Old Haven Happiness

Last night I loaded up Borderlands figuring I'd play solo for a little while to hit level 30.  Little did I realize that I'd get sucked into the game for four hours.  I have been tooling around in the Rust Commons for several nights and starting to find that the game starts to feel a bit of a grind the further I got into leveling up while playing solo.  Last night though changed my perception of the game back to the original enjoyment that I felt the first night I played the game.

After playing through the first main area you end up moving into a new town called New Haven which butts up next to the Rust Commons.  New Haven is the starting point for many quests throughout the Rust Commons (East and West), as well as introduces you to many new characters to help drive the story along.  I had enjoyed the game as I explored New Haven and the Rust Commons, but it never dawned on me that there could also potentially be an Old Haven.

Well after finishing off a series of quests the other night I was able to cross a draw bridge that previously had been raised which allowed me to find Old Haven.  Old Haven reminds me of one of the better instances from WoW.  I say this because several of the points I've encounted in Borderlands up to this point felt very much like simple extensions of the rest of the world of Pandora.  Old Haven breathed life into action in the game that had started to fade.  Now granted I have not played Borderlands at all with any other people at this point but the action has become very repetitive and predictable (albeit enjoyable).  The premise of Old Haven is that a town has become over run by a group of mercenaries who have claimed Old Haven as their own after being paid to clear out a rival gang from the town.  My excitement for Old Haven is squarely from the fact that unlike most of the combat locations in Borderlands, Old Haven is chock full of street fighting with enemies coming from all sides.  Even when I thought I had cleared out an area I would find myself having enemies circle around me to try and ambush me.  This was a total blast.  I would love to see how Old Haven plays out with a full party and all the chaos that would ensue.

The best part of my whole Old Haven encounter was the fact that the story led me closer to the end of my journey to the Vault.  While the story takes a backseat to the action in some points, there is definitely a good reason for wanting to play through to the end.

If you haven't picked up Borderlands yet (for PC, PS3 or 360) do yourself a favor and buy this game.  Pick it up on PS3 and join me even. 

More later folks

Borderlands is a blast

For fans of first person shooters AND RPGS, Borderlands is definitely a great game to play.  Picking one of the four types of characters while riding on a bus in the opening moments, you learn that you are on the planet Pandora to find a mythical treasure known as the Vault. 

The game hooks you in by giving you lots to shoot at and lots of loot to collect and sell.  Quests vary from finding items to repair appliances or other machinery to killing X number of bad guys.  As you walk through one area to another mobs spawn (or re-spawn if you've traveled past a location before) to give you experience points and loot.  To help you stay alive you wear a shield that can be swapped out for an upgrade (as with all other weapons in the game).  The shield takes the damage first and once it has been depleted your health will start to drop.  Various shields will replenish faster or slower depending on the type you equip.  Some even revive health. 

Battles can be fierce, but given that each class type has a special weapon that can be utilized, combat seems to end in the players favor.  Upon leveling up from killing enemies or completing quests, you earn a talent point that can be used to give your character an advantage in whatever style of play you prefer.  With the Hunter, Mordecai the choices are Sniper, Rogue or Gunslinger.  Similar to WoW, there aren't enough talent points to allow you to pick every talent to it's fullest.  This gives you the choice to pick one talent tree to get the best of one type of play or choose from some of each.  Talent point distributions like this really allow the game to give the player the opportunity to play their own way.  Another nice touch with gunplay in the game is the fact that as one type of gun is used (shotgun, pistol, combat rifle, etc) the character increases their proficiency giving them a better chance for critical hits and better damage.

Borderlands also allows for four player online co-op and 2 player split screen local co-op.  As of this writing I haven't had a chance to try out either because I have been enjoying my solo adventure.  The way combat is set up, it is obvious that game play would benefit from having more than one class playing at a time and the ability to invite friends from your friends list to your own game is a nice touch.  From the main menu of the game you can also browse for and join random multiplayer games which also allows you to see what level other players are at and what part of the world of Pandora they are in.  This is really great as well.

Aside from not trying out a multiplayer run through the game I can say that this game will definitely occupy a lot time for me in the foreseeable future.  My only complaint so far with the game is driving vehicles.  Everything is backward in my opinion.  Steering and moving forward are handled with the analogue sticks instead of the trigger buttons as is typical with most driving games.  I think if I give the driving enough of a chance I'll be able to not drive straight into rocks or buildings and hopefully rather drive over bad guys as the developers intended.

This is definitely a must have game this holiday season.  I'll keep you all updated as I spend more time in the world of Borderlands.