Welcome to Pandora: come for the treasure, stay for the gun show.

Borderlands, the "role-playing shooter" from developers Gearbox Software (Brothers in Arms), is an explosive adventure featuring an amazing arsenal of weapons.

The sci-fi action game features four mercenaries in search of an legendary alien vault containing rare technology and infinite wealth. When players first land on the fictional planet of Pandora, they will choose one of the four characters: Brick the berserker, Lilith the siren, Mordecai the hunter or Roland the soldier.

Each of these characters boasts special powers along with a weapons specialty. Roland, for example, is great with combat rifles and drops turrets to assist him in combat.

After receiving a brief tutorial provided by your enthusiastic robot host, Claptrap, players venture off in search for the vault. Players can accept both main and side quests during their journey, then prioritize them in any order they choose.

Along with single-player options, Borderlands includes an impressive, seamless online component, where players can hop into and out of cooperative adventures at any time. Instead of a standard multiplayer, groups of two or four can enter arenas scattered throughout the environment and engage in competitive challenges.

Every enemy killed and mission completed notches experience points which boost your character's level and beefs up their health or shields, as well as strengthening their special abilities. Roland's turret, for example, can be bolstered to add rockets or regenerate ammo when standing nearby.

While there are RPG elements, Borderlands is deeply rooted in a first-person shooter experience. There are plenty of weapons to pick up, and a ton of enemies to take out.

Firearms break down into a handful of groups, including small machine guns, combat rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, launchers, revolvers and pistols (or repeaters). The game's artificial intelligence randomly generates guns using parts from all these weapon types. Adding to the variety are elemental powers such as fire, electricity and corrosion that pack an extra punch.

A few of the guns I found included a shotgun with scope and electric ammo, an incendiary sniper rifle and a small machine gun unleashing acidic bullets.

Borderlands features plenty of interesting enemies - both small and very large - for players to test out their weapons, ranging from Spiderants to bandits to Skags, four-legged wolf-like creatures. Each opponent can pack an elemental ability as well, so players may run into a Skag that shoots fire or an acidic spit attack.

While the game has drawn a few comparisons to Bethesda's apocalyptic Fallout 3 - primarily for its open environments and its blending of the shooter and RPG genres - there's a key difference in philosophy. Players were driven to explore in Fallout 3 by the characters and the story. Borderlands, however, tempts players more often with its abundance of loot.

This is where the Diablo influence kicks in. Finding that rare loot is wonderful, and leaves players eager to try out their new wares. When you spot a giant red crate - the most common home for new gear - there's a level of excitement reached in wondering what awesome weapons, shields or skill mods you may discover.

Environments are equally inviting courtesy of a unique art style reminiscent of a comic book. Although the game may look two-dimensional, elements of the world such as mountains, bridges or vehicles carry a sense of weight of them.

The story in Borderlands is pretty solid, however it feels like Gearbox buried it too deep. Plot details are delivered through audio diaries, random dispatches and pre-mission briefings. The game features some really interesting characters - particularly the player-controlled mercenaries - that could have been developed a bit more.

However, since the stars of Borderlands are the guns, combat dominates. Fortunately, it's quite good. Handling weapons feels very comfortable, and mixing in the special abilities creates some interesting tactical situations.

Enemies are tough, but some of their behaviors are inconsistent, especially the humans. Some will walk right into plain sight, making them easy targets. There were also a couple instances where an enemy took cover and was firing in my direction, but kept constantly hitting a wooden box. He never relocated for a better view, allowing me to pick him off with no trouble. One particularly comical moment involved an enemy who seemed to ignore an attack from a rocket launcher.

However, Borderlands is all about the thrill of the hunt, whether it be for new weapons or mounds of treasure, which makes the world of Pandora very easy to get lost in.

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Gearbox Software

Platform(s): PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

Price: $49.99-$59.99

Release Date: October 20

Score: 3 stars (out of 4)

By Brett Molina