fixated -- Borderlands

Look, I'm not going to lie:  I played the shit out of Borderlands.

If you click on that link above, the first five words of that Wikipedia entry are: "Borderlands is a space western" -- DONE. SOLD.  It may not sound like it'd work, but by golly... I had to have spent close to 100 hours on that game.  I hadn't been that obsessed with a game since the first Mass Effect (and that one didn't have the replay value) and I think the only other game I spent around that much time on ever in my life was Tetris.  (Yes, really.)

The timing was just too perfect.  Jordan and I had just moved in to our new apartments post-breakups and started dating... he moved into his apartment with two other roommates who made it so uncomfortable in the common areas that he just stayed tucked away in his room.  He picked up Borderlands on XBox, if I recall correctly, mostly because it had local co-op and we would have a game to play together, which was cool... however, we had no idea that we would end up spending most of the first four months of our relationship tucked in bed, playing Borderlands with the shades drawn, in sheer, space-westerny, RPG first-person-shooter-y reclusive bliss.

Things I love about the first Borderlands game:
- LOOT.  This is the big one, this is straight up "how they getchya."  The loot system is incredible.  The game is set up to randomly generate an almost INFINITE number of weapons.  I say "almost infinite" because Gearbox has actually given us an estimate of how many variations there are: "over 17,750,000."  YOU GUYS.  That's almost EIGHTEEN MILLION.  MIIIIILLION.  And that's only weapons!  You can pick up shields, artifacts, grenade modifications, even class mods, making your character just as unique as that weapon you find.
- The Siren.  The only female playable character, naturally that's who I opt for first, because I'm all about female characters kicking ass (with the exception of those over-sexualized stock "badass girl" characters like, oh, Lara Croft and that chick from Bayonetta.  Was her name Bayonetta?  Whatevs.)  Lilith had some T&A going on in that game, and she had sass, but her sass was a little sharper than most and I found her comments to be entertaining (albeit at times worthy of the facepalm and "Lilith why you gotta be such an asshole).  Not to mention the Phasewalk ability, which was brilliant.  Pair that with a shotgun and SWEET FLAWLESS VICTORYYYYY.  I had that shit on lock.
- The gameplay.  It was pretty open world, but we never found ourselves wondering where to go next.  There was always some main- or side-quest waiting to be taken care of, camps of bandits to disperse (or slaughter, really, if we're being honest), and loot to collect (and sell).  Never a dull moment.
- The world.  Pandora is a fucking shithole... but it's a fascinating fucking shithole.  From the barren wasteland of the Dahl Headlands to the clunky garbage junkyard town of New Haven, the scenery was always this level of awe-inflicting desolation and so incredibly absorbing in mood.  The color palate is drab greys and all shades of brown, making everything seem flat, dirty, and rough-and-tumble.  The first mission, when you step off the bus, you immediately know what kind of world this is -- so you equip your gun, and you get ready to roll.

Other enjoyable things:  CL4P-TP (a.k.a. Claptrap, pictured above as that "Interplanetary Ninja Assassin" // Roland's line "I'll TC the vehicle" causing "TC" - meaning 'take care of' - to land in my daily dialogue // the boss named "Skagzilla" which should become a commonly-used insult // The remorse I felt killing a Skag pup but what are you gonna do, it wants to eat you!  (but let me try to domesticate you, you little monster, so we can cuddles) // Never having to drive a vehicle (thank you, Jordan!) // The player-vs.-player duel system (if you melee a teammate and they hit you, you get to "duel," where you fight to the "death" but you don't die and no one gains anything other than the satisfaction of winning.  Jordan eventually had to turn this option off because I was way too amused by it.

So Kayla, why are you telling us about this?

Didn't this game come out like, 3 years ago?

Yeah, well, I'm using this post as an additional venue to

GET REALLY PUMPED FOR BORDERLANDS 2.

It comes out next month, and to answer your questions:
1) Yes, I have pre-ordered it.
2) Yes, I will be at the midnight release.
3) Yes, I took the next day off of work just to spend all day playing it (and mourning the need to pee and eat).

I saw this incredible trailer, which you all should watch if you haven't already seen it because it's hilarious, and because you know you want to watch an adorable little robot friend dance to wub-wub:

... and there has been this dull ache of longing and anticipation in my chest ever since.*  All of the stuff I love about the first one is bound to be in 2, with some major improvements and some new, incredible, drool-worthy stuff.

Also, this time around, I have a massive dilemma -- play the new Siren (Maya, who looks amazing) or the AWESOME LOOKING ROBOT NINJA ASSASSIN?!?!  OH THE DECISIONS, THE AGONY, THE AWESOME.

I can't wait.  This is going to be fun.


* I am not actually experiencing chest pains.

All photos are from Borderlands and Borderlands 2, a Gearbox game.