Battleborn, More Like BattleAWESOME

Through the years, gamers are exposed to a slew of game producers who release titles that just may tickle your fancy. Some of these titles infatuate us so much that we find ourselves absolutely obsessed with them. Once the producer of said awesome game follows up with an equally awesome sequel then we come across, what I like to call, the team bias. Team bias is when you will eat up just about everything a production team will spoon feed you because you're convinced that they're the best. Sometimes you're right, sometimes you're wrong; in the case of GearBox and Battleborn, you're absolutely right!

Just to get this out of the way, I am all kinds of crazy hyped for this game. Gearbox have left their mark on the world with their fantastic Borderlands series. I've played countless hours of those titles and considering that they're putting the same kind of personality into a MOBA game results in me being more than enthused. That being said, there isn't too much information released yet on Battleborn but, everything that is sounds incredibly promising. Like I expressed, it's a GearBox original, how can it possibly be bad?

Nevertheless, this week brought forth a couple of video previews allowing us to gaze at the intensity that is Battleborn. When I first heard that it was going to be a MOBA with a first-person perspective, I was really baffled. As a fairly new player to DOTA 2, I figured the whole genre was played the same way but watching it in action, whoa, excellent! It truly looks and feels like borderlands but in a more controlled environments framed by lanes and towers. There's a campaign mode that's available and allows you to play cooperatively, as well as the standard competitive multiplayer. The trailers also allowed us a peak into the narrative. So far, we know that all the stars in the universe have darkened except for one. The different races have retreated from their home worlds and find themselves together on this last planet struggling to survive. Nothing crazy, in fact it's a standard general storyline but considering their record, GearBox is sure to make it entertaining enough.

In contrast, the character information that has been revealed is pretty entertaining. We now know that there are a number of factions that your character originates from. The Peacekeepers are a law-bound people who enforce regulations in a strict manner. The Eldrid are lovers of nature and the natural order of things. The Jennerit Empire are your born-to-war conquerors. The Rogues are simply "factionless" characters and the Last Light Consortium are profiteers who sells arms to all factions. The characters revealed were some of the most unique designs I have seen in a long while. Montana is a giant soldier who wields a Gatling-gun but has an itty-bitty head. Miko is some fungi ninja, who turns out to be of the fairer sex. Marquis, my personal favorite, is quite a dapper android fellow, complete with rifle and monocle. There are tons of other characters to discover and many more that haven't even been revealed yet. Much like the Borderlands games, they present a lively, colorful and wild array of characters. The designs alone intrigued me enough to look into the game further.

Sadly, not much else has been revealed but the gameplay looks solid and with the standard M.O.B.A. setup of having to regain levels every time you play is an interesting mechanic for an fps. We know that there are two sets of trees that allow you to experiment with your characters. We also know that each character has a special move of sorts that is unlocked around level 6 or 7. There also seems to be some objective-based missions but nothing is too clear at the moment. Regardless, I, for one, am incredibly stoked for this game. In any case, what do you all think? Will this be as popular as Borderlands or DOTA? Looking forward to seeing any and all of you online upon launch. Toodles.