Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 58 Critics What's this?

User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 283 Ratings

  • Summary: As the first title in an all-new sci-fi action franchise, Borderlands combines the best elements of Gearbox Software's first-person action titles with player customization and vehicular combat. Borderlands features a unique content generation system allowing for near-endless variety in missions, environments, enemies, weapons, item drops and character customization. Borderlands is a cooperative experience, allowing for multiple players to share the same game experience simultaneously online. Players can freely join or leave each other’s games at anytime, or choose to play in the full single-player mode. Borderlands features life-like character animations, impressive real-time physics, and customizable vehicles. More details to follow. [2K Games/Gearbox Software] Expand
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 56 out of 58
  2. Negative: 1 out of 58
  1. I timed it and it takes about a minute and a half of load time when you move from one area to the next. Like I said before though this is a stretch because each area is so large that you don’t mind because you spend so much time in the area it is worth it.
  2. With all the single-player blockbuster first person shooters on the market and even more to come, if you are looking to break away from all the loneliness and socialise with a friend or few in vast desert landscapes, Borderlands could be just for you.
  3. Although Borderlands seemed ready to be one of the next big things, the overwhelming focus on grinding and gun-collecting can't carry the entire game, in either co-op or single-player.
  4. Finally, a videogame with the balls to depict the generic post-apocalyptic wasteland as it really will be: utterly boring and lifeless.

See all 58 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 71 out of 86
  2. Negative: 10 out of 86
  1. this game reminds me alot of phantasy star online but bigger in the world you get to explore , a ton of wepons , 4 player co op , and fun boss fights. the game has a intresting graphics desighn . a kind of gritty cel shadded look. there are alot of quests to do and the game is pretty long at arounf 40-50 hours to complete . there is alot of DLC that gives you much more to do. the game over all is great even single player is kinda fun but this game is best played online with some friends . the only thing about this game that wasnt done well was the story was very dull and the ending felt lame . i hope gear box does a another borderlands game. Expand
  2. I really liked the style of Borderlands right of the bat. So many games are trying to have realistic graphics and a stylistic art style is really appreciated in these times. I only played as the soldier/assault class so I can't really speak to the other characters. The game is a pretty straightforward shooter with some RPG elements which can be rearranged at several locations. The selling point of this game was the amount of guns in it, and they were right, there's a ton of guns due to having them with generated stats. Definitely a fun game, the story was interesting in waves, not really hooked into the story of the game personally. Lot of going places, shooting badguys, picking up things and bringing things back to the person who gave you the mission. Driving around was pretty fun though, running bad guys over was definitely fun. Character and enemy designs were really good and original. Expand
  3. I have always enjoyed games that have a decent story. Not necessarily epic stories complete with plot twists and gasp worthy moments, but just a narrative that helps drive the action forward. Borderlands is a game that completely lacks any sort of decent story, it even goes as far as not even having voice recordings to introduce missions to you, but rather makes you read through a passage of text which describes your task and also tries to inject some character development into these passages. This detracts from the experience for me and makes the action feel very repetitive and pointless beyond trying out your new weapon (of which there are thousands).
    Borderlands is a very interesting game in what it tries to become both visually and with regards to it's gameplay. Some will love everything about it including it's very relaxed approach to narrative as well as it's stark visual style. I, however found it tedious and lacking in direction but slightly redeemed when playing with friends either online or locally.
    Expand
  4. TrentR
    2
    1 hour of cool setting, 1 hour of decent gameplay, 38 hours of repetitive grinding. This isn't a game, it's a part-time job.

See all 86 User Reviews