Top Ten Reasons You Should Be Playing Borderlands

You like explosions? Tons of guns? Exploration? Guns? GUNS?? Prepare for your new addiction, and check out these reasons why you should be playing Borderlands. Now. You should just buy it.

1. Harmonious Blend of RPG and FPS

Borderlands rides the fence between role-playing and first-person shooter quite well; while definitely leaning towards a shooter, the plot elements, quests, loot gathering, and leveling structure lend a good RPG feel.

2. Loads of Action and Good Pacing

There's enough action to the point that you are never actually bored. I loved Fallout 3 and Oblivion, but they sometimes got boring due to lack of BLOWING THINGS UP.

3. Replayability

The first playthough lasted about 30 hours for me, but upon completion of the game you can play though again. Except for that it's a ton harder. And you get to fight "BadMutha Skags." The second playthrough is exponentially better than the first. On top of all of that, you can choose from four unique characters that each possess unique powers, upgrade trees, weapon focus, and action skills.

4. Great Play Controls

Without getting overly complicated, the controls in Borderlands get the job done, allowing you to efficiently switch weapons and navigate the planet of Pandora.

5. Add-Ons

There's no shortage of downloadable content for Borderlands if you crave even more. You can travel to the uniquely styled Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, or fight to the death in Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot. The newly released Secret Armory of General Knoxx increases the level cap and adds even more quests, enemies, and loot.

6. Personality

This game is loaded with unique character, from the sharp cel-shaded characters and environments to the well-scripted NPC interactions. From the first minute of the intro sequence, you can just tell that the developers and creative minds at Gearbox wanted to inject as much sarcastic humor into this game as possible.

7. Random Loot

One of the highlights of this fantastic game are the random loot drops, expanding the RPG element and even giving the item system a "roguelike" feel. While there is a fixed set of weapon types (revolver, pistol, combat rifle, shotgun, Eridian, SMG, rocket launcher, grenade, sniper rifle) there is a virtually infinite amount of "unique" weapons that you can find, all with different elemental effects and rareity. Unearthing and collecting rare and awe-inspiring gear is a quest unto itself and makes the game worth playing on its own.