Borderlands [PS3]

If someone wanted me to attempt to describe Borderlands in about a sentence, the easiest thing that comes to mind is "Mad Max meets Diablo meets science fiction set on a distant planet akin to the Wild West." As odd as that description might be, it's strangely appropriate given the upcoming hybridized first person shooter/action RPG game from Gearbox. Blending genres and influences, Borderlands takes the traditional shooter twitch mechanics and throws the character specialization and development of an RPG into the mix, creating a unique game that will appeal to fans of both genres. At a recent demo in Texas, I had a chance to explore the Borderlands during an extended multiplayer session, discovering some additional details about the world and the characters themselves.

The four player co-op demo that I played started at the beginning of the game, but excluded the intro movie and beginning details of the characters. Instead, I was presented with the choice of any one of the four characters. While I selected Roland, the soldier, because of his balanced skill with weaponry and turrets, I discovered that just because I made that decision didn't mean that other players in my party couldn't select him. In fact, if I and the other journalists wanted to field an entire squad of Rolands, we'd all have the option to do so, and would be given the chance to differentiate between characters thanks to our skills (which I'll get to in a bit). Of course, the other three characters had unique abilities that would help out in battle. Brick was the Berserker, a mountain of a man who favored heavy weaponry and could charge into combat to perform melee strikes on enemies for large amounts of damage. Lilith was the Siren, a lithe, scout like attacker who had the ability to cloak herself to perform strikes and detonate a shockwave once she re-appeared. Finally, Mordecai was the Hunter, the sniper of the group, who also packed a pet known as Bloodwing that could also attack targeted enemies.

Check out the latest gameplay here (HD available).Fielding a squad of all four characters would ensure a relatively balanced party, making adventures somewhat easier, but by no means guaranteed success. In fact, as more players joined a party, the game would instantly scale the difficulty and adjust the location of some enemies to even out the odds, making a session much more treacherous when all four players were fighting side by side. (It would also scale down if a player dropped out for any particular reason, say if they decided they wanted to choose a completely different character or leap into a new game). Fortunately, there are some things during gameplay that can make exploring the Borderlands much easier. First of all, the game is designed to help you share the myriad loot drops from fallen enemies. I was told that during a co-op session, the ammunition and money that is collected by one player is shared within the party, allowing everyone a chance to equip any firearm that they come across with rounds, shells or whatever projectiles it fires.

What's more, the more you use a particular weapon, the higher your proficiency with that firearm becomes, making you more capable of using it in the field. Collecting ammo and cash was easy, as hitting the X button on a 360 controller allowed me to collect everything from a searchable area (which was highlighted in green) or red chests, which contained weapons and armor. It was always possible to check or compare the items that were around before you picked up the item as the game would compare its stats against the newly "acquired" spoil of war. However, health pick-ups, weapons and armor are not shared, so that can turn into a first come, first serve competition. In fact, Borderlands also allows for competitive play in the form of duels that can be instantly set up by one or more characters. If one player runs up to a party member and melee attacks them, the victim has a few seconds to strike back. If they land a blow, an energy shield is erected around the two players within the duel (and anyone trapped within its radius).

Once a duel is on, players can wield any firearms they own to "kill" their friends, landing as many strikes as possible. While the barrier can prevent monsters and other enemies from intruding in your face-off, enemies and colleagues within the barrier can attack at will. Although you won't die during a match like this, it will weaken the loser significantly, allowing an enemy to easily whittle away a character's life, bringing them to the damaged "last stand" state where they can either wait to be resuscitated or can kill enemies to regain their health. During friendlier sessions, however, it allows some players to turn into a pack mule, gathering items up and taking them back to a machine to be sold for extra money. Players can also pick up and drop these elements for those players that really need them.