Review:
Borderlands - Ain't No Rest for the Wicked

Shortly after booting up Borderlands, I was greeted with Cage the Elephant’s “Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked.” The lyrics of the chorus speak particularly true to what this game is about: Loot.

There ain't no rest for the wicked
Money don't grow on trees
I got bills to pay, I got mouths to feed
There ain't nothing in this world for free

You start off as a treasure hunter in the wasteland that is Pandora in search of the Vault, a legendary treasure-trove. In the midst of a bus ride, you're contacted by an electronic angel that's trying to help you find your fortune. You are quickly introduced to various people (and one loveable robot named Claptrap) who will help you on your journey. You'll also meet some not-so-friendly bandits that remind me of something out of the movie Doomsday. To deal with them, you will have to exercise superior diplomacy with the point of a gun.

Borderlands is another game in the recent push to combine role-playing and first person shooter games. It leans closer to frantic firefighting FPS games then its counterparts Bioshock and Mass Effect. The character creation system reminds me of a Diablo 2 with guns. There are four different characters to choose from, each with their own specialties.

Roland, the soldier, is an expert with combat rifles and turrets. Lilith, the siren, prefers to use pistols and is a master of stealth. Brick, the berserker, is the closest thing the game has to a melee character with the ability to rage out and do massive amounts of damage. Mordecai, the hunter, prefers the use of sniper rifles and uses his pet hawk to pick enemies off at a distance.

Each class has three different skill trees that players can spend points into as they level up to pick their specialties, giving players options to make their characters unique. In addition, players will gain proficiencies in the weapon categories as they use them. All these elements should keep all the RPG fans glued to the edge of their seats.

One of the most unique features of Borderlands is the number of weapon choices that exist. There are supposedly over a million guns with different stats that can drop in the game. Players can choose between guns in the eight different categories. Like using sniper rifles? Stand back and wail on enemies. Like to get in the thick of it with shotguns? You can do that too. There's even explosives and melee for the people who like to mix it up once in a while.