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About
Name: Shawn
Age: 33
Location: Raleigh, NC


*Senior Writer at GamerLimit.com.

*Follow me on Twitter: Shawne1979

*Official member of the Cblogs Recap team.



Systems Currently Owned:
- XBOX360, PS3, PSPgo, PS2, Wii, GameCube, DS, SNES, NES

Games I'm Currently Playing:
- World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- Halo 4

Game Reviews:
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
- Metroid: Other M
- Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty
- Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
- God of War 3
- Blaster Master Overdrive
- Dark Void
- Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
- LEGO Rock Band
- Borderlands (PC)
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- Dead Space: Extraction
- Darkest of Days
- The Beatles: Rock Band
- Shadow Complex
- Shatter

Front Paged
1) The Start of the Affair: Civilization
2) Feel the Hatred: The onslaught of Fall/Winter game releases
3) Halo-Life: Call of TurokShock - The Best FPS you Never Played

My Favorite Entries
1) My introduction post. Get to know me if you dare!
2) The Dragon's Den - My Gaming Setup
3) The Dragon's Lair - My New Office
4) The 12 Days of Destructoid Christmas

When it comes to video games I am obsessive-compulsive about beating them. If I start a game I must finish it. No matter how bad, or how hard it is I will not rest until the ending credits have rolled across the screen. Like Bruce Hornsby says ... that's just the way it is!

Games Beaten Recently (in chronological order):
- AntiChamber
- Tomb Raider
- The Room
- Bioshock Infinite
- Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm
- Bastion
- Far Cry 3
- XCOM: Enemy Unknown
- Assassin's Creed 3
- Mark of the Ninja
- The Walking Dead: Episode 5
- Spec Ops: The Line
- Halo 4
- The Walking Dead: Episode 4
- Need for Speed: Most Wanted
- The Walking Dead: Episode 3
- Borderlands 2
- The Walking Dead: Episode 2
- Darksiders 2
- Dust: An Elysian Tale
- Resistance 3
- Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
- The Walking Dead: Episode 1
- SSX
- From Dust
- Assassin's Creed: Revelations
- Diablo 3
- Fez
- Journey
- Mass Effect 3
- Batman: Arkham City
- Gears of War 3
- Rayman Origins
- Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
- Bulletstorm
- Dead Space 2
- Portal 2
- Uncharted 3: Drake's Deception
- Donkey Kong Country Returns
- Back to the Future: Episode 1
- Ghostbusters: The Video Game
- Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit
- Enslaved: Pigsy's Perfect 10
- Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
- Call of Duty: Black Ops
- Dragon Age: Origins
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
- Halo: Reach
- Metroid: Other M
- Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty
- Super Mario Galaxy 2
- Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
- Final Fantasy 13
- God of War 3
- Battlefield: Bad Company 2
- Bioshock 2
- Blaster Master Overdrive
- Mass Effect 2
- Dark Void
- Darksiders
- Assassin's Creed II
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Ratchet and Clank Future: A Crack in Time
- Modern Warfare 2
- LEGO Rock Band
- God of War: Chains of Olympus
- Borderlands
- Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
- Dead Space: Extraction
- Halo 3: ODST
- Darkest of Days
- The Beatles: Rock Band
- Uncharted: Drake's Fortune
- Shadow Complex
- Resistance 2
- MadWorld
- Shatter
- Bionic Commando
- X-Men Origins: Wolverine
- Gears of War 2
- Beyond Good and Evil
- Dead Space
- Prince of Persia & Epilogue DLC
- Ratchet and Clank Future: Search for Booty
- Killzone 2
- Shadow of the Colossus
- Flower
- Fallout 3
- LEGO Star Wars: TCS
- Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
- Mirror's Edge
- Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
- Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
- Mega Man 9
- Mario Galaxy
- God of War 2
- Gears of War
- Metal Gear Solid 4
- Grand Theft Auto 4
- Bioshock
- Assassin's Creed
- Halo 3
- Forza Motorsport 2
- Mass Effect
- Heavenly Sword
- Ratchet and Clank Future: TOD
- Portal
- Resistance: FOM
- Metal Gear Solid 3
- God of War
- Metroid Prime 2

Backlog (Games I own but haven't played):
- Skyrim
- Forza 4
- Supreme Commander 2
- The Last Remnant
- Quantum Conundrum
- Hitman: Blood Money
- Rage
- Sleeping Dogs
- Civilization V
- The Binding of Isaac
- Far Cry 2
- Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
- Brutal Legend
- Infamous
- Deus Ex: Human Revolution
- Resident Evil 5
- The Longest Journey
- Just Cause
- Just Cause 2
- Half Life 2
- The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher's Bay
- The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena
- Red Faction Guerilla
- Metroid Prime 3
- Dragon Age 2

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When it was decided that I would be the writer at Gamer Limit.com who was reviewing Borderlands, I immediately opted for the PC version. While I typically play most FPSs on consoles, this was a game I really wanted to experience on the PC, especially since the developer stated this version would be the best one. Unfortunately it got pushed back a week from the console version, so all I could do was bide my time and wait.

