I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a series that 'plays it safe' more than Borderlands—and this isn't an insult. Every game I've played in the series has taken the same formula and added another nice crunchy little layer on top of it, and as a result, I've enjoyed basically every one I've touched. It's my ol' faithful, my pal, my homeboy, my rotten soldier, my sweet cheese, my good-time boy. What I'm saying is I like them a lot.
But there was a time when looter-shooters weren't ubiquitous. Not only was Borderlands doing something new back in (oh man) 2009, it also pulled off one hell of a Hail Mary—a complete top-to-bottom revamp of its artstyle that saw most of the game remade.
