Welcome to Pandora! It's a wasteland filled with plenty of adventure for all you tresure hunters out there. It's also a place where danger lurks around every corner. For four mercenaries, Pandora is where they go on a search for a legendary alien vault rumored to contain a "valuable" prize. Of course where there's a prize, there's also plenty of enemies blocking you from your ultimate goal. So what is this "prize?" Does it really exist? Do you think you can handle the dangers that stand before you and glory, or do you want to run home to your mommy? Well then, if you think you can handle the adventure, then welcome to Borderlands.

Borderlands, from 2K Games and Gearbox Software, is a first-person shooter/role-playing game where exploration, customization, killing, and looting are your keys to survival. Those of you who are familiar with games like Diablo and Phantasy Star Online will feel right at home with Borderlands. Pandora is a large place and the world is wide open for you to explore it however you wish. You can spend time killing large amounts of Skags and Bandits, or take on plenty of quests that are offered to you to gain valuable experience points. The opportunities are endless and every time you travel around Pandora leads to new adventures because no two quests will ever be the same.

In Borderlands, you can choose from one of four characters who each have their own specific skills. You have Roland the soldier, Mordecai the Hunter, Lilith the Siren, and Brick the Berserker. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses in terms of battle and weapons. Most players will end up choosing Roland because he is the more well rounded character and Brick because he's a tank character who can take tons of damage. Action skills also play a role in the game as each character has a special attack to use so that's all not just about shooting. Roland can place down a turret to add a supporting gun to the battle. Mordecai has a pet bird that can assist him. Lilith can turn invisible and sneak up and flank enemies. Finally Brick can use his brute strength and pound enemies with his fists as he goes into a berserker rage.

The one feature that Borderlands boasts is the weapons you get to use. If you like shoot guns then Borderlands is your game. Here you'll find the largest selection of guns in any game...period. Weapons include pistols, revolvers, SMGs, shotguns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, and so much more. Each of them gave different ratings in terms of overall damage, recoil, firing rate, clip size, zoom, and more. In the beginning of the game, you'll start out with rusted guns. As you level up you'll get to see the better items beyond the cheap, terrible, and the weak sauce. Some of the later weapons you'll acquire will have elemental properties which can allow you to set enemies on fire, shock them with electricity, or even make them explode in hundreds of pieces of gore. I found plenty of satisfaction of setting bandits on fire, or watching a skag explode as it jumped at me in attack position. One thing to keep in mind is that some weapons are more rare then others. The rarity scale is color coded in white, green, blue, purple, and orange. White is considered common while orange is where the more rare goods are.

Another feature that makes Borderlands unique is the endless amounts of customization. As you level up (current level cap set at 50) you'll gain skill points that you can use to spend on a skill tree. Here you can customize your character's skills by increasing their health, shield (armor), their action skills, and so much more. You can only spend a total of five points on a skill which means that you won't be able to max all the skills in one playthrough so choose wisely. Unfortunately, there's not much customization with your characters appearance. This customization is only limited to name changes and colors.

As you can see, leveling up is the name of the game in Borderlands. To do this you must kill enemies and complete quests. Pandora has many residents, although most of them are not there to be your friends. You'll find a few NPC characters who will offer you quests to partake in. Once the quests are completed you'll be awarded cash as well as experience points to level up. Sometimes you might get a cool weapon to use. As for cash, it would be really hard for you to go broke in this game. You'll also find a wide variety of side quests are also offered on the bounty board where you'll also find the lovable character known as Clap Trap. Trust me when I say that from the first time you meet him, when he's flipping off the bus driver, you'll see that he's more than just a helpful guide in Pandora. He's also all about comic relief. His antics alone are definitely worth the price of admission.

Like I said earlier, not everyone in Pandora is out there to be your friend. Enemies will come in all shapes and sizes. Early on you'll take on skags and weak bandits, but as you progress and level up you'll find even tougher enemies that are bigger and stronger. Keep in mind that each enemy type has a level attached to it telling you how tough they are. Some also have shields for armor so that they can take multiple hits. Sometimes they may require a certain element on a weapon to take them down faster. If you fall in battle, just remember that your not dead yet. Keep fighting until you can't fight anymore. If your able to kill your enemy before you die, you'll gain a "Second Wind" and continue. If you can't, then you'll respawn at the nearest checkpoint, but it will cost you some of your hard-earned cash to do so. The moral to keep in mind is "respawning is expensive, so don't die a lot."

There is one major aspect that separates Borderlands from other role-playing games, like Fallout 3, and that is the fact that your not alone in Pandora. Sure you can play the game in single-player and keep the glory and of couse the loot all to yourself, but the game is more fun with your friends. Borderlands allows you and three of your friends to play in the game in co-op. This is a drop in/drop out format as the host controls the quest. This is where the true fun lies, because you can do anything you wish. Drive vehicles all over the land, quest together, and heal players when their down. You can even battle one another. Thats right, player vs player action to see who is the biggest badass in Pandora. Just use a melee attack on another character and the duel begins. While the duels only involve two players, you can have the entire party battling it out in the arena. These arena matches can be a free for all or team battles.

Borderlands is a role-playing shooter that's been welcomed by many players since it's release. Personally, I believe that Borderlands has the potential to be what Diablo was on the PC, and what Phantasy Star Online was to the Sega Dreamcast...Epic. From the opening cinematic, Borderlands is filled with action, humor, endless replay value, and most importantly...fun. The weapons are fantastic and the customization is endless. You'll definitely be playing this game beyond the first playthrough and there's plenty of DLC on the way. Overall, Borderlands is clearly one of those games that can contend for "Game of the Year."