I have every Borderlands game but guess who comes back to this gem?
This is the OG Borderlands with BL2 being the peak. Other games are just made by otherworldly people who doesn't understand what basic BL fans basically want.
It was fun, with it's humor, gameplay, references and easter eggs. Even after all those years, it still holds up. I have the urge and passion to 100% this game and it's DLCs.
Hearing Tannis go insane over time was fun. And I liked the reference to Diablo 2 with the Rakkinishu boss.

I guess this GOTY Enhanced version are made by the same people who made the other modern garbages as this game has been worked on more than a few times and still has memory leak which forces you to restart the game as you will be getting 3 FPS. Also the dialogues are bugged and sometimes they won't play which causes you to miss out on the story and the missions (where claptrap informs you that there are new missions at a person/bounty board)
And the best bug yet! Clipping out the map and falling to your demise and you don't even respawn until you restart your save.

I played BL1 and BL2 with passion but the other games just sucked the passion and soul out of me just like those dementors from Harry Potter.
I have no hope for the future of this franchise and the upcoming movie.
Thanks a lot for where you've taken this franchise, Randy Pitchford.

I grew up playing the first 2 Borderlands games. I absolutely love them. I have nearly 200 hours in the original and nearly 500 in Borderlands 2. I’ve recently gotten a group of friends together and we’re going through the entirety of the Borderlands series starting with the first one. We recently beat it and let me tell you, nostalgia can only do so much. While I actually did have a blast playing this game with my friends, it’s mostly due to the friend group and my nostalgia for this series.

TLDR at the end

The Issues

Despite brandishing the name “Enhanced edition” the game still has plenty of issues. All of us experienced framerate issues, connection issues, and just overall jank. There’d be times where one of us had to restart due to us loading into a new area and our frames would just tank into oblivion. Other times it’s just the longer the session the more likely the framerate would start to drop. I’m unsure why. There is also a latency bug with the game that thankfully there was a steam forums about. The bug being that even if you all mute and disable microphones, it’s still transmitting your mics, or registering it somehow and that causes unbearable lag. You have to go into a file to manually disable the voice chat completely to fix this issue. The steam forum for better understanding of the issue if you find yourself reading this while having issues playing the game.

Steam forum fix for co-op latency issue

Those were the most consistent technical issues. However my brother in law (one of the people I played with and who I played these games with when I was younger) was having issues with just the sound playing for the game. Unfortunately I don’t remember the cause or how he resolved that issue since that happened when we started and he found a fix himself.

Some various not as common bugs included items falling through maps. Some items stats disappearing and reducing to level 0 (displayed with having no level) when dropped. Characters occasionally t-posing and more.

This doesn’t even really touch on just the game itself. The game itself definitely feels a little crusty to play nowadays. The gunplay feels very stiff and inaccurate, the base weapon sway, especially for snipers, is ridiculous, the loot drops were wildly bad. We would get items that were nearly 10-15 levels below our current level dropped sometimes and if you dared try an encounter even just 1 level above you, you’d get rolled. Now I remember that last one from playing Borderlands 1 back in the day, but I never remember the loot being so bad. I’m not sure if they changed that or not. Memory is hazy since I played Borderlands 1 around release and never went back after Borderlands 2 released. The car physics are also bad but in my opinion they’re so bad that they circle back to being good. But unless you’re like me and my group and you find your car clipping a rock and it going flying or crashing into each other and getting the cars stuck fun then you’ll probably not enjoy it. But to me honestly the car physics are a plus.

