I’m trying out this new game from Gearbox and I have to say I’m pretty impressed at how well it manages to merge the leveling system proper to RPGs and a traditional FPS gameplay. The blend works amazingly well and in a way, it answers some of my quarrels with the RPG love for repetitive gameplay. See, being an open world FPS (sort of), Borderlands allows for much more varied and direct tactics to be used. Angle of approach and cover bear heavy consequences for example. This might seem basic, but can you think of many RPGs that do this?

Granted, you’ll do tons of shooting and bombing, but there is a real strategy to set up when tackling an enemy encounter.

Grind-based RPGs almost never allow for this sort of freedom, making me think that maybe, cross-genre experiments as this one are the way to go to find new ways of bashing mobs…