A Genre Blend On the Rise

A comparative look at Fallout 3 and Borderlands
By: James Sanders






With the release of Borderlands this year and last year’s Fallout 3 the genre mix of FPS and RPG seems like it may become something more than a passing trend, that it may become a mainstay of games. Both of these games have an interesting mix of elements that set them apart not only from each other but any other FPS on the market. The storyline of these games, although not as prominent as most RPG’s, still paints a vivid picture of your adventure in a unique world. Both of these are wonderful games and belong in any true gamers collection, but have they defined this new genre blend or are they simply paving the way for the true greats to come?
Borderlands and Fallout 3 are arguably great in themselves, but has either truly captured what it is to be a first-person role-playing shooter? The history of video games shows us that the first, although ground breaking, is not always the best. There have been countless reviews of game genres that state something like: “Alone in the Dark may have begun the survival horror style of gaming, but Resident Evil perfected it.” Taking a hard look at Fallout 3 and Borderlands it’s not too difficult to see the area’s that can be improved upon. They both have a pretty good grasp on the FPS aspect of the game; it’s the RPG side that seems to be somewhat lacking.
Gamers who buy an RPG are looking for two things: a fun battle system and a good story. Any RPG worth it’s merit is going to have an intriguing, well laid out story that pulls you in and keeps you hooked until the, hopefully satisfying ending. A role-player with a bad story is like a five-star hotel without beds, it’s going to fail. This is the area where the two aforementioned FPS/RPG’s are lacking the most. They both have an interesting premise for their respective stories but fail to keep any kind of focus on it. Having a good idea for a story is not the same as having a good story. After all, Communism was a good idea but we all see how that worked out.
An interesting note about the lack of focus with the storylines in Borderlands and Fallout3 is that within the games are actual reasons why greater emphasis is not put on the main stories. Both games are full of side quests that individually have nothing to do with the storyline of the game, but the side quests as a whole offer a reason why they are important to the game. So even though the story line is still lacking it doesn’t actually ruin the whole game as it would if these games were solely RPG’s
In Borderlands you are a Vault-Hunter on the planet Pandora looking for, well, the Vault. The game is set up with “mission style” game play, meaning you are given missions by non-playable characters (NPC’s) that you carry out for the reward of money and experience. Most of these missions have little or nothing to do with your quest for the Vault. You take a job, go to a certain location, complete a small checklist of objectives, and turn the mission in for your reward. Unless you stop and take the time to read the text associated with these missions you have no idea why you are doing whatever it is you are doing, and that fits with the game. You take on the role of a mercenary doing jobs for people around the towns hoping to come across some information on the Vault; other than that you aren’t suppose to care about the missions.
Fallout 3 is different and yet still the same. You are a Vault Dweller (no connection with the Vault from Borderlands), and have literally been living underground your entire life. When you come to the surface in search for your father you discover a nuclear ravaged wasteland waiting to be explored. If you only do the story line quest you miss out on about 80% of the game. The world of Fallout is a world full of NPC’s with their own problems and issues and if you come across them you have the choice whether or not to involve yourself in them. And I say “if you come across them” because unless you make a point to go out and explore you will not come across these people by simply following the storyline. Your character is just as ignorant of the world as we are as the player. Therefore your natural curiosity of your surroundings is reflected in your character and vice versa. You do not have to complete a single side quest in the game in order to reach the end; they are not important to the storyline. But they are fun, offer great rewards, and help to immerse you into the game.
Both of these games are mostly made up of side quests that are completely separate from the main story. With both of them if you only did the main story line quest you could beat the game in less than 6 hours. If, however, you do decide to branch off the main path you can end up spending dozens of extra hours in the game. As mentioned before, the fact that these two game are largely made up of side quests does not make the game bad; in fact it does just the opposite. With the way these games are structured it makes sense that there are other things to do in the world besides the reason you are there. But the fact remains that the story of these games takes back seat to the side missions. In other words there is more focus on just playing the game than there is on what is actually happening in the game. And this isn’t necessarily a negative aspect to a video game; most FPS games are like this, that’s why people play the multiplayer more than they do the single player. But when it comes to an RPG the story line is something that cannot be overlooked.
Both of these games do, however, hit the nail on the head with RPG style character building. In fact there are many more ways to customize your character in these two crossover games than there are in many pure RPG’s. With the Perk system in Fallout and the Skill trees in Borderlands you are free to choose a playing style and build your character accordingly. This lets you tailor you character to whatever direction you want to steer them in. Want to build an evil character in Fallout? Why not focus your Perks on melee damage and give your guy an axe and a hockey mask (seriously, those are both in the game). Or in Borderlands if you like the Hunter’s Bloodwing special ability but hate using sniper rifles, no problem. Just invest your skill points in the Gunslinger tree and carry around a high-powered six-shooter Dirty Harry style. There are so many ways to build a character in these games that the replay value is off the chart.
Borderlands was developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. 2K is also responsible for Bioshock, another game that could possibly fall into the FPS/RPG category, and are co-developer for The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion along with Bethesda Softworks. Bethesda is the developer and, along with ZeniMax Media, publisher of Fallout 3. It’s interesting to see that both 2K Games and Bethesda Softworks are focusing on this new genre mix. Already they have proven themselves capable of creating a great game that can be called a FPS/RPG, even if it is not yet perfect. So if the day comes that we can say: “Borderlands/Fallout 3 may have begun the FPS/RPG style of gaming, but “blank” perfected it,” we can only imagine how great of a game “blank” is going to be.