So it was pay day recently and to celebrate I did the only thing I could really think of, I bought me some new video games. Borderlands and BlazBlue, let’s get some mini reviews goin’.

First up is Borderlands for the PC. I was able to get it cheaper then usual thanks to Steams Pre-order discount about an hour before the game released. I’ve only played about two and a half hours into the game, and I’ve beaten my first boss and gotten to level 4 on Mordecai (maybe five, I can’t really remember right now). So far I’d say it’s one of the better games I’ve bought in recent memory that wasn’t an existing RPG IP.

Pacing wise things are going pretty well, the tutorial bit at the beginning is actually rather enjoyable as you save C.L.A.P.T.R.A.P. from being shot by a few bandits, just be sure to check everything around you, so you can have a nice stash of cash. After a bit of playing I started to feel that my character wasn’t able to move fast enough to get around the world and when I thought that, the game came up with the notice telling me how to sprint. The only real problem is maybe the first boss is a little too tough for one guy playing Mordecai to beat, after he killed me once I got back in there and shot him up though.

The graphics when in motion look great and the objects just scattered around will often look just like a drawn image, which I really enjoy, and the style works well with the environment and feel of the game. Speaking of the environment that’s actually one of the things that annoy me, going up to cliffs will often be covered in large rocks that will have the game stylized sketch lines over it and often it will just look ugly all big like it is. For cliff faces it looks fine but as the ground going up to a cliff it seems like it’s too large. I would have liked a little more visual character customization, you can only change the three main colors of your character.

Animation wise things are looking pretty good, some of the enemies animation sets get a little sketchy and wonky, but for the most part things are pretty fluid, especially on the recurring NPC’s like Dr Zed and C.L.A.P.T.R.A.P. every time I come back into the first town I always have to spend a little bit of time to appreciate Clap’s dancing. Gun reloading and everything looks very natural, but melee attacks seem to come out of nowhere (at least until if get some weapons that have their own melees, then things make more sense)

Sound wise Clap’s voice is always enjoyable to hear (even more so if you watched any of his podcasts) and guns have fairly appropriate sounds, though I’ve mostly just used Sniper Rifles and Pistols so far. Monster sounds are pretty clear but it’s sometimes a little hard to hear where they’re coming from, and the same goes for human enemies as well. Past the opening’s song and dance (Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked fits great with the game) I didn’t much notice if there was any music, which I guess means there either was none, or it fit so well that it just blended in with everything. After getting
Gunplay is more or less your basic run and gun, toggled crouching is something I still need to get sued to, and I’m in fact looking for console options to have press and hold crouch. Having cover pretty much just entails you basic shooter cover, strafe out and shoot from a wall, or duck behind a low wall. Characters special abilities can help change things up a little bit, but I always tend to forget that I can use them. Bloodwing works rather well, he always seems to attack the guys with the highest health and is rather good at taking out shields. The skill tree is pretty easy to understand, it fills up as you add points in it, and when it fills up to a new tier that tier is open to you. I’ve yet to see any HUG or graphical effect occurs when one of my skills go off, which would be something I’d like especially with my first skill being a passive two hit’s per one shot with handguns (I’m sure using a machine pistol is not helping the situation). You can buy skill resets from check points so it’s fairly easy to try out new builds and see what works best for you. The elemental attributes of guns easily make those type favorable over normal weapons (right now I’m using a pistol that maybe weaker than others that I can get, but it’s fire proc more than makes up for that) and can easily turn a horde of Skag Pups and Whelps from a threat into a simple matter. Moving around the environment is easy and faster for the small areas I’ve started in (thanks to sprint) Just make sure you clear the area before talking to anyone skags have a tendency to hide and attack the moment you finish a quest. I haven’t gotten the chance to try out Co-Op, it would appear that there is some problems with the feature at this point, some people are using separate networks to play with friends.

Overall the game is a lot of fun, even this early in the game, and I’m sure when I can get on with some friends the fun will just get better. If you’re a fan of shooters the game will be pretty familiar and the addition weapon attributes will spice things up for you. If you’re a RPG player you’ll find the guns to be rather refreshing from the usual hack and slash sword and magic play. Being a fan of both I can say that I can only hope that Borderlands can be expanded to what I see is inevitable, a full on MMO Shooter RPG (Vigil Games should take a note of this, this could be the base for their Warhammer40K MMO)

Before I got Borderlands I bought BlazBlue (pronounced BLAZE BLUE dammit) for Xbox 360, I’m not normally that excited about fighters but Arc System Works games are always something that catches my attention. My first impressions of the game (playing versus with a friend of mine who normally does not play any fighters) found it very fun, and does a good job of getting new players into the genre with its SP1 and SP2 keys mapped to the Right Stick (allowing you to use the characters more important special moves at the flick of the stick). This lets your friends that don’t play with you to just hop in and after a quick explanation of the controls they’ll be brawling with you in no time. With the sticks being able to be turned on or off in online player matches also helps new players in online until they get used to the stick motions and button presses. Ranked matches completely shut out the right stick, leaving it the domain of the more serious players and Player Matches as maybe the testing grounds of your secondary characters. Just be sure not to send rage mail at people that beat you, or just disconnect when you’re going to lose.
Graphically the game is stunning, its special effects are spot on for characters and the full 3D backgrounds still fit perfectly with the hand drawn characters. The alternate color schemes are numerous enough that you can play a number of games and see a different scheme every time, and helps to differentiate yourself against other players of your character (I personally prefer pink Noel for example)

The animations of the characters are spot on, with the characters giving off strong silhouettes in any of their attack animations, furthering their uniqueness against each other and their styles. Background animations help to make the area lived with without any large movements to distract you (I always found the cars and plane wing in Street Fighter to be something that I always try to see)

I always prefer the English voice of character in these games, I like understanding the stuff that I play, some voice work could be considered a little spotty (Noel when she’s just talking can get on my nerves) but voice work for attacks sounds great. Character don’t just say their attacks they actually put emotion into them. Having character lines change based on certain characters is also very welcome, having playing Ragna against Jin and changing his lines to “I’ll never, forgive you!” doesn’t just offer a change of pace but bring you more into the fight that the two characters have no qualms about killing one another. Arc Systems extends this into their humor as well, with Taokaka always referring to Litchi as Boobie Lady even in the middle of the fight, and Noel’s “Hands off the panda!” and “ Your breasts are illegal!” help bring even more fun to an already enjoyable game.

A greatly enjoyable game, anyone that likes fighters should enjoy it, and anyone new will probably be able to at the very least pick up and play, and have some fun.