So Borderlands....a game that integrates RPG and FPS elements like no other game before. An RPS (role playing shooter) if you will.  And boasts 87 bazillion guns to use.

Let's clear that up first off before we even start. Resistance has a fair amount of weapons, but this is not like that. You don't have handgun, shotgun, sniper rifle etc up to 87 bazillion different types. The guns all have stats that will vary.  These stats will change and generally improve throughout the game.

Best way to describe is examples. You do still have the same types of guns (shotguns, revolvers, repeaters, sniper rifles, combat rifles, submachine guns, rocket launchers and the games Eridian cannons).

Shotgun A:
Damage: 87 x 12 (x12 is the amount of shots it fires)
Accuracy: 60.2
Fire rate:  0.5

(With other hidden stats like recoil, and recharge rate)

The damage and accuracy is pretty obvious, and the fire rate is how quickly it fires. 0.5 would equal about 2 seconds in game from what I can tell.

The guns you find will vary around these stats, and gain elemental effects as well as special effects. Such as acid rounds that burn through shelled creatures.

This combination of effects equal 87 bazillion variations of the same 9 types of guns.

STORY
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You are a bounty hunter type, brought to this science fiction planet by the allure of supposed cache of alien weaponry and wealth known as "The Vault". The planet is extremely hostile being almost barren and overrun by bandits and people that are generally trying to overcompensate.  Your aim is to get to the vault, killing any who get in your way......

You can choose between Soldier, Berserker, Siren or Hunter characters. Each will share the same story with no changes.

GAMEPLAY
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Hmmm. Where to begin. There is so much that is detailed I will try and summarise for your sake.

The first thing you notice about the game is it's lack of seriousness. The opening scene has a "skag" being mown down by your transport bus, whilst playing funky music. This continues throughout the story, which makes occasionally stopping and admiring the quest you are on very amusing. Like the idea of a crazy scientist getting revenge on her dictaphone because she thinks it cheated on her during their relationship?

You basically go from area to area performing quests for the "townspeople" whilst trotting off to find sub quests and extras etc. Their are enough quests to keep you busy, whilst never feeling overwhelmed or annoyed. The game keeps it's flow, and never puts you out of your way (90% of the time).

There are several "bosses" adding yet another level of difficulty.

Mechanics
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The game plays majoritively as an FPS, with more or less the exact control of COD. The uniqueness comes in the fact that enimies have health poo,s and their own stats rather than just hit this guy, kill that guy.

Hitting an enemy will generate damage, based on your weapon and char stats,  which is then removed from this pool, until eventually he is dead. Both enemies and yourslef apply by this rule, whilst using a Halo style shield to protect your valuable life :D

As with all RPG's it is possible to "Crit" your opponent. Take a human example etc. Hitting them in the head will result in a critical hit meaning more damage a chance of an instant death (if the damage is high enough). Other enemies have other weak spots.

Transport
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With memories of Far Cry 2 in hand, I really thought the transport here was going to be retarded. With the areas so massive, why am I being forced to run everywhere? Well this is the same in this game....

But wait. It is until level 5 or so. Where you do a quest to unlock your transport :D This comes in the form of various spawn points across the areas that allow you to spawn a new truck when you visit. You can choose colour, and whether it has a Launcher or Machine gun turret. You can create 2 at a time, and teleport to them from any transport point on the map (making very helpful extra spawn points:D)

The trucks themselves are easy to control after getting used to them and make very fast travel possible. It's also kinda fun to run enemies over......

A 2nd form of instant transports opens later, allowing you to teleport to other points across the world at any time when activating a spawn point.

Overall transport adds to them gameplay, and helps you along the way.

THE RPG ELEMENT
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Nothing original here from what I can tell. Anyone who has played World of Warcraft will be oddly amused I assume.

As you level up you will (after level 5) get a skill point per level to spend in a skill of your choice. You get 3 paths (or trees) per character to choose from. Take the soldier for example. He gets 3 different trees:

Infantry: Increase ability to deal damage with shotguns and combat rifles specifically
Support: Improves survivability and helps team mates with dropping ammo
Medic: Gains the ability to heal team mates by shooting them along with providing basic support skills

There are 7 skills per tree, 2 per tier (1 final skill). You need to spend 5 points in each tier before unlocking the nxt. Confused? Visit Here

ONLINE
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The game has the ability to play the game itself, missions and all, online with others. The more people who join the game and play together the harder the enemies. This adds to the challenge and of course means better loot is dropped by the enemy upon (in my case) inevitable death.

There are some problems encountered online, that are being fixed with various patches released already.

OVERVIEW
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I have immensely enjoyed the game, and feel any FPS fan would enjoy it..... even those who aren't massive FPS fans too.

There are so many other aspects that I can't go in to, because the game is just so detailed. With all the detail comes quite a large amount of attention needed but anyone trained in RPG'ing should have no problem at all, and those newcomers should slot in just as easily.

Overall I have fallen in love with the game. It seems to have been developed really well, and there are almost no glitches with a very immense game.

The mix of FPS and RPG works wonderfully, each aspect taking nothing from the other.

Score for me: 9.5/10
Online: 7/10 (The classes are heavily unbalanced resulting with every game concluding of Sirens, and the odd soldier)