Borderlands Game of the Year

Lonely, tedious, not as funny or exciting as it thinks it is. Oh, but enough about [i]me[/i]. The story is paper-thin and the characters are amoral and unsympathetic for the most part, which makes the atmospheric qualities hard for me to jam with. TBF I tapped out somewhere during the Knoxx DLC thinking I'd get back to it soon, but instead realizing I was pretty bored and only managed to get as far as I did by being stubborn, overcoming a total lack of FPS aim skill and getting dusted by co-op teammates (not [i]bitter[/i] or anything :cgrazz:). The weapon variety isn’t as interesting as it may seem on paper, and the repetition and the lack of environmental variety and truly colorful characters makes many a reminiscence of this game a Rorschach-y blur filled in with later details. The half-hearted non-photorealistic rendering can enhance the experience when it’s really allowed to, but it more often doesn’t. A standout in its own day, it’s had its visual identity somewhat robbed by others whether consciously (in particular, MOBA-like hero shooters that have a pressing need for readable outlines); the actual technique isn’t difficult or unique, but does require a conscious decision about art direction to really look good, so I’ll give credit that they leaned into it for cutscenes and promotional images, but you can barely even tell it’s there in the screenshots. So, I did not move on to B2 and I have only reluctantly accepted B3 as part of my collection (in light of behind-the-scenes shenanigans). But in spite of it all, I did not resent CL4P-TP appearances outside the series such as Poker Night 2. He truly is the emblem of the series, the tragic class clown who perhaps deserves your pity but gets on your nerves anyway.