Borderlands Embraces Distinctive Art Style

We've recently heard from Gearbox that Borderlands, the bleak-looking shooter that had entered “stealth mode” a few months back, was indeed still set to arrive in 2009, with more details related to gameplay being unveiled at this year's E3 trade show.

Now, a preview seen in the PC Gamer magazine by Joystiq seemed to suggest that the videogame would be ditching its realism-based art style, that emphasized the complex nature of the world and the open world environment, in favor of a new one, based on the technique of cell shading, which can be seen in titles like the most recent Prince of Persia or in Street Fighter IV. Clearly, such a style would be less than suited to a videogame like Borderlands, which is focused on shooting monsters and aliens on a barren world using a variety of weapons.

Of course, gamers were up in arms and commenting on the decision but Randy Pitchford, the president of Gearbox, told Kotaku that “No, Borderlands is not cel-shaded — it's a gritty and serious world after all. But since the game was first unveiled we have made big advancements with the art direction and the technology to support the art and have produced some pretty impressive, even shocking results.”

A spokesperson from Gearbox said that the art style had been changed from the initial screenshots in order to better translate the concept art developed for Borderlands into 3D. The Gearbox spokesperson also stated that no changes had been made to the gameplay of Borderlands, “Whether or not you are excited about the art style, the core gameplay is still the same: gritty, fun co-op FPS action on an alien frontier world with RPG elements and a metric shitton of guns. And it is a hell of a lot of fun - I may be biased, but I'm also a gamer myself, and I have had a chance to play the game. I think it would be fun if it looked like a PS1 game.”

Borderlands does not have a clear release date, but we're excited to see at least some of the promised guns in action against some monsters. Let's hope that Gearbox delivers on both the art and the gameplay.