Borderlands is a unique game, its contains lots of elements from First Person Shooters like Halo and has a setting very similiar to last years "Fallout 3" but at heart Borderlands is an Action RPG.
The game sets you as one of four different vault hunters-
- The Hunter who specializes in sniping and commands a bloodwing pet which can be used to attack enemies.
- The Siren who has powerful elemental attacks and can phasewalk past (or through) foes
- The Soldier who can use a turret and specializes in a variety of rifles
- The Berserker who can SMASH THINGS WITH HIS BARE HANDS!!!
Another major element of this enjoyment is the loot/guns you will find throughout Borderlands, to put it simply the trailers dont lie, there are a LOT of guns in the game and whilst some will be fairly boring you'll frequently find neat weapons that make dispatching your foes more entertaining such as -
- A shotgun that shoots rockets
- A rifle that shoots ricocheting bullets
- A pistol that shoots 3 bolts of lightning per shot
The game is structured in a way very similar to MMORPGs like World of Warcraft with areas filled with quest hubs and instanced dungeons, the single player game takes about 25 hours average to complete and once you've beaten the game you can restart it in a special mode called playthrough 2 in which you play through the game again but everything is a higher levels and several things have been changed.
The music in the game is very fitting and unique and help immerse you into the maddening world of Borderlands, the game is filled with colorful and unique characters that bring the world to life.
The game isnt perfect and does possess some balance issues but the game if a joy to play and if you play co-operative multiplayer this is easily the best original game of the year.