in the game. Sure, they’re basically modified variations of the class of weapons available, but it’s still a lot of guns that can deal all kinds of hurt in different ways. And guess what (beware: incoming GCA plug)? You can get random drops better than mine at the Borderlands booth at GCA 2009 in Suntec Convention Centre.

 

Source: gameaxis.com/across-the-border-noteworthy-loot-of-epic-proportions/

ThomasN7

First impressions: Roaming the 'Borderlands'

The barren planet featured in 2K Games' Borderlands (PC, PS3, Xbox 360) seems light on human interaction and natural resources, but don't worry about having to find a firearm.

Source: content.usatoday.com/communities/gamehunters/post/2009/09/first-impressions-roaming-the-borderlands/1

 

Lilith, left, stands alongside Claptrap in 'Borderlands.'

CAPTION2K Games

If there's one thing Pandora has an abdundance of, it's guns. Lots of guns. And the overwhelming arsenal is perhaps the highlight of my early playthrough of the first-person, role-playing shooter from developers at Gearbox Software.

Story details were scant in the preview version of the game, which sends four fighters to the frontier planet Pandora in search of an Alien Vault legend. The game kicks off as players land on Pandora, greeted by a small robot called Claptrap, who guides you through a combat training session. He will also acclimate players to their new surroundings.

Most of the time spent in Borderlands focused on exploring the terrain and getting acquainted with the thousands of weapons available.

The game sports a content generation system which takes stock parts from a variety of weapons and places them into thousands of combinations. Players will find sniper rifles with the bullet chamber of a revolver, pistols firing incendiary bullets or shotguns that emit a long-range wave effect when fired. Shields discovered by players also contains special properties, such as health regeneration or the ability to resist fire. The game looks like a loot collector's dream.

Using each of these weapons felt very natural. Weapons deliver kickback and require the kind of accurate firing players would expect from a realistic shooter. Players can collect ammo, cash and shields dropped by enemies or in boxes scattered throughout the landscapes.

IMAGES:Check out more screenshots of 'Borderlands'

A fair share of bandits and the affectionately named midget mutant psychos crossed my path, but the most common foes were Skags. These four-legged creatures range from harmless Pup Skags to deadlier Alphas and long-range specialists called Spitter Skags. Enemies seemed pretty smart, flanking my position as I sat behind cover or aggressively attacking once I approached.

Borderlands features four characters, each of whom packs a special power along with their arsenal. Sniper expert Mordecai unleashes a winged pet on foes, while brawler Brick enters a beserker state and delivers crushing melee attacks. Also featured is Roland, a heavy guns specialist who drops shielded turrets. I played as Lilith, an expert with elemental abilities who can phase walk and fire off a wide-ranging concussive blast.

Inside one of the vehicles discovered in 'Borderlands.'

CAPTION2K GamesAlthough each member has a specific weapons specialty, they can still earn skill points by mastering other weapons, for those who want a different combat style. Players can tackle the adventure solo, in four-player cooperative mode, or through a series of multiplayer matches.

The game also adds a heavy dose of RPG elements, represented by the ability to upgrade players' skills and powers through experience points earned during missions or combat. All these features are complimented by a gorgeous, animated art style resembling a moving comic book.

So far, Borderlands seems like a satisfying adventure, but there are two elements I'm hoping to see in the final version. First, a greater variety in the types of missions. The preview provided a small slice of quests primarily focused on fetching items or hunting down wanted individuals.

Secondly, I'm curious how well the story and atmosphere will tie everything together. Fallout 3, for example, was great at allowing players to lose themselves in the Capital Wasteland, between the intriguing main story and fascinating locales. If Borderlands is able to pull off a similar feat, this could potentially become a must-own title.

Readers, what would you like to see from Borderlands?

 

ThomasN7

Gametrailers.com Borderlands Preview.

 

www.gametrailers.com/video/preview-borderlands/56123

 

 

ThomasN7

Hunting Season With Borderlands (Exclusive Sneak Preview)

 

www.youtube.com/watch

ThomasN7

Gamespy Hands on Preview

It has a bunch of videos listed here as well as descrptions of all the character classes.

 

xbox360.gamespy.com/xbox-360/borderlands/1025658p1.html