Mercenaries, Space And Midgets...?

Yes, a weird combination, but a combination it is, with the release of Borderlands last week hitting Xbox 360s everywhere, in addition to several other consoles. I managed to purchase the game as one of my many buy/return gaming ventures, whereby I purchase a game I think may be interesting, play it for the seven day limit and then return it for a full refund. Naughty indeed, but it's worked so far with Gears Of War 2 and Halo 3: ODST, neither of which I wanted to keep anyway, and The Orange Box, which I re-bought a year later. Hmm, maybe I should start a blog feature out of it... Alas, I digress, on with the review!

Before I start breaking into which parts of the game I liked and didn't like, let me just say that I did indeed have a lot of fun playing it. The atmosphere and gameplay held me enchanted for a full week and although I'm saddened by a few faults with graphics, plot and loot, my experiences with Borderlands are enjoyable. My first impression was that Borderlands quite craftily combined elements from several other RPG and FPS games: BioShock, Diablo, Fable 2, Half-Life 2, Mass Effect and The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. Obviously the game is driven by its' Diablo-like loot, although I was disappointed to find that the bazillions of weapons promised were only divided into about 8 classes, with only minor adjustments between each one.

For those looking for meaning behind the mindless urge to find and collect money, weapons and creature hides, you will be sorely disappointed. Lets face it, there's no plot. Mario trying to rescue the princess from a terrible fate is a plot. Borderlands is simply a giant quest to get more stuff and the stuff happens to be found in a mysterious 'Vault'. With entertaining side-quests along the way, the game does offer some challenging and unique gameplay and characters, but ultimately, it does not offer much on storyline. Gameplay makes up for this somewhat, with engaging leveling systems and user interface. The creators, Gearbox, have done well to make Borderland's gameplay as accessible as possible, especially in the face of such overwhelming loot.

Sadly, the graphics aren't the best either. They almost hark back to the time of Half-Life 2, where textures are limited and characters are terrible up close. Done in an almost graphic novel style, Borderland's imagery works well on the whole, but the finer points of the rendering is poor and some glitches are present, especially in regard to achievements. The only other complaints I have are small in comparison - the lack of treasure from The Vault and the rapidly respawning enemies.

However, beyond a few graphic troubles and a paper-thin plot, not much is wrong with Borderlands. The leveling system is impeccable. Enemies and characters are well done. Beautiful locations and maps. Action is well placed alongside treasure hunts and other missions. Easy, yet challenging achievements. Dialogue is well presented and enjoyable to hear - my favourites have to be "I can see the code", "This is where the cars live, get you one!" and "Look at me everybody! I'm dancing, I'm dancing!" In fact, those little robot Clap Traps and the other ingenious characters you meet along the way make the game and on the whole Borderlands is fun to play and explore.

I don't think replay value is very high in Borderland's case. Although there is a four player Xbox LIVE mode, once you have reached level 50 and acquired the best weapons, there's not much keeping you around. Although entertaining, the endless search for weapons and loot is not nearly enough to hold the game afloat for a second or third play-through with such a pathetic storyline. Borderlands tries its' very hardest to break barriers, but in the end is only confined by itself. However, as I've mentioned above, although there are several issues, some big, some small, the positives outweigh the bad and the game succeeds as both a sci-fi adventure and mission-based RPG. I wish there'd been a bit more thought and effort placed into polishing the game, but where it lacks shine, Borderlands more than makes up for in character, charm and gameplay. If you want the story of four bounty hunters on the search for gold and fame with some great settings, then this game is for you.

Joy!

For some mysterious reason, my internet suddenly decided to connect to the rest of the sites I couldn't access, so it looks like I'll be able to bring you some of those funny and shocking videos once more. I'm happy enough that I don't want to even ask why it suddenly started to work again, but it looks like things are looking up again for this blog. Keep you posted!

Xbox 720

I don't have much time to write, but I thought I'd open the discussion for the Xbox 720. I've heard a few rumours that Microsoft will be releasing it sometime between 2010 and 2011. I know that the graphics and engines that the Xbox 360 can support are becoming more and more limited, and obviously we need to push for better games, but as one of the biggest selling consoles ever, how are people going to cope? I certainly can't see myself dishing out nearly $1000 for a new console and games, especially with Microsoft's history of making back-compatible systems.

I'll research some more and see what I can find out. Have a good weekend!

New Games To Watch For pt. 6 - Left 4 Dead 2

The zombie apocalypse's answer to 50 cent, what better way to start your release with a bang than by having your game banned in Australia? Although (hopefully) only temporary, this ban will undoubtedly serve as more of a bad-boy launching tool for Valve's new game than a hinderance. Set in Southern USA, possibly New Orleans, this time the four new survivors must mash their way through hordes of zombies with familiar weapons, and a few not-so familiar. With the addition of several new ammunition-based weapons, they are complimented by a new variety of melee weapons, such as the chainsaw, baseball bat and frying pan.

