D+PAD: Borderlands Reviewed

Borderlands is a finicky one: at times at times it feels like it's neither quite a shooter nor an RPG – it advertises itself on being a mix of both, or a "Role Playing Shooter" as developer Gearbox put it – but on other occasions it feels like a seamless, effortlessly natural combination. There have been RPG elements included in plenty of shooters for yonks now, but what Gearbox manages to nail, with impeccable accuracy, is the genre's immense love of looting. Stuff drops everywhere, bursts out of crates, falls out of dead things or even finds itself being purchased in shops – Borderlands contains more trinkets than an eBay junkie's shed and attic combined. It's literally everywhere. 4/5