This game is so hard to recommend now, but it'll probably stay in my favorites despite its datedness in many regards.
The gunplay is unique, and in my opinion, both Borderlands 1 and Borderlands 2 have fun gunplay despite how inaccurate most guns are under level 20. You'll usually pick up a rusty piece of shit shotgun that can only fire once or twice, but has heavy damage and will explode a psycho's head off cleanly. It's really fun to tinker around and gives rare loot a serious appeal and charm when you finally land a blue or a purple gun. I think the only thing that holds it back is often no strategy other than running at enemies and if you die, winning your fight for your life mode as quickly as possible. Not a lot of skill or fun can be had in these games, and it's not rewarding just to keep throwing yourself at a boss or an enemy until you get lucky enough to win.
The story is probably the best Borderlands ever got. It really progresses well for a game's story, which I think is the main appeal to it. You go from the bottom of the barrel, nearly dying at the beginning to a train bombing and the creatures surviving in Pandora, to taking down small bandit leaders, to larger bandit leaders, to taking on a corporation and their full weight of robots at their disposal. It works a lot better than most other games's narratives where the villain just thumbs his nose at you, through side missions and the main story, you get to watch Jack sort of crumble and get progressively more pissed at the Vault Hunter for being able to survive this far. It's really charming, and it brings out the best of his villainous role, much more so than previous and current Borderlands villains.
The side quests are great, some as short as 10 seconds, others with an hour or two to really keep you invested in its storyline told between quests, and it's fun to choose sides in certain quests that affect the rewards.
Overall, I think this game is great, but I completely understand the hate. The writing hasn't aged perfectly, it still does a lot of reference humor that most people wouldn't get, single-player is much harder than playing it with a friend, and the game looks pretty ugly comparing it to even other games at the time.
But to be honest, no matter how many times I play this game, and still give it a new shot in my brain, wondering if my childhood image of this game will dissipate -- it doesn't. This game still feels fresh, new, and fun, and the DLCs are probably the best released in any game, ever. I get the hate, but I still find it hard to find terrible things that make this game hard to reccomend.
The gunplay is unique, and in my opinion, both Borderlands 1 and Borderlands 2 have fun gunplay despite how inaccurate most guns are under level 20. You'll usually pick up a rusty piece of shit shotgun that can only fire once or twice, but has heavy damage and will explode a psycho's head off cleanly. It's really fun to tinker around and gives rare loot a serious appeal and charm when you finally land a blue or a purple gun. I think the only thing that holds it back is often no strategy other than running at enemies and if you die, winning your fight for your life mode as quickly as possible. Not a lot of skill or fun can be had in these games, and it's not rewarding just to keep throwing yourself at a boss or an enemy until you get lucky enough to win.
The story is probably the best Borderlands ever got. It really progresses well for a game's story, which I think is the main appeal to it. You go from the bottom of the barrel, nearly dying at the beginning to a train bombing and the creatures surviving in Pandora, to taking down small bandit leaders, to larger bandit leaders, to taking on a corporation and their full weight of robots at their disposal. It works a lot better than most other games's narratives where the villain just thumbs his nose at you, through side missions and the main story, you get to watch Jack sort of crumble and get progressively more pissed at the Vault Hunter for being able to survive this far. It's really charming, and it brings out the best of his villainous role, much more so than previous and current Borderlands villains.
The side quests are great, some as short as 10 seconds, others with an hour or two to really keep you invested in its storyline told between quests, and it's fun to choose sides in certain quests that affect the rewards.
Overall, I think this game is great, but I completely understand the hate. The writing hasn't aged perfectly, it still does a lot of reference humor that most people wouldn't get, single-player is much harder than playing it with a friend, and the game looks pretty ugly comparing it to even other games at the time.
But to be honest, no matter how many times I play this game, and still give it a new shot in my brain, wondering if my childhood image of this game will dissipate -- it doesn't. This game still feels fresh, new, and fun, and the DLCs are probably the best released in any game, ever. I get the hate, but I still find it hard to find terrible things that make this game hard to reccomend.