Borderlands

“Borderlands” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borderlands_%28video_game%29) is a video game made by Gearbox studios that released October 20, 2009. The game is unique in its visual style and game play mechanics. The visuals are made from very detailed, very colorful cel-shading techniques combined with hand-drawn textures, which when all thrown together created a visual style unlike anything before. Part of the draw of the game was its visibly-cartoony art style combined with the unserious way the game presented itself throughout. Another part of the draw was the unique game play. “Borderlands” is an FPS (first person shooter) with RPG (role playing game) elements thrown on top. The game was marketed with the tagline “The FPS and RPG made a baby,” and quite honestly it’s true; the game blends the two genres very well. It uses traditional FPS game play, and augments it with the weapon stats and additional character abilities that are common in almost all RPGs. “Borderlands” is a trend-setter; the game saw a decent amount of success for an unestablished series, and you can be sure that future games will try to take advantage of the formula it came up with. The only question is if they’ll actually try to build on it and make it their own, or just imitate it.