Greed: Black Border
- January 13, 2010
- Clockstone
Get on Steam"Greed: Black Border" is a Sci-Fi RPG with gorgeous visuals and immersive music. Play single-player or with a friend in co-op mode, battling through a war-torn universe for a powerful new energy source. Your actions will determine the fate of mankind in this hack 'n slash adventure. Grinding is to be expected.
Reviews
- The game features nice graphics and atmospheric effects, making it visually appealing.
- It offers a classic isometric RPG experience with a sci-fi twist, reminiscent of Diablo.
- Despite its flaws, it can be a fun, mindless action RPG to play with friends.
- The controls are clunky and often lead to frustrating gameplay, with characters moving when they should be shooting.
- The game suffers from a lack of variety in weapons, armor, and enemies, leading to repetitive gameplay.
- Technical issues, including crashes and poor optimization, significantly detract from the overall experience.
- gameplay30 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 80 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The gameplay has been criticized for its repetitive nature, with players often engaging in a monotonous cycle of basic attacks and dodging without significant variation throughout the game. While some appreciate the solid mechanics and sci-fi atmosphere, many find the controls frustrating and the difficulty inconsistently balanced, leading to moments of both tedium and unfair challenge. Overall, the gameplay lacks depth and variety, making it feel stretched and uninspired.
“The gameplay itself is actually pretty solid, like nothing completely glitching out on me, but then again there doesn't seem to be an excessive use of features to really screw it up.”
“It offers solid gameplay that rivals more expensive titles.”
“Graphics are decent, gameplay is simple yet fun, it's relatively hard, and the sci-fi atmosphere is well done.”
“Run through totally forgettable locations clearing room after room of all the same monsters. The gameplay doesn't change a bit from the first encounter with enemies in chapter 1 to the end boss of chapter 3.”
“Greed has no balance to its gameplay at all, veering constantly between laughably easy and nihilistically difficult with next to no warning. No amount of high performance or great music can save it from that one issue.”
“The controls are painful, the gameplay is boring, and the sound effects are too weak.”
- graphics24 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- 54 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's graphics, despite its 2009 release, are often praised for being ahead of their time, featuring realistic lighting effects and smooth visuals enhanced by clever use of 2D textures and antialiasing. While many players find the graphics visually appealing and well-executed, some note inconsistencies and occasional bugs that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the visuals are a highlight, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere, even if the gameplay itself may not be as engaging.
“The graphics are sharp and visually appealing, reminiscent of Alien Swarm, without major bugs during my 14-hour playthrough.”
“While the game is beautiful to look at, it runs at a great speed despite very intricate pre-rendered and live graphics, which often causes other ARPGs to get choppy.”
“If the game has one major upside, it's the visuals.”
“But the graphics just bug out like a wild squirrel on steroids.”
“The graphics are hazy and the text is difficult to read at best.”
“Uninteresting story, mediocre graphics, and repetitive enemies.”
- story23 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 65 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The game's story is widely criticized for being shallow, uninspired, and lacking depth, with many reviewers noting that it feels incomplete or nonsensical. While some find it mildly quirky, the overall narrative fails to engage players, leading to a perception of it as an afterthought rather than a compelling element of the game. Additionally, technical issues and poor voice acting further detract from the storytelling experience.
“It's competently put together, short and has a mildly interesting quirky story.”
“While the game is short and lacks depth in storytelling, it’s enjoyable and a great deal at $5.”
“The bottom line is, if you're a Diablo/Torchlight/Titan Quest fan and you find this game on sale, I recommend picking it up.”
“Almost no story other than some conversation and reading sheets.”
“The story overall is fairly uninspired though.”
“The story is slow and not very interesting, the ending is underwhelming as well.”
- music16 mentions
- 56 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some praising the fantastic soundtrack and its ability to enhance the atmosphere, particularly in the first act. However, others find it generic or repetitive, with some noting that the electronic and techno elements can become tiresome over time. Overall, while the music is appreciated by many, it does not fully compensate for other gameplay shortcomings.
