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A Borderlands Playtester Talks
Gearbox Software has been as chatty lately as a sleeping mime but somebody else is talking. The developer let some gamers into their headquarters to playtest Borderlands and one them is on Twitter.
Heading to Gearbox Software for Focus Testing of some video game. 7:34 AM Dec 10th, 2008 from txt
it was Borderlands, still a year out from release. not bad, but needs some work. reminds me of Crackdown a little 10:52 AM Dec 10th, 2008
Not exactly a full preview but a couple interesting things about this info. One is the incomplete state he says the game is in. This is yet another clue pointing to a Borderlands release in the second half of 2009.
The game’s publisher has said for a while that Borderlands will come out this year. A release in the first half of 09 looks unlikely because there is so little press about the game.
Also intriguing from the Twitter posts is the Crackdown comparison. We've seen Borderlands compared to a lot of different games but this one is new.
Crackdown was a sci-fi shooter for the 360 released in 2007. Like Borderlands, it had co-op play and plenty of weapons. It was pretty well received. Notably, G4 TV gave it a perfect score.
I've never played Crackdown. Anybody here try it? Do the similarities with Borderlands go beyond what’s mentioned above or is it just a superficial likeness?
Thanks Fox. You point out some big differences like third person (Crackdown) versus first person (Borderlands).
The gameworlds also look and feel quite different. Crackdown sounds more like a comic book superhero world whereas Borderlands is more gritty sci-fi/Mad Max.
I have never posted on here b4, but I wanted to point out that in the 10min game play video around 9:20 the commentator says “that guys got a orb shield, he’s tough.. He’s also got a helmet, dont shoot...” it’s almost as if he cuts himself off from talking (I felt like he wanted to bring attention to the helmet more). My guess is he wanted to say the helmet isn’t just for looks.
I'll check through the video again. There was no lootable armor, much less helmets, during the course of the demo, though (unless you count Ammo Boxes).
Intersting bit of dialog you caught there.
Well I mean armor has been mentioned so it's no big secret. It would only make sense that different armor pieces would have different uses. Helmets especially would seem to be important.
Love,
Fox Makenshi
Correct me if I'm wrong; but is anyone else getting a vibe where it seems like the loot system will be something like Diablo? Like you kill a bandit, yeah their gun is sitting there, but in Diablo you killed something and some loose item might pop out. For some reason I feel like Borderlands might be like that.
From watching the video and I know I read an interview that gave me a vibe like that. Ill have to find it here in the next couple days.
I think this game is actively courting the Diablo vibe despite the different genres. The Gearbox developers compare Borderlands to Diablo frequently, especially in ShackNews interview.
In the respect you mentioned though Johnny, it sounds like the games will differ.
Marc Tardif: And another great thing about Borderlands' reward system is, unlike a game like Diablo where you kill some random thing and it just drops a random sword, and it doesn't really make a whole lot of sense--in our game, if you come across a bandit, and he's shooting at you with this really bad ass submachinegun, and he's just tearing into you, you know that when you kill him, you get his gun. And all of these guns are procedurally generated. So you might come across a guy with a gun you really, really want, if you kill him, you get it. If you kill a guy with a really, really awesome shield, you get his shield.
Hm. The reason I said that is I read an interview somewhere that made it sound like that. Oh well. I hope I'm wrong!
It sounds more like the loot system from Fallout if anything. Though admittedly the loot will be MUCH more varied in Borderlands.
Love,
Fox Makenshi
The only similarities I'd give Borderlands and Crackdown (from what I've seen) are vehicles and guns. Crackdown is more like a third-person GTA-style game. The characters in that game are given what could only be described as super-power based around acrobatics (speed/jumping) and strength (lifting and throwing heavy objects). There were gun, explosive and driving skills that also leveled up allowing greater efficiency while using those respective skills.
While it was a good game I don't think Borderlands will be anything like it. I mean there will probably be skills that increase your efficiency with specific guns, explosives and driving but aside from that I think the similarities end there.
Love,
Fox Makenshi