Set in a Madmax-like, furturistic world, Borderlands is attempting to merge the line between first person shooter and RPG (and actually does it quite successfully). Borderlands has taken standard features from RPG games (think Fallout 3), like leveling up, collecting items, and completing quests - and mixed it with a fast paced first-person shooter experience. There are 160+ quests, with around 30 of them essential to the story; and the game has been designed to make you want to complete them all. You will also be able to repeat side quests to gain more valuable skill points if leveling-up (grinding) is needed. The action takes place on Pandora, a planet on the edge of the galaxy said to hold massive quantities of mineral resources; but as the colonists find out, there is little of anything to go around. Anyone with money leaves the planet, but those who are left, struggle to survive in a world that has devolved into anarchy. Several years into colonization, a change in season occurs, bringing with it, the awakening of all manner of horrific creatures.
The story revolves around rumors of a mysterious vault, containing a wealth of alien technology; one company, The Atlas Corporation, plans to take it all inside for themselves and use it for "evil". You play as a vault Hunter, hired by the Atlas Corporation to find the mysterious vault. There are four main character types - Soldier, Hunter, Siren and Tank. As usual, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. The Siren's strength lies in magic, the Tank is built for taking and giving a lot of damage, the Hunter has an animal companion to help with attacks, and the soldier will have a shield turret for defense as well as lots of guns. In addition to the default skills of your character, you will be able to expand your areas of expertise via a skill tree, which will be modified with skills points gained during quests and battles (leveling up). When your character takes too much damage (shield and health depleted), they will enter a Gears of War like - bleed out state, in which you can be healed by a teammate during CO-OP mode. Unlike Gears, you can still attack enemies in this weakened state, with the possibility or reviving/saving yourself, if you kill one.
Fail to successfully be revived and you'll be transported to the nearest spawn point, costing you a small chunk of your bank account (around 10%). As with most FPS games you'll need a lot of weapons, and you should have no problems in that department; as the game boasts a seemingly un-endless combination of gunnery and ammunition. Each weapon will have its own advantages and disadvantages, they can be found in dumpsters, piles of skag feces, and random containers all over the world. You will also be able to lift them from the dead hands of your enemies (both small and game-changing) after a long shootout. Dumpsters and other items will be easily spotted from a distance as they will be highlighted with green and red lights for 'not checked' and 'checked already' (think airplane bathroom sign). There are also various vending machines around the massive world that can be used for buying and selling weapons, ammo and other items; with so many weapons scattered throughout the world we really only used the vending machines for health and ammunition. Finding or collecting loot is half of the game and developer Gearbox did everything in their power to make its as fun as possible.