“Fantastic soundtrack!”
“The sci-fi theme and techno music alone make this a worthwhile buy for us action RPGers.”
“Great music to blast enemies away to.”
“The music is generic to sub-par.”
“The soundtrack isn't interesting, and I got tired of hearing the same (or similar) electronic music by the middle of the game.”
“The music is alright, the voice acting at some points is too quiet, and the story doesn’t feel finished.”
- grinding8 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, leading to a lack of engagement and enjoyment. While some appreciate the grind in moderation, many describe it as dull and uninspired, contributing to a rushed and bland experience. The combat and gear progression fail to maintain interest, making the grinding feel more like a chore than a rewarding challenge.
“After this, it will not suddenly get interesting; it will only slowly become more and more boring, grindy, and repetitive.”
“The combat itself gets tedious very soon, and there's no real skill build that can actually keep you engaged for long.”
“What originally started as a sort of simple dungeon crawler with a little charm to it quickly became a nightmare with each moment grinding against what little patience I had left.”
- atmosphere6 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 33 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised for its strong visual and auditory elements, with many reviewers highlighting the impressive graphics, music, and voice acting. However, some criticism arises from technical issues like poor frame rates and sub-standard controls, which can detract from the overall experience. Overall, while the atmosphere is a standout feature, it is somewhat undermined by gameplay performance concerns.
“The atmosphere is great.”
“The sci-fi atmosphere is well done.”
“Nice atmosphere, nice voice acting.”
“Looks great and the music and atmosphere are great too, but the frame rate is poor and the controls are sub-standard.”
“Graphics are decent, gameplay is simple yet fun, it's relatively hard, and the sci-fi atmosphere is well done.”
- optimization4 mentions
- 75 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The game is criticized for poor optimization, particularly for AMD GPUs, requiring players to lower resolution to achieve near 60 fps. Additionally, the gameplay lacks balance, fluctuating between extremes of difficulty, which detracts from the overall experience despite its strong music and interesting concepts.
“The game lacks optimization for newer GPUs, which can hinder performance.”
“The balance in gameplay is severely affected by greed, swinging between laughably easy and frustratingly difficult without warning.”
“The graphics and performance aspects are noteworthy, but they could benefit from further optimization.”
“Finally, the game seems to be poorly optimized for AMD GPUs; I had to run it at a relatively low resolution in order to get close to 60 FPS.”
“No optimization for newer GPUs.”
“Greed has no balance to its gameplay at all, veering constantly between laughably easy and nihilistically, keyboard-punchingly difficult with next to no warning, and no amount of high performance, great music (sadly actually fantastic music) or interesting ideas can save it from that one issue.”
- replayability3 mentions
- 33 % positive mentions
- -33 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players note that the game offers some replayability through a new game+ mode, but feel that the overall experience is hindered by overly stretched gameplay, which diminishes the incentive to replay with different classes.
“There’s replayability with a new game+ mode.”
“The game would be more replayable with any of the other two classes if the gameplay wasn't so unnecessarily stretched out.”
“Not enough replayability.”
“There’s replayability with a New Game+ mode.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users report significant stability issues, particularly with buggy movement controls that can result in characters moving unexpectedly, even without input. Minor troubleshooting efforts have not resolved these problems, indicating a need for further improvements in the control scheme.
“Tried minor troubleshooting without success.”
“Buggy movement controls, sometimes moving the character even when not holding down the mouse button.”
“When the control scheme isn't bad, it's buggy.”
- humor1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in "Greed: Black Border" is highlighted as a key feature, providing a fun and relaxing experience amidst its hack-and-slash gameplay. Players find the game to be a worthwhile investment for its entertaining and lighthearted approach, especially in its chaotic bulletstorm setting.
“If you have been through the fabulous hack-and-slash games in your collection and are looking for a new one with a space machine gun setting, then Greed: Black Border is a good option, surely worth 4 or 5 euros for the hours of funny, relaxing bullet storm it can offer.”
