…then this would be said baby. I’m sure you have heard at least someone talk about Borderlands at some point by now, and chances are that person was praising it. Originally mentioned in the August 2007 Game Informer magazine, this RPS (role-playing shooter) debuted last Tuesday across North America. The description on the cover was “Diablo meets Mad Max in this groundbreaking four player co-operative first person shooter.” It has since changed quite a bit, like the fact that it is also deemed a RPG. Here I list five of my observations/likes/dislikes about 2K Game’s newest superstar game.

1.) It’s all of my favorite games wrapped up into one.

Set the tone with a Fallout 3 atmosphere, add some World of Warcraft-like talent builds/skillpoint distributions, throw in a dash of Bioshock (it is 2K Games, after all) and color it with dazzling cell-shading graphics and you have Borderlands. Yet even with all of these hints of other A-list titles, Borderlands manages to stay incredibly original. The world is Pandora, a forgotten, dry planet with an interesting potpourri of characters all with their own personal reasons for visiting. Wikipedia it to read up on their stories.

2.) You can’t deny the staying power of 17 million guns.

No, that’s not a typo – there are seriously 17,000,000 of them. You’ve got snipers, SMG’s, not-so-standard pistols, shotguns, launchers… you name it, Borderlands has it. Most of them have special characteristics too, like incendiary, shock or corrosive power. Also, the names are fairly unique and the effect(s) they make are pretty; not only is my current sniper rifle powerful, but it has a chance of shocking the enemy when the bullet makes contact.

3.) The RPG elements are stellar.

Today I had a quest to kill a boss/grab his artifact once dead, one to collect journal entries and one to repair a Claptrap (robot character within the game). Like World of Warcraft, especially in Wrath of the Lich King, Borderlands keeps the quests fresh and fun to chase after. Also similar to WoW is the talent tree idea. You can choose one of four characters when starting the game: a hunter, a soldier, a siren or a berserker. For example, I am a hunter, and I could specialize in one of three trees: sniper, rogue or gunslinger. The sniper tree focuses on long range fighting, the gunslinger’s focus is melee/short-to-medium range weaponry and the rogue tree’s aim is to make Bloodwing your personal annihilator. Of course I went the sniper route.

4.) The FPS elements are stellar.

Let me mention once more how fun the guns are in this game. Probably the biggest reason I stay away from most RPG’s is the lack of satisfaction of aiming the little red dot directly over someone’s head. Worries no more with Borderlands, because it has the customization features of an RPG I desire mixed with the adrenaline rush from gunfire I crave. Because the game is so customizable, you can equip different grenade and player modifiers and shields too to fit your style of playing. Finally, the AI is rather sharp, so the game stays a challenge throughout.

I have very few complaints about this game, none even worth mentioning, except for this one: every time Josh and I split screen co-op with each other, the game automatically splits it right down the middle for us. This becomes particularly annoying when we go into our inventory/map/skills/etc. screen and we have to move the camera side to side just to look at the entire thing. We have tried setting it ourselves too, but the game thinks it’s SOO smart (well… it really is…) so it adjusts it for us according to our TV size. We haven’t found a way to change this either, so if you know of a solution besides buying a new TV, comment us!

5.) Grungy is alluring.

I can’t explain why, but now every time I hear “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked” I feel like sporting some Daisy Dukes, cowboy boots and an old pistol and walking slowly down some dusty desert road. Borderlands is spilling with atmosphere, from the southern drawls of the Pandorians to the piles of skulls and litter lying on the side of the road to the rickety architecture of Sledge’s safehouse. I never realized before how much I needed a daily dose of what it’s like to be a struggling-to-survive-day-to-day bounty hunter from a barren planet, but now I know I can’t seem to go a day without it. Thank you, Borderlands for becoming my latest addiction.

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