It can’t be easy, being Borderlands. Released in the dead middle of the holiday push, the game faces stiff competition in each the 360, PS3, and PC markets.  Each of these platforms has not only had their complement of "staple" first-person shooter titles, but also major releases of a similar type this holiday season.  What does Gearbox provide in its Space Western-cum-Loot Whoring title that makes it stand apart from acclaimed titles like Uncharted 2, Left 4 Dead 2, and the 8000lb. gorilla known as Modern Warfare 2?

Taking place on the planet 'Pandora', Borderlands is the barely woven tale of a 'Vault Hunter' and their bullet-riddled quest through the wilds of the backwater planet. Seems there’s a legend about a mysterious 'Vault' what contains vast fortunes and power.  Stop me if the equation: sealed vaults + desert setting looks familiar to you. At the outset of the game you are given the option of choosing one of four Vault Hunters, each with their own unique set of skills and signature action move that are more-or-less indicative of their characterization (Berserker punches people to death, Hunter uses a pet, etc).

The game does little to educate on you which class to pick, and your decision is largely informed by their physical appearance and by the weapon specialization that is listed under their name.  Any character can use any weapon, however in line with having a unique ‘skill’ each character has unique skill trees that augment a variety of stats and give bonuses to certain combat actions.

All things being equal across the four characters removes some of their novelty but at the same time ensures that the game is able to suit the play-style of anyone who picks it up. Thankfully the game mechanics are where the game starts to shine. Gearbox has an established pedigree of developing and working with top-rated shooter titles and Borderlands is no exception.  This game is about guns: lots of guns; lots ways and places to obtain guns; and lots of locales wherein to shoot things...with guns.

The game touts a 'gun generator' capable of producing an obscene number of weapons each with their own unique set of stats and bonuses.  This claim is mostly true.  However what the back-of-the-box factoids fail to tell you is that 9 out of every 10 guns will be going straight into one of the game's many vending machines in exchange for cash that you'll use to buy what else...better guns (or maybe a shield, see next paragraph).  You'll find yourself cultivating a rotating cast of about 6-7 weapons that will occasionally be replaced with similar ones albeit with higher stats. By the middle of your 2nd play through, you'll likely have several ‘Legendary’ quality weapons and not have upgraded to a new gun for several hours of game time.

It’s worth mentioning here that like other first-person [insert genre here] titles Borderlands features a layered shield/health system whereby your shields take damage first, then your health.   Shield energy will replenish after a few moments of taking no damage, and health is recovered via a number of handy ways.  It is highly recommended to equip a shield that also regenerates your health.

As mentioned, the game does not skimp on the gunplay.  Guns, the ammunition to load them with, and things to put those bullets inside of are never in short supply.  Quick, easy-to-understand quests will propel you from the ‘welcoming’ village of Fyrestone to the heart of the Crimson Lance’s privatized military complex over the course of roughly 25 to 30 hours.  And while the quests feature a variety of goals, they never stray far from the game’s unspoken mantra of “shoot every motherfucker between you and the glowing quest object at the end of the corridor/canyon/hallway”.

It is during these excursions, (which can last upwards of a good 30-40 minutes for quests that end in a boss fight) that Borderlands reveals itself fully; a gigantic biome created exclusively for the purpose of shooting-every-fucking-thing-in-sight.  Think World of Warcraft with less highfalutin fantasy and far (far) more guns. Is it moving? You should probably shoot it. 

In vein with its role-playing cousins the game renders your damage over an enemy’s head with each successful shot.  It’s actually somewhat beautiful watching numbers pour off a target like water.  The sheer amount of visual information in this game is near orgasmic at times.  Is your action skill on cool down? What’s your shield strength at? How much ammo is left in the gun? Is an enemy on fire and about to die? How much damage are you doing with the Repeater that has Corrosive damage?

For all the best intentions at creating an indigenous force to be reckoned with; enemies in this game are pretty lame-duck on the intelligence level.  They exhibit basic duck-and-cover techniques but essentially come at you in obvious waves.  Before long, you begin to recognize unit types by their behavior patterns and aesthetics of the weapons they carry. You don’t need to even look directly at them, just fire in their general direction and mentally masturbate yourself as that new SMG you picked up causes dozens of floating “101”s and “Critical!”s to explode from a man’s head.   You’ll find yourself roving from one enemy to the next, eager to fill them with the requisite amount of bullets before they explode like a piñata; glowing bits of loot oozing from their bodies as though the inhabits of Pandora are made of delicious virtual candy.

The allure here is not that you get to use a lot of guns; it’s that you get to use one really fucking AWESOME gun in the pursuit of amassing a collection of useless guns to sell in order to buy an even MORE AWESOME gun.  The vaudevillian ‘cha-ching’ noise the vending machine makes every time you feed it another item becomes almost like music to your ears; Pavlov’s bell.  You’ll hear the belched slogans of every gun manufacturer (‘If it took more than one shot, you weren’t using a Jakobs!’) about 500 times too many in this game and you’ll sure as shit remember them.  Not from sheer saturation on your senses, but because they represent the foreplay to the climax of selling your stash; they are the smell of the French fry before you’ve removed it from the grease-laden bag in your passenger seat.

