Shootin and lootin on Pandora is a blast for fps fans, think of it as Fallout 3 without the dialogue, plus comic appeal.
You play as one of four mercenaries, each with their own distinctive playstyle, for instance the hunter characters is most proficient using sniper rifles, he can also employ an eagle named Bloodwing to attack enemies from a distance, while the soldier is handy with an assault rifle, and is able to throw down a turret that shoots hostiles for you.
All the mercenaries are distinctive to play as, and can accomodate to your prefered tactics, no matter how you play though, using guns is very much the order of the day on Pandora, with thousands of different varieties, with differing damage, accuracy and fire rate attributes, additionally some weapons have elemental damage attacks that can burn, corrode or electrify foes to satisfying effect.
The various iterations of guns should help your character towards their main goal of finding and opening a legendary vault, hidden somewhere on the planet, that supposedly holds untold wealth, power, fame, and women.
However a large proportion of Pandoras inhabitants are not just going to let you take it without a fight (where would be the fun in that?), and there are a wide aray creatures and not too human humans, ranging from spiderants, attack dog-like skags, and bandits that come in varying shapes and sizes.
While defeating enemies and completing quests for the sparce amount of non playable characters, your character can level up, which is where the rpg elements come in, and as you level up you can invest skill points into special abilities, for instance the soldiers turret can be upgraded to shoot rockets and/or heal mercenaries close enough, also if you use a particular gun enough, you can level your proficiency with it, increasing damage and accuracy.
One way in which Borderlands hits the mark is with its distinctive graphical style, which helps it stand out from the numreous first person shooters out there, showcasing a certain cel-shaded look, with its black outlines which are remeniscent of certain comic books, however when traveling around the world of borderlands textures on some surfaces, such as vending machines can appear blurred at first before the details become apparent a few seconds later.
The game will certainly last you alot longer than a few seconds, with the vast amount of story and side missions amounting to an experience that can easily last you 20-30 hours long, not to mention a second playthrough to hit level 50, or the great dlc currently on offer (apart from underdome riot).
The controls themselves are largely great, and feel very comfortable for an fps, however the game sometimes doesnt detect when you hit an enemy with a sniper rifle from a long distance, and can slow down occassionaly when the action gets hectic, but these gripes are too infrequent to affect your enjoyment of Borderlands.
To conclude Borderlands is an engrossing, distinctive game with flashes of humour, that is a blast for fps players, but if you play games more for a story driven experience you may feel a little dissapointed, Borderlands is available on the ps3, xbox 360 and pc, and was developed by gearbox software and published by 2k games, thanks for reading.