Yes, I drank the Kool-Aid and labeled the game's genre as a "Role Playing Shooter" at the delight of Gearbox Software. But how else can one really describe Borderlands? The Sci-Fi Grindhouse-esque shooter is perhaps one of the best mixtures in genre that gaming media has seen in quite a while, blending not only RPG and FPS well, but also between Sandbox and Action, and--perhaps the game's biggest accomplishment--making single-player and multiplayer fun without ruining the core game's concept. So it's okay to take a sip, especially with all the spiking to the punch Gearbox did.

Let me just say first off, that the art style in the game is incredibly impressive. The cel-shaded graphics really bring the world to life, and it looks great from the second you see the intro movie until you fight the last boss. The game is constantly switching environments and generates random content based on your position in the game, and the looks of it all never skip a beat. Think of it as bloody eye candy.

The story, on the other hand, falls flat on its face. After seeing the well-made intro that brings huge potential with all the upcoming insane characters you'll face, you're introduced to a tutorial robot that makes GIR look useful, then thrust into a set path of missions that slowly introduce you to the game's controls until you hit Level 5 and out ready to face the world. Unfortunately, the people you meet along the way only seem to want to converse with you through small text instead of actually talk, so what had the potential for a culture on Pandora ultimately feels like a "Go to Point B and Shoot Things" objective. The plot barely makes any sense to begin with and this doesn't pick up whatsoever as the game goes along. Literary-type gamers be warned: This is nothing like Bioshock.

But, boy, is this game fun. Enemies are randomly generated based on your level and position in the game, and often use different tactics to try and bring you down. While the level 1 enemies will be easy regardless, once you start facing other humans with weapons, the game becomes a lot more of a tactical skirmish in which you have to start thinking before you move and make adjustments as you see necessary. Plus, with millions of guns (yes, finally a game a with enough guns to make the National Rifle Association cringe), you're going to always find a new way to kill them. Sure, they all work the same, but when you see a shotgun that fires its pellets in a sine-wave formation and passes through enemies, or a rocket launcher that electrocutes everything in the area after it explodes, it's just hard to put the game down and see what else they can throw at you.

As it is a "Role Playing Shooter," the character you choose in the beginning is extremely important. Do you like explosives? Stealth? Sniping? Healing? Setting up traps? Pounding things with your fists? There are four characters, each with their own unique special ability and passive stats, the can be branched out into three general directions with their own specific skill trees. It's fun to experiment with each character's skill tree since you can reset it for a small fee whenever you feel like, but for the amount of variety each character can give you, the skill trees are pretty bare, with each only having 21 skills to learn at most. There is a cap to how many skill points you can use to beef up your character, but having more to choose from would have been a cool thing to have.

Another problem comes from the character progression itself. If you want to start using a different character, you have to start them off at Level 1 and go through the beginning all over again, or take it online and hope the host doesn't kick you off. It natrually makes sense, but if I've beaten the first part of the game and know how the controls work, why can't I just be given the option start off at Level 5 and proceed to the first real mission?

Any problems associated with the game are taken away once you engage in the online multiplayer. At any point, you can jump into another player's campaign, or invite others to help you out if you're in trouble. Oh, and the game supports split-screen, great for those of us who can't persuade anyone to buy something without trying it first! The enemies get tougher, the loot becomes more plentiful, and it becomes a lot more fun. Communication is obviously a must since the game's frantic action sequences make it seem like Left 4 Dead, but unlike that game, you don't get a lot of information on your teammates. It's difficult to see where they stand as far as their character progression is concerned. Sure, they may be Brick, but is he a Tank or a Brawler type? How often will you have to heal Lilith based on her player's skill tree? Normally, the mystery surrounding your party would have killed an RPG, but Borderlands gets away with it by making the multi-player stay true to the single-player game and forcing communication as a means of receiving information.

This new "RPS" genre really works out well, and with a little polishing to the characters and actually adding in some diologue and a coherent plot, Borderlands easily could have beaten Batman: Arkham Asylum as my choice for "Game of the Year." But you'll have a lot fun regardless, and forcing a few of your friends to play along will only augment this, or even playing with strangers. Give it a rental at the very least, but there's definitely enough content to justify a purchase.