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Borderlanders Ahoy!

Martyn Zachary Leave a comment

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Borderlands 20With a potent New Game+ and the recent releases of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, Borderlands has stayed relevant despite its curiously constructed, abrupt plot arc. Andrew Vanden Bossche’s GameSetWatch column, “Design Diversions: Anatomy of a Gun,” for instance, points our attention solely to the guns:

“Borderlands exudes style, character, and charm for a good half hour before dropping it. It’s regrettable since the game has so much going for it in this department: colorful characters, a vibrant but derelict landscape, and an alien society of corporations and vagrants. … After all, the most important characters in Borderlands are the ones players can never look away from: the guns. 1)http://www.gamesetwatch.com/2009/11/column_design_diversions_anato.php

Having beaten the game with people I’m great friends with, Borderlands became a frictionless experience as we decided to split up weapons and classes evenly from the get-go. My question to you is, then, how do you solve the sharing issues that the game, at its worst, can present? Let’s assume the worst-case scenario: Four players enter the game with the same class and weapon proficiencies.

Hopefully we can get a good enough tally of votes to draw some conclusions – please vote accordingly, and if you have any tasty stories, good ideas or general tips relating to the poll, do post those in the comments section! Finally, if you have any friends who you played with, please do forward the poll over to them as well. Thanks again, everybody!

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Dissecting the Casts of Valve’s Left 4 Dead Series

Martyn Zachary 2 Comments

The last-minute visual overhaul of the original Left 4 Dead cast, revealed during EA’s 2008 E3 conference 1)http://www.destructoid.com/e3-08-left-4-dead-main-characters-get-redesigned-95661.phtml, came mere months before the November 18 launch date for the game. The changes, though minuscule as well as practically-minded, felt like a crushing blow to some, yet wholly inconsequential to others.

Revision Comparison
Revision Comparison

Some players might have missed the debacle altogether. Me? In response to the news, I envisioned a future scenario wherein Beyoncé models for a revised Alyx in Half-Life 2 EP3. I was desperate to commentate on the topic right there and then, but ultimately decided against it. Phew. Now, despite the fact that Left 4 Dead 2’s characters have barely been cast out to light, however, I am bold enough to suggest that an intriguing pattern has emerged, that a trajectory of design can be seen in the way Valve and Turtle Rock Studios have designed the various characters of the Left 4 Dead series.

In this text – which is just as much a history of the games’ development cycle as it is an analysis of the concept of “character” in the gaming medium – I will first navigate us through a series of dates, occurrences and currents that ultimately affected the make-up of the casts of both games. I will also attempt to explain and pinpoint decisions related to the series’ art direction. Since we’re broadly three months removed from Left 4 Dead 2 release date of November 17th, you’ll have just about enough time to read through my admittedly thorough assessment. Thanks for reading!

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