Onto the good

Despite all that, I had an absolute blast revisiting it. Borderlands 1 is really interesting to revisit after so long because it hadn’t really found its identity fully. A lot of the humor, while I wouldn’t exactly call it subtle by normal means, was very subtle compared to the other games in the series. It hadn’t really turned into the memey mess that Borderlands has become. And depending on who you ask that can be a good or a bad thing. But it does become more fully fleshed out the longer you play and especially in the DLCs. I will also say that I think the original Borderlands has some of my favorite DLCs. We didn’t actually play them all this time so I can’t fully speak to them but General Knoxx has my favorite loot room of all the DLCs I’ve played, the Ned’s zombie DLC is very fun and goofy. The claptrap revolution DLC is super funny considering every enemy “becomes” a claptrap and the Mad Moxie DLC is a very fun arena DLC. We only revisited the zombie DLC however, as when we beat the final boss everyone kind of agreed that we’d just like to move onto Borderlands 2. Which can’t really fault anyone for that.

There are also some really cool parts in the base game. One of my favorite parts and one of the first times I’ve ever seen a scene like this in a game (I know it’s not the first to do something like this) but when the Guardians are fighting the Crimson Lance at the final push of the game. Those final areas feel really fun and hectic and it’s really cool to experience what is essentially a 3 way fight between you, the lance and the guardians. Again not the first game to ever have a scene like this but I believe it was my first time experiencing one in a game and it has just left a mark on me.

Final Thoughts

With all that being said, I’m not really sure I can recommend this game. Really playing Borderlands 2 no matter what way you look at it will be a much better time. Better gunplay, better skill trees, better story, more customization, really finds its stride with comedy despite it becoming more memey, and better archetypes with the gun companies. The gun companies in the first one more so just felt like different stats. I think the biggest differences you could feel were like the Jacobs and Maliwan guns. Jacobs because they would do ridiculous damage as their slogan was 1 shot 1 kill. Maliwan because they were always elemental and had high elemental effects. In Borderlands 2 all the gun companies have dramatic differences and make them feel that much more unique and zany. Even starting with Borderlands 2 you won’t lose out on any story. Most of what happens in Borderlands 1 is either explained or just some background lore that doesn’t really matter. I don’t really see any reason you’d choose to play Borderlands 1 over Borderlands 2. Unless you have extreme nostalgia for Borderlands 1 and didn’t like 2 for whatever reason. Especially with all the technical issues. Which honestly really is a shame because like I said from the start, I do love this game and I did have a good time.

TLDR

I had a fun time but I’m nostalgic for this game, if you have no nostalgia for this game I would not recommend you play this and would suggest you start at Borderlands 2.

It couldn't have been any other game.

To what extent should we evaluate a game merely on its own merits? To what extent should we let exterior context color one's assessment? Is it even possible to review in pure technical isolation? Maybe, if you're a freak.

To me the original Borderlands represents so much more than just some stuff some devs slapped on a disc. A summer of growing up and friendships that barely exist anymore (yet you still see each other once a year around Christmas). Hanging out near farmlands that are now home to bricks and concrete instead of potatoes and onions. Once so familiar rooms that I'll never see again and rooms I have seen unexpectedly again after all, unchanged, as if locked in time. A sense of opportunity in the air that embraced you, like cool cling wrap the moment you stepped outside. Maybe you could summarise it all as a general "joie de vivre", if you want to be so-called literary inclined.

Now you could argue that all the above has nothing to do with the game. That's not the stuff they put on the disc. But let me tell you: that stuff wouldn't have been here anymore, if it weren't for the stuff on that darn disc. Let me be clear: it's not my favourite game by a long shot and it never will be. Yet it has quietly solidified those Summer-of-2010 memories into something I can access again with one mouse-click. Unbeknownst to me, it has become a little part of me, just like any other experience that has stuck with me.

Still, you could rightly ask me why I wrote all this stuff down, that I should shut my pretentious mouth and just tell you if I enjoyed the darn game or not. Maybe you feel an urgent desire to point out to me that I'm writing this only to satisfy my own ego and that, in fact, every writer ever has done so. There's probably some truth in that, yes. But honestly, I don't necessarily want you to play this game. Part of me just secretly hopes that this stuff makes you remember a game that means something similar to you.

If this has somehow convinced you to play this game after all, please, do not think of me when you do.

