Reviews

'A bazillion weapons'. That was Gearbox's big claim for Borderlands, that it contained so many random combinations of weapon parts, damage settings and modifiers that no two players would encounter the same weapons. In a world of 'two guns at a time' first-person shooters and grind-fest MMOs, an almost infinite number of weapons makes a surprising change, but as a key feature for the game? It sells Borderlands very, very short.

A slick blend of first-person shooter and RPG, or Role Playing Shooter as Gearbox like to say, Borderlands deposits players onto the arid wasteland world of Pandora in search of a mythical Vault. There's very little story to the experience: you're guided along by visions of a woman who wants to help you find it, but the game itself is driven by quests, exploration and the need for XP.

Use vehicles to explore Pandora.

Each of the four character classes has their own strengths and weaknesses: the soldier is an all-rounder that can deploy a turret, the siren can become invisible, the hunter can use his pet bird as an extra weapon and Brick can punch things and make them explode. They're all variants on standard RPG classes - knight, mage, hunter and warrior - but thanks to the guns the differences aren't as pronounced as classes in traditional RPGs.

Although similar to epic failure Hellgate: London, Borderlands is surprisingly familiar to old school RPG Diablo: the action is repetitive but satisfying, the quests refreshingly uncomplicated and it doesn't take itself too seriously. Visually, the lovely pseudo-cel shaded visuals keep things surprisingly colourful and bright, the gore lever is cranked up to 11 and enemies range from mundane mutant beasts to burning psychotic midgets.

Advice - Don't bring a sword into a gun fight.

The weapons themselves come in thick and fast, dropped at random from anyone or anything, each with their own unique stats and features. Although the basic structure of guns remain the same - you get pistols, sniper rifles, shotguns etc - the differences that create 'bazillions' mainly become statistical fluctuations like damage per second, elemental damage and accuracy.