I suppose you could call Borderlands exactly that: fast-food first-person shooting.  It’s not particularly important what the weapons are called, exactly how much money you gained from those 5 lockers, or just what exactly the difference is between Tediore and Maliwan weapons are (PROTIP: Maliwan makes elemental damage guns, Tediores have a fast reload speed).  The point is the miniature release of brain semen that happens every time you see loot and money essentially ‘vacuum’ itself into your character’s body.  As if Mordecai the Hunter is so pressed for time he can’t even be bothered to sift the gold from grit.  He just needs more; you need more.

You even get to do this a second time!  Upon completion of the game you are (rather clumsily) given the option of replaying the game again from where you ended the first run.  All of the  variables in play are ratcheted up a few notches this time, but the basic mechanics and ideas remain the same; assess the situation, dispatch of most immediate threats, deal with the 'elite' enemies last, and then suck up every last piece of loot like a whore on rent day.

There is a story to be told and a colorful cast of characters to support it; either you'll pay attention to it or you won't.  In the end it doesn't really matter if you understand why Patricia Tannis is trying to solve the mysteries of Pandora's 'Vault' or why the Atlas Corporation suddenly appears in the last third of the game and shit suddenly “gets real”.  You're basically going to be pointing the loud end of your gun at someone or something and squeezing off rounds until it explodes in little firework of virtual success to replace the lack of it in your real life.

You can play Borderlands with up to 3 other people cooperatively, or spend time fighting each other in the wilds of Pandora, or in the specially designated Arena sections.  If you feel like it, I guess.  Honestly the inclusion of other people in my virtual orgy of guns and self-gratification shatters the illusion of my impending omnipotence over Pandora like a fragile Christmas ornament against linoleum.

Visually Borderlands apes a comic book style seen in titles like Crackdown and the mediocre Xbox game XIII.  Enemies have a semi-cel-shaded look to them, and the world of Pandora is essentially an amalgamation of every 'wrong side of the tracks' motif that exists.  Think Black Hawk Down only with more sheet metal and random space junk.  Enemy design is appropriately a mix of pseudo-bondage Road Warrior goons, generic “space” versions of Earth animals, and de-facto Space Marines toward the end of the game.

The world is populated with non sequitur lockers, toilets, cases, and other containers that hide money, ammo, or guns. As long as you don't think too hard about why a gang leader was keeping some sweet gun locked away in his hut (instead of shooting you with it) or why there's a locker with $4000 cash in it underneath a fish hatchery, you won't find much to complain about the small contrivances Borderlands makes to support its frantic shooting and ‘more, more, more!’ loot and item collection ethos.

All in all, Borderlands does enough things differently and successfully to set it apart from most of the other "point at thing and shoot it until it dies" shooters on the market today.  The combat can become especially repetitive, but is alleviated by the ability to re-spec into other skill trees and adopt new play styles.  The game rewards those who are interested in the small things (gun stats, funny little set pieces, the un-narrated quest descriptions, and midgets) and will likely frustrate anyone who is expecting a tightly-packed and well-written adventure in a foreign land.  Go play Half-Life or Fallout for that.

What you get for your money:

• A game that literally will last you several days of playing. My first play through of the game exceeded 36 hours; however I completed every side quest on my own and spent a considerable amount of time helping a friend toward the beginning.  At the time of writing my total play time was beyond 40 hours on a single character in addition to the 3-4 hours playing the other classes.  Gearbox has announced intentions to update with DLC regularly and at the time of writing the first pack ‘The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned’ is available.
• Well designed NPC characters with some above-average voice acting and a unique art style that plays to the game’s some cartoony over-violent content.
• A fairly easy drop in/drop out co-op mechanic that allows you to play solo, invite friends, and continue playing after they have left without a break in the experience.
• A game rich in visual information and lean on complicated game mechanics.  Shoot everything.  Keep guns that help you to shoot everything faster.  Sell everything else.
• Lots of interesting guns with quirky modes of fire (shotgun that fires rockets, rifle that belches lightning balls) that will have you opening “just one more” chest in the hopes of finding that epic-level shotgun you need.
• Easy achievements; you can get about 900 points just playing by yourself.  The last few will require you to have at least one friend with a copy of the game.

What you do not get for your money:

• A well told story.  Gearbox seems keen on establishing a unique Universe; however they clearly spent very little time fleshing it out.  My advice is to watch Firefly and pretend Borderlands exists in roughly the same intellectual schema.
• No proper multiplayer modes.  And this is just as well as the dueling mechanic in the game seems like an afterthought; with the sheer amount of random weapons, balance would be a major issue (I lucked out at one point and had a revolver drop that I used for a good 12+ levels, overpowered to say the least).
• A change of pace.  Borderlands is several long hours of rocks and desert and space creatures and guns. And brown.  A lot of brown.
• Hard achievements that require skill or effort.  Not necessarily a bad thing, but it would’ve been nice to have some harder achievements for a game that doesn’t break its own mold for the duration of the experience.

Final Rating:  It is my opinion this game is worth the full asking retail price for those who find the above information appealing.  This game is not likely to make a fan out of anyone who does not already enjoy ‘loot’ games a’la Too Human, Diablo, World of Warcraft, etc.

Platform Played: Xbox 360

Reviewer Bias: +1; I was anxiously looking forward to this game but almost did not purchase it after reading a few concerns over the lack of a trade system and the repetitive nature of the combat.