With Left 4 Dead receiving some bad reviews for its' limited gameplay and low contrast of zombies and weapons, it's also good to hear that several new types of zombies are included. These include spitters, similar to boomers but with acid instead of vomit (undoubtedly to reduce the amount of corner-camping); chargers, similar to tanks except faster and with one larger arm to knock survivors over; and strangely, the jockey, a kind of weird-looking zombie which jumps on your back and steers you into other zombies and obstacles. These, combined with level-specific zombies, such as mudmen and Hazmat-garbed zombies, should make for more varied and interesting play.

Much of the story, campaign and gameplay is still rumour and guesses, especially since Valve is under pressure to change the game to a less violent version in order to market in Australia. There has been speculation that the health packs and pills will be gone for the next installment, instead replaced with adrenaline to help burst out of zombie crowds with the new melee weaponry. However, more likely, you'll have to choose which you can carry. The five campaign levels have been named as 'Dead Centre', a shopping mall ala Dead Rising styles; 'Dark Carnival', which awesomely, will take place in a fairground - yes think clown zombies; 'Swamp Fever', obviously in a swamp; 'Hard Rain', an industrial-based level; and 'The Parish' which is based around a church. Not much change to the game modes, although rumours of a Scavenger and Realistic mode have risen.

And finally the survivors themselves: A black coach called, go figure, Coach; Rochelle, a black television reporter; Ellis, a mechanic; and Nick, who has been described as a con/gambler. And so the pieces are there. The survivors, the zombies, the gameplay. The question is, will the public buy Left 4 Dead 2 after its' predecessor was released not too long ago? It is indeed a mystery why Valve decided to release number two so quickly after the first - maybe they realized that the zombie market is one which only they and a select few others fill and wanted to bring a new game to replace the outdated and severely limited gameplay of Left 4 Dead's first title. Or maybe they just wanted more dough for their back pockets. Whatever the case, Left 4 Dead 2 is definitely a game to watch for and hopefully I'll be buying it instead of just watching.

Videos For The Voyeur

As promised, I managed to smuggle a video out before I totally trashed my computer for being so slow. Not the best, but surely one of the cutest Mexican-based, chinchilla ads ever made!

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Grumble Grumble Computers Grumble Grumble

As you may know from my previous posts on NAT types and how they never seem to bloody open for me, I hate computers. That episode was only the beginning - now it's like revenge of the technology in my house. I'm just waiting to wake up one night and feel a USB cord slowly tightening around my neck and that creepy, monosyllabic computer voice laughing in my ear.

Well for starters, the NAT type problem I encountered was never resolved. And the internet is still chugging along slowly - it took me forever to simply open up one page in order to bring you, my humble viewers, a video. Unfortunately, to find an awesome one it would've taken me about 12 days to view all the ones I've missed for the past three months, so I just grabbed the one with the cutest looking chinchillas.

Now though I find that my computer screen is... fucked shall we say? Half of it is green and the other half is red. I hadn't noticed this since I received the screen, but since I needed to calibrate it for my photography work, it now sticks out like a sore thumb! Now I either have to pay through the nose or pay through the nose to get it fixed. So rejoice in the fact that you can watch funny videos, have a colour-quality screen and NATs so open they're considered bi-sexual, because my friends, I cannot. I must suffer long internet times on a green screen, with my only respite being that I can whine all day to you.

*Cry*

ODST Verdict

Sucks.

Oh, you wanted more? My bad. After much gameplay, I have concluded that my original Halo 3: ODST musings were probably true. The campaign's plot is thin at best (So the giant mystery is that some floating balloon knows what the Covenant are looking for? Puh-lease!) and gameplay is confusing for the most part. As the Rookie venturing through the large, open-world of New Mombassa, gameplay is tedious and seems to serve as nothing more than filler to distract from the dreadfully short missions. Getting lost and versing the same enemies in the same place again and again is not uncommon; in my view, the open world environment experiment of the game is an epic failure.

Indeed, the only real action you get is in the short "flashbacks" the Rookie gets every time you find a clue somewhere in the city. These flashbacks don't last long, leaving you yearning for more action which just doesn't come. Enter Firefight. Of the entire game, Firefight seems like an honest attempt at adding some value to the game. Unfortunately, it can get boring after a while. I managed to zap headshot after headshot, and with a reasonably good team, you begin getting restless after unlocking the level's achievement.

Let's face it. Bungie were cheeky indeed. Instead of releasing the second part of the Mythic Map Pack as a downloadable content package, they thought they'd try and rip $100 for a full game filled with fillers, weak gameplay and woeful action. And it actually worked. Coupled with the fact that people could now try and unlock Recon armour, releasing ODST was always going to suck out a fair bit of the kiddie's pocket money and I'm annoyed. Bungie should be expected to deliver top-grade games every time, rather than trying too fool the public into buying a campaign that adds nothing inherently new to the Halo mythos and what can only be described as a DLC pack trying to pass as a full fledged game. Firefight and the new maps could easily have been added as a DLC; Left 4 Dead did it, so why not Bungie? Let's hope they actually spend some more time on Halo: Reach and don't just make another farce for gamer addicts to lay their wallet out for.