(bonus tip: install "globals mod" and "borderlands enhanced light reshade preset" for a Real Good time)

(tl;dr: the most sovlful tech demo ever)

Borderlands é um FPS que não se enrola pra chegar ao seu objetivo. Contudo, seu objetivismo deixa de lado todo o valor narrativo que o jogo tem e apresenta ao jogador. Explica-se da seguinte forma:

História: Você é um mercenário caçador de recompensas que foi para o mundo de Pandora para adquirir um raro tesouro alienígena: o Cofre. E é isso. Todo o jogo se desenrola ao redor desse objetivo e todos os personagens que aparecem na história só possuem a função de te oferecerem missões para você upar de level e chegar ao final do jogo. Apenas uma da personagens tem um desenvolvimento relativamente aceitável e todo o mundo que é apresentado não tem nenhuma espécie de aprofundamento ou valor;

Gameplay: Por ser um FPS ele te coloca em uma constante onda combates. O lado mais divertido, é que o jogo sempre te coloca em posse de uma gama extremamente variada de armas para lutar, que, mescladas com as habilidades especiais de cada personagem, deixam o jogo dinâmico e nunca enjoado de jogar. O lado negativo, é que eles oferecem uma possibilidade de exploração de um mundo aberto vazio e sem valor. Você realmente não vê nenhuma razão de ver as outras regiões, a não ser que estejam relacionadas com as suas missões;

Ambientação: o jogo possui uma trilha sonora envolvente e que sabe te colocar no ritmo de acordo com a situação. O caos dos cenários e a desolação do mundo fazem você sentir o nível de bagunça que aquele mundo se encontra e você facilmente se sente parte dele, lutando contra hordas de bandidos e lunáticos (mesmo você sendo só mais um).

Borderlands é um jogo que você precisa dar o tempo para mostrar o seu verdadeiro valor, mas, ainda assim, para se manter engajado com ele até o final, você vai ter que aceitar a simplicidade e casualidade da sua história, encarando ele mais como um shooter arcade do que como um game com riqueza de história.

Muito bom para o começo da série borderlands, mas como é o primeiro game da série, tem bastante errinhos.

O mapa do jogo é incrivelmente grande e uma boa parte deles você tem que se locomover a pé. Tem muitos momentos onde o jogo parece um walking simulator, literalmente você não faz nada além andar.

Outra coisa, isso é bem mais por gosto mesmo, é a coloração do game. Parece que o game ta morto, com muita presença de cores pastéis.

Mas nas coisa boas que esse jogo acerta, é definitivamente a comédia, o tiroteio desenfreado que acontece em muitas partes e é claro no loot.

Um bom começo, agr qr ver os outros jogos pra ver se o meu gosto por looter shotters, vai se expandir.

This was my first proper playthrough of borderlands, over the years i'd wacked this on and tried to get into it both solo and with mates but could never stick with it

However, we recently moved house and had no internet, I had this installed and thought why not give it a go, never tried it on PC and i didn't put it down for hours, this was mostly the only game i played for a few days!

For an oldish cell shaded game it looks nice especially in certain area's but where the funs at is in the combat
You can pick up all kinds of weapons, Pistols, Smg's Shotguns ect and you get grenade mods for certain grenades and shields
Something i love is when you lose health and get knocked down, if you can kill an enemy before you bleed out you get a second wind and can get back to slaying midgets.

This game has been a tonne of fun plus you get the DLC too and the boss fights are fun too some i found a little challenging properly dying a few times but it was still very fun.

Definitely recommend playing this if you've not already and using the vehicles are a must! Plus you can fast travel!

Well, it's a prety nice remastered version of the original Borderlands GOTY, but they could have added better controls like the free camera while being in a vehicle.

For the rest, it's still the good old Borderlands. The first chapter of the series isn't exactly aged well: the story is bland, tecnically it's dated and artistically, well, it's the less colorful game in the series.
But somehow it got me hooked, and I enjoyed every minute of my first run.
Also this game has the merit oof having defined the looter shooter genre, which is cool even if it was still raw.

The 4 DLCs are nice expansions too the game, but their quality is fluctuating.