While I waited, I got to see all these great reviews pour in for the Xbox 360 and PS3, so it got me even more excited. The game finally arrived, and that very first night I didn’t play a single second of it. It’s not because I didn’t have time, or because my PC wasn’t good enough to run it. I couldn’t play the game the first night it came out because a couple of my buddies and myself couldn’t figure out how to get the damn game to connect online to play co-op.

We spent two hours trying to get Borderlands to work online before we finally gave up and called it quits. I was so angry by that point that I didn’t even want to try single player. I just said screw it and went to bed. The next day we figured out that to host a game online we had to go into our router and forward a bunch of specific ports. Are you fucking kidding me? This is 2009. Why do I have to do something as archaic as forwarding ports at this point in the life of the PC. It’s fucking pathetic.

So this brings me to the whole point of this blog, which is that I have discovered my review score for the PC version of Borderlands is the lowest on Metacritic. It’s the lowest because I found lots of problems associated specifically with the PC version which really brought the score down for me. I’m not sure why these don’t bother any other reviewers, because some of them are pretty serious. Now if you want to read my full impressions of the game, I recommend you go check out my actual review over at Gamer Limit. I’m only here to talk about the negative things that really bugged me about the PC version.

I’ve already mentioned that to host an online game you need to forward ports, but that’s not the only problem with this game. A major issue that exists is that the game is obviously a poorly done direct port of the console version. I mean Gearbox said that they needed the extra week to get the PC version ready, but I’m not sure what they were doing during that week. It feels like they got some intern to simply port the code from the console version over and call it ready to ship. I'm sure this is not the case, but it's obvious that the developers put no extra time into making the PC differentiate itself from the console version in any way.



The first sign that this is a poor console port is that the menu screen is freaking huge, with large fonts that make reading very painful to the eyes. Now I understand that when you play consoles you sit 15 feet from your TV, so you need large font. You only sit about 2 feet from your computer monitor, so you don’t need the excessively large font.

You also don’t need the menus to be the size of the entire screen. Have those guys over at Gearbox even played other RPGs on the PC? If they had they would know that plenty of other games use small menu screens that allow you to play and look at the menu at the same time. This would really come in handy when you are trying to decide if you want to pick up a gun that just dropped and you want to compare it to other weapons in your inventory.

The menu screens are also pretty difficult to navigate on the PC. I mean it isn’t that hard, but you can tell the menu navigation was optimized for the console and not the PC. How hard would it have been to modify them just a little so that it’s easier to navigate using just a mouse. I can’t tell you how many times I tried to click on something on the menu with my mouse and discovered I needed to use my keyboard instead. I should never have to use a damn keyboard to navigate a menu screen.

Another huge problem with the PC version is that the in-game voice chat is horrendous. Not only is the volume to low, but there is no menu option to adjust the volume and there is no option to turn it off. It’s just on all the damn time. In order to turn it off you have to actually go into the code and switch a variable. In order to chat with friends I’ve had to jump on a Ventrillo server or use Skype. How do you launch an online cooperative game in 2009 without a working voice chat feature? How? Someone tell me how! Please!

There are other little nagging problems, such as the large amount of lag that can appear from time to time. There are also a bunch of typical menu options missing, which you would normally find in other FPSs, such as disabling mouse sync. You can modify a ton of options if you are willing to look up how to modify the code, but I’m not a damn programmer. I don’t want to do that. I simply want to click on the options menu and change things the easy way. The way every other FPS lets me change things.

So I gave the PC version of Borderlands the lowest score on Metacritic. Do I care? Not really. It’s not like I set out to do that. I didn’t even realize it until after my review was posted on the site. What shocks me is why none of these horrible problems bothered anyone else. Did these people not play the PC version, and just use their console version score as the PC review score, or were they just able to look past the problems because the game is so kick-ass? Maybe they were, but I wasn’t going to be so nice. Gearbox needs to learn how to properly port a game over from the console. Maybe they’ll read my review and it will have an impact. I can only hope.
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Shameless plug.
@Char Aznable:
How is this a "shameless plug?" I don't force you to go and read my review. I only link to it once during the entire blog. Everything I have written here is completely original, and expands on the thoughts on begin in the review. I didn't simply make some short-blog that links you to my article like other writers are known to do.
Yeah! Consoles RULEZ!!
I'm probably going to pick this up for the 360, and how much better is it on the consoles?
Calm down, buddy. It was a joke.

