Concept:
Four Player MMO/Dungeon Crawler Shooter
Keep:
The graphics. Gearbox's gamble to go with a stylized take on the world pays off in dividends; the look is creative, other worldly and interesting enough to maintain your attention.
The combat mechanics. Borderlands takes a good step away from Fallout 3's dice rolling mechanics towards more shooter mechanics. You get the freedom of not wondering if a point-blank shot will hit the person you're directly aiming at while still maintaining the hit point and RPG mechanics.
The MMO-ness. The development team has gone on the record claiming Diablo and its ilk as an inspiration, but there's more MMO in these wastelands than anything. The questing system is shades of World of Warcraft and other MMOs and it feels really good. If you're familiar with any of the current MMO quest systems, Borderlands will feel comfortable.
Correct:
The quietness. Sure it's a wasteland, but that doesn't mean it has to be so dull! Borderlands needs more ambient sounds, distant gunfire, something to break that quietness and the grunting of your character.
The text size. This is completely in the nitpick territory, but with so much text on screen and reading to be had, a bump up in the point size could go a long way to make text screens easier to read. This was an old build of the game and probably (hopefully) corrected for release.
Cut:
The radar. The radar is just flat out clunky. You might get to where you need to go, but it's an awkward time finding out exactly where you need to go due to its lack of smooth scrolling.
Conclusion:
Borderlands is set up to surprise people. The press demo we've had our hands on for a few weeks gives a solid idea of the mechanics and the elements that will drive the game. It's too early to say if this is an evolution of design or an ill-conceived mish-mash of ideas (that can only come with longer, more extended time with the game), but things are looking good for the game. It draws inspiration from a plethora of games and movies, but attempts to carve out its own space and feel. The look, design and elements of questing make Borderlands more than just an average shooter and more than just a four-person shooter.
Loot whores are going to love Borderland's constant drops and equipment modifications; couple that with the ability to advance your character with "perks" in a (very MMO-like) skill tree and you have the makings of a game people will throw themselves into.
The rocky development of Borderlands and its complete art-style transformation seemingly has paid off. With so many titles leaving the fall for the first quarter next year, Borderlands has enough going for it that it's poised to strike and become a big name for the fall.
Check out our Borderlands interview with Gearbox's Mikey Neumann.
