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Sir_Brizz: Borderlands showed up seemingly out of nowhere and went through a massive redesign mid-development. Usually that results in people tending to start to sign off since that often results in failure of a game. Not so here, as Borderlands shows us that not only can a massive redesign breathe fresh air into a somewhat tired first-person-shooter genre, it also nearly perfectly intertwines a certain amount of role playing elements. Don't get the wrong idea, this is no Dragon Age or Fallout 3. But Borderlands succeeds at providing a fun shooter experience with as entertaining of role playing elements as you could want in a game that is, indeed, primarily a task-oriented shooter.
While the game itself is fun and the gameplay is varied enough to keep you coming back for more, the replay value of the game would diminish drastically if it weren't for the looting aspect of the game. There are virtually limitless combinations of weapons for you to find, though the most powerful and fun to use will take a lot of searching to find. Unfortunately, when it comes to weapons, there are a few classes of weapons that simply dwarf other types. For example, there is a certain style of sniper rifle called a "Volcano" and its attributes make it reasonably godlike compared to almost any other weapon you will find.
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Solo play of the game is fun, however co-operative play was clearly a focus from the very beginning of designing the game. Looting weapons yields better results when you are playing with others and enemies are more difficult and provide more experience depending on the number of people playing. Money, ammo and experience are shared among everyone on the team, making it valuable to play with your friends even if you aren't quite up to their level. You're on your own, for looting, though, which could give you mortal hatred for someone for stealing that really nice weapon out of the weapon chest you just freed up.
It's not all roses here, though. With the looting system so well fleshed out, it makes no sense that the game shipped without a location to store items. Additionally, the story is barely passable and really only gives you a reason to move into areas that provide you with a good deal of action. The plotline is full of logical loopholes and ends on a particularly ridiculous note. You'll hardly notice though, as you race from checkpoint to checkpoint gathering experience points, shooting everything that moves and looting every chest you run across. Particularly with friends, the missions provided in the game are little more than a way to keep a coherent focus than give you anything particularly interesting to do.
To cover a few last topics quickly, the voice acting in the game is mostly superb and there are several great one-liners in there. The audio is really nice, the game music fits the atmosphere perfectly and guns sound like they should. There is also plenty of variety in the audio. There are almost as many unique gun sounds as there are guns. Graphically, the game is excellent. The character models are crisp, the environment is as lush as you would expect a wasteland world to be, and the architecture makes sense. Finally, the mouse control is tight and works well given that the game is primarily a shooter. Handling weapons works fine and gunplay remains interesting for a long time.
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Finally, there is the available DLC. The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is a decent follow up to the core game. Picking up nowhere in the story line of the main game, and taking place on an island off the coast of the main land mass played on in the game, Dr. Ned is a refreshing change of pace from the original missions and world style. The darker, more menacing atmosphere gives the environment a bit more depth and the new variety of enemies are interesting enough that it is worth checking out. Whether it is worth its price tag is up to debate, however. Mad Moxxi's Underground Riot, on the other hand, is nothing more than a shooting gallery. You play rounds in various different areas trying to progress to the end of the waves of enemies. However, you do not accrue experience points and the enemies do not drop weapons. By removing two of the core interests of the game, Mad Moxxi ends up being nothing more than a bandwagon hop, though the DLC DOES add a storage bank to keep extra inventory items in. Certainly not worth the asking price now, but, to be fair, it's not all bad. The DLC does give you the opportunity to earn two additional skill points and, as I said before, the gunplay IS entertaining. This is definitely one to play with friends, though.
Overall, Borderlands is an awesome experience, with a fresh art style, in an interesting game world. The gameplay is fun, playing with friends is awesome, and the overall design of the game is great. If you're into shooters with light RPG elements and co-op play, this game is a must-have for your game library. If you hate RPGs, go elsewhere. This game will just piss you off.