Also, IRONYYYY! with the AVGN picture.
Heh, why is everyone forgetting that Destructoid is full of a bunch of sarcastic assholes lately?
@CHar:
Sorry the sarcasm went right over my head dude. It's been a bad day. First I got a ticket for making an illegal U-turn on my way to get a chicken biscuit for breakfast. Then I got to work and discovered Chick-filet screwed up the order and gave me a Bacon biscuit, made with disgusting tasting bacon. Today sucks!
I like that you are very concerned about the score that you gave the game.
wow... I would have been VERY disappointed with the PC version because ease of install and voice chat are way up there on my list.

To be honest, it seems that even on the console version, the splitscreen was an "afterthought". Both characters use the same PSN name (even if you rename them) which is simply an annoyance, and then additionally the menus are too large for the splitscreen and you have to move them around using the right stick so you can read most of it... it just seems very "unfinished".

I played a bit of the solo play and it was fine... but will end up mostly playing splitscreen and it's a bit of a disappointment.
Glad I didn't get the PC version then. I agree that you should never have to use a keyboard to navigate a menu on a PC game though it should be optional. I can somewhat forgive the port forwarding and such because other games do the same thing (CoD4, Killing Floor server) but that doesn't mean it's OK to do so. Having to edit a config file or other coding for the game is something that I've learned to expect in order to finely tweak settings, but something as easy as volume control should have been done in game.
@Krow

That rhetorical question is the Citizen Kane of rhetorical questions.
I'm kind of torn on whether or not to blame Borderlands for it's launch online issues. I also had to open ports to play with my friends(which I've actually had to do a lot for online games, so I thought nothing of it), but isn't that more of a Gamespy issue than a Borderlands issue?

I do agree on the menu nonsense. One example I'd like to add is scrolling. The mousewheel scrolls not the entire menu, but it just moves the highlighted option down. So unless you have the last item selected, the menu won't move on a mousewheel spin. Pisses me off entirely. There's also (seemingly) no "trade" option....WTF?!

Still, I find these faults pointless when the core game is fantastic.
I've been able to successfully connect with friends once. Once over the course of about fifty hours of play according to my Steam stats. Once over the course of more than a week of attempting.

I played all the way through just because I had nothing better to do. It's so much fun with friends too, it's been driving me crazy.
@CWal37: If you ever want to play let me know man. I would be happy to kill some skags with ya. :-P
Yeah, the PC version bugged me a lot too. Here were a few of my issues:

-To scroll through the text in quests, you need to use the Page Up and Page Down keys!!! I can't even remember the last time I used them before playing Borderlands. Because of this hassle, I skipped reading a lot of the quest information (not that you need it very much, most of the tasks are kill this guy/find this object.
-Going into some menus pauses the game, while others DON'T. A few times I received a game invite popup during the middle of a boss battle, leading to my character dying.
-I was able to go into the code and modify some things (like removing the considerably long company logo screens), but a few days later they had all been reset.
-Miscellaneous bugs, like getting stuck on environmental objects, stuck in an arena even after killing all the enemies, etc.
-(Not just a PC thing) Enemies tend to run away and hide when you're put into Last Stand, preventing you a chance to finish one off for a Second Wind. This might have been a deliberate choice by the developers to make the situation more challenging, but for me it just caused frustrated rage quitting (especially when one of the enemies had very little health left).
I don't know 7.5 is still a pretty okay score for that game. Adding all the PC problems to the already plenty problems the game has, I might end up with an even lower score.

What is a bit depressing, that you even think about your score compared to the metacritic score. If you write a review it should be your subjective opinion.
What i want to know, is why the fuck do i need gamespy, when i bought the game on STEAM?!?!

Also, I didn't have to fuck with port forwarding at all and had a good time online with a buddy of mine, voice chat problems aside. I'm starting to think Pachter was somewhat right though, as Borderlands is a worse shooter than COD,and a worse RPG than Dragon Age. Borderlands scratches a certain itch for me, yet i never feel like playing it...it just feels...unfinished.
Heh, you take that game down to size Silver! Though I do want to play the console versions...

That said, have you been trolled for it?
It was disappointing anyway.
Yeah, agreed. The amazingness of the game is there, but it has this terrible porting job bringing it down. Which really annoys me because they straightforward lied.
I agree, the PC version has a ton of little issues. I don't know what gearbox was doing, but Borderlands IS a console game just on a PC. But at least the annoyances are fixable; going into the .ini files and fiddling around wasn't too bad. I easily disabled the intro company logo movies, tweaked the gravity of the jump to make it less floaty, slightly changed the fov, turned on vsync, enabled mouse-smoothing, and make the mouse scroll wheel able to scroll through most text (although I still have to use the page up and down buttons for some stuff, what the hell is up with that?). I hope Gearbox just sends out a patch that enables all this to be tweaked in game. Since the steam version, which I have, over-writes the .ini files to the default settings if steam is closed and reopened for some reason. Although it's quite bollucks, the game is still really fun. Also, I never had to port-forward for Borderlands and online has been lag free... but I agree with the voice chat, what were they thinking?
Im done with it, I think. I'm halfway through my second playthrough, and I just have absolutely no motivation to play it anymore. Which sucks, cos' I only made it to level 42.
@ArcticFox: I had one guy tell me he thought I was too young to be reviewing PC games and that I wasn't a "true PC Gamer". I found this extrmeely hilarious considering I'm about to turn 30 and I've been playing PC games for 20 years.
It's like Modern Warfare 2 not willing to go for dedicated servers. Multiplayer systems on the PC take a lot more work (and money) to design and code. Still, when they put money into XBox Live development, then PS3 Network development, you'd hope they'd put that same dedication into the PC. GameSpy is past it's prime, that's for sure.

