Borderlands
Preview
Enter a gunholic's ultimate wet dream
by Elandarex
previewed on PC
Waiter, there's some RPG in my FPS
While a million usable items seems like enough to satisfy most, Gearbox isn't content to simply gear up players with the latest military equipment and send them out into the wild and dangerous world of Borderlands without any experience. Players will be able to level up their character's capabilities first by gaining experience throughout their travels. Attributes potentially affected by these increases in competence include such stats as health, ammo capacity, and accuracy. Along with these base stats available to every character, players will also be able to develop three focused skill trees, unique to the three playable characters available to players.
These characters fit into the class roles of soldier, hunter, and magician, though it remains to be seen if more characters may be introduced somewhere down the line. Each character has their own skill set, abilities, and unique back story with which to integrate them into the story. Apart from that, each character also has an affinity for a specific accessory item type.
An FPS with character
Soldier Roland is a former member of a highly trained private military force called the Crimson Lance. Much of Roland's back story revolves around an old vendetta with a man he has sworn to kill. Roland's abilities focus on the support of his party, with a Leadership skill that can boost experience gains, a Medical skill that increases health regeneration, and other support skills that will increase damage dealt and allow for the regeneration of ammunition.
Next is the hunter, Mordecai. His motivation centers around a man named Quinn who died and Mordecai's desire to uncover the circumstances surrounding his demise. Of course, being a hunter, Mordecai is especially proficient in dispatching his enemies from afar. His capabilities increase party accuracy and boost headshot damage. As the story progresses, Mordecai apparently befriends an alien that will assist him in combat.
Finally there is the magician, Lilith, one of the six powerful Sirens. Unable to control her own powers she is searching for one of the other Siren's to discover more about herself. Being the mage of the group, Lilith is able to manipulate time to increase rate of fire, as well as slow down foes and speed up allies.
A place for all my stuff
The setting for Borderlands is pretty standard sci-fi fare for the most part. Humanity has engaged in active colonization of the galaxy but have yet to encounter any intelligent life. By chance, advanced alien technology is discovered, allowing human progress to leap ahead by many generations. This technology enables intricate manipulation of matter, the kind of manipulation that would allow, say, the generation of half a million guns.
This surge of technological and scientific discovery prompts a gold-rush of sorts, a mad dash for mineral resources, leading a collection of colony ships to land on the planet Pandora. The environment on this planet is barren and supposedly devoid of life. Hardly paradise and those who can afford to quickly abandon the planet. They leave behind general lawlessness and chaos that lasts for seven Earth years. Then the planet transitions from winter to spring, arousing terrifying creatures from hibernation. The chance of survival for the already struggling population seems highly uncertain.
