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<div style="page-break-before: always; page-break-after: always;">These days we&rsquo;re used to games looking like Pixar designed an advert for the NRA. The likes of&nbsp;Fortnite and Overwatch casually mix bouncy, cartoon visuals with lethal assault weapons and we struggle to raise an eyebrow. But when Borderlands was originally released, it stood out against a canvas of muddy shooters with box art full of bald men standing with their backs facing the camera.</div>
Visually,&nbsp;Borderlands still feels like rubbing popping candy in your eyes. The environments can sometimes feel brown and uninspiring, like finger food at a children&rsquo;s party, but the character design is always impeccable. Even when you accidentally end up hating a character, such as in the case of Claptrap, you can&rsquo;t help but admire the way they look. Throw in those splashy, explosive text intro screens and Borderlands becomes a game that already has to work hard if it&rsquo;s going to have enough substance to match the style.
Luckily, it just about manages it. Much like the game&rsquo;s design, the mix of stat-based gear grinding and first-person shooting has been borrowed and refined in the years after release. But it still slaps, even now. On a small level, there&rsquo;s a sense that neither shooting nor the procedural systems are as robust as they might be in a game that just did one thing well &ndash; the enemy AI, for instance, can be shockingly dull early one &ndash; but Borderlands&rsquo; self-assured swagger provides enough of a distraction.
LOOT BASKET 
The thing that people love most about Borderlands is perhaps the thing that stresses me out the most. As you play the game you&rsquo;re bombarded by a selection of randomly-generated weapons, scaled to the level of your character. And this is obviously wonderful. What kind of monster would want fewer guns? That would be me, apparently. There&rsquo;s something weirdly stressful about being assailed by a series of uninformed decisions. By the time I&rsquo;ve decided if I want the rifle with higher damage output or the one that sets enemies on fire, Borderlands has offered me two more alternatives. Sometimes, I&rsquo;ve picked up another new gun before I&rsquo;ve even had the chance to open my inventory. I realise that this is a very &lsquo;me&rsquo; problem &ndash; and it might be precisely the reason it&rsquo;s taken me so many years to play such a critically acclaimed game &ndash; but it&rsquo;s the sort of thing that gives me decision fatigue. That sense of discovery does bring a deeper level of enjoyment to missions that might seem grindy otherwise, but at times it feels like Borderlands is an inquisitive toddler. Instead of asking rude questions about strangers they&rsquo;re offering you a selection of sniper rifles. I don&rsquo;t know what I want, Borderlands. Let me sleep.
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PC GAMER VERDICT 81&nbsp;
Even in a market flooded with beige post-apocalypse, Borderlands stands out as stylish, sassy and unique.

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