I'm so used to unplugging my router for a new PC game (ports are always the problem), that I forget a lot of people aren't as adjusted to it as I am. Thanks for the perspective. :)
7.5 is a good score Silver Dragon. I mean, its not like you gave Dragon Age a 7.5....HA HA HA!
This game is more busted up than my mums girl parts. I hope they poke around at it. The game I mean... Not my mums girl parts.
@takeshi Fuckin' most hilarious quote from B-lands
Get a PS# version Shawn and I'll roll with you, bub. :)
PC gamers need to realize that they are no longer the focal point of game design, they're not even a priority, the big bucks are on consoles.

Honestly it makes me so happy to PC gaming dying, its about time.
Nanbu is trolling again? NO WAI.

But I'm glad I picked it up for the 360.
@Kyousuke Nanbu: so little kid, back into trolling mode again? Why dont you go back into wathever it is you do when you are not trolling?

Ok, this is the deal for me, Gamespy for multiplayer when you are releasing over STEAM? What is this? 1999? Gearbox made a huge mistake, taking advantage of STEAM would have been nice, making it more MP friendly and taking some aditional time to tune the controls better for the PC would make, I dont know if better, but at least a good choice for anyone looking for what the game says it does.

Is s shame, because from the fun you get on single player you can understand that they wanted a good experience, they just didnt try hard enough on the mp side.
7.5 seems fair. It's an incredibly fun game, and I'm really, really enjoying it, but there are enough problems to take it down to a 7.5 easily. I mean, it's 2009, and I have to use an external application (GameRanger) to get a co-op game going with my friends? Madness!

I am really enjoying the gunplay, though it took an ini change (Mouse smoothing off) to get it usable, and the diologue controls are awful, but the core game is still really fun. Yes, it's a 7.5 game, but it's damn fun.
IN BEFORE NANBU TROLLING OH WAIT.

You do realize that most console games are PC ports eh? 1 for 1000 is a pretty decent number when it comes to actual bad console to PC ports; it's a rarity. Enjoy the shitty version of Dragon Age!

@Shawn
I feel you man. It's a shame Gearbox really dropped the ball on this version, and included so many problems. Most people don't realize that we aren't reviewing games for hardcore PC owners: we're reviewing them for the public at large, who doesn't want to go through port forwarding to play their game.
I agree with most, if not all of what you had to say about the problems with this game. But even still I have never had a problem going online with my friends....Although we did get the 4-pack bundle of this game on steam when it came out and I haven't tried playing with anyone else so....maybe that's why I'm not having these problems...

But the lag!! augh....I likes me my sniper rifle, and having it going all jerky on me when all I do is aim for heads kind of annoys me. Another thing that annoys me about the sniper class is that if your playing with a berserker you will NEVER kill anything because he will be standing between you and your intended target EVERY time.
Jesus, Nanbu never ceases to be a fucking idiot eh?

Also Silver, I'd take you up on your offer of play sometime, but I'm lvl 46 on one character nearing the ending-ish of a second playthrough and have a lvl 11 alt that already got boring. In addition, I'm messing around in Dragon Age and I just got Mass Effect to tide me over until L4D2 comes out. Not that it really matters, because I'll probably just play TF2 anyways.

I really wish Borderlands had a more developed arena system.
I just played this for the first time last night (Dec 7th) put about 5 offline hours in to the PC version and already noticed A LOT of issues, most of which you mention but I did run in to one bug that forced me to reload and go through the little robot intro again. Very frustrating.

Fun game, but riddled with minor issues that really start to add up over time. They shouldn't be ignored, because some of them are downright glaring, like having no option to turn off the auto equipping weapons that you pick up. I was stunned. You mean to tell me that I have to go in to the inventory screen in order to switch back to the gun I was using every time I pick up a gun this game deems better than the one I am currently melting faces with? Fuck off!

From what I can tell after making it out of the first town and running out and about a bit I think a 7, hell maybe even a 6 is a very appropriate score. Good job Silver.

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