Gameplay: 4
Art Style: 4.5
Story/Lore: 3.5
System: 4
Chracter: 4
Total: 4

(did a playthrough with Roland)
Hmmm
Well, he artstyle is amazing, and damn different compared to other FPSs I've touched. The characters and plot are quirky and amusing but not much else. But they still compliment the game just fine.
The gameplay, like the artstyle, is pretty unique. Getting further in and more used to it, the weapon proficiency system is actually pretty satisfying. Coupled with the RPG leveling up thing, it just gets me to experiment with different weapons and elements in general. Getting more powerful and being able to blaze through previous areas and enemies that gave me shit, feels awesome.
....THAT SAID, the difficulty can feel goddamn annoying at points. Enemies, depending on the area at least, can easily swarm and overwhelm you. That coupled with the fact the enemies, regardless if you're one or two levels below or above them, can hit you hard, well it can be an enormous pain in the ass.
TLDR: it can be fun, and it's definitely not like other shooters I've played, but it definitely ain't a cakewalk (at least on the Normal setting).

I'm super close to giving this only 3 stars, but it's still worth your time if you like the second game. The "Fight for your life"-mode absolutely sucks in this entry and the accuracy of every single weapon (yes, even the sniper rifles with <95% accuracy) is laughably bad unless you stand still for like 5 seconds before you start shooting. But this game has a far more mellow tone than the second entry. There's far less dialogue and most of the enemies are bandits so the gameplay is far more simple which I actually liked. Overall a decent game but it doesn't hold a candle to the other entries.

It's wild how big this game was and yet how little cultural impact it made. As an experience designed to suck you into its mindless gameplay loop for 50+ hours it succeeds well enough to warrant a higher score in a way. From another point of view though I find it to be purely junk food that I have no interest in ever revisiting.

During the creatively bankrupt era it came from, it does stand out as unique. From its art style, quirky humor (That does NOT hold up well to say the least), bombastic "anything goes" action. I remember a few boss fights especially being relatively cool. But none of it left any impression on me whatsoever. Nothing characters, nothing story, visionless and almost manipulative gameplay designed to waste your time.

I played it for 60 hours and recall next to nothing of note about it. Completely meaningless void of a game that I wouldn't be surprised to find I actively hate if I were to revisit it properly.

Maybe I've got a bit of bias, since I grew up playing this game, but it's so distinct from anything else in the series—that makes it special to me.

There's this serenity to it. The NPCs you meet can only be interacted with so much before you have to leave them behind and move on with the game, and for that reason it's an isolating experience. But that isolation isn't lonely or painful. You're a vault hunter, little more than a mercenary, and the planet you live on simply isn't the place for a social simulator. Really, you spend most of your time doing quests, traveling the vast borderlands, collecting loot, and shooting baddies. Alongside an awesome, ambient soundtrack in the background, this game establishes a strong atmosphere for Pandora and sets a tone for the rest of the games. While, technically, it's far from the highest quality game in its series, I think it's essential to understand just what Borderlands is. For that reason, it's special!