Borderlands

Borderlands - (Xbox 360, PS3)
Developer: Gearbox
Format: Xbox 360, PS3
Genre: Arcade


An RPG shooter that plays as good as it looks



You may be familiar with the RPG genre but what about RPS? Borderlands touts itself as a Role Playing Shooter - an accurate description of gameplay that combines frantic shooter action with accessible role-playing character progression. It shouldn't work, but it does and we're grateful to the gaming Gods for delivering this little gem to us.

The game looks like a cross between Mad Max and the cell shaded adventures of XIII, offering a distinct post apocalyptic comic book feel. Players can choose from one of four characters and earn experience as they do battle with countless hybrid enemies that will drop even more countless items and money that you can then sort through, keep what you need and sell for further cool weaponry and upgrades. Players will be constantly updating their inventories with new items giving the game an almost MMO-feel to proceedings.

Other twists in the tale include the sheer variety of missions you undertake - from searching for individuals, to search and destroy, to fronting-up against rival factions. The action has the depth of variety that you would normally find in an RPG - and all the while earning experience points to level up characters further instils a depth to this game that you simply wouldn't expect.

Top off a highly fulfilling single player game with a co-op function that allows up to four players to work through the entire experience as a team and we've suddenly got a game that breaks through genre-defining borders like a titanium-tipped battering ram.

More games should be like Borderlands; not afraid to take risks whilst confident in the knowledge that there's enough technical skill working in the background to deliver a truly compelling and entertaining experience. Fancy a little twist to your shooting collection? Make a break for this Border, you won't be disappointed.