On a planet past its prime, a few settlers on the wrong side of a failed gold rush are desperately clinging to survival. There is hope, but not much, in the form of a recently discovered alien vault. Of course, with wild mutants and bandits roaming the land, crossing the street can kill you. Questing for what may be an ephemeral reward? Uh, no. This is the world of Borderlands, and we've had the pleasure of exploring it for the past few weeks. The verdict? Load up on guns, bring a friend.

2K Games sent over a preview disc with a few hours of gameplay, and the cell-shading-meets-Mad-Max graphic style is a nice change from the hyper-realistic gray and black style we've become used to in games like Gears of War. The game also has a sick, winking sense of humor: a robot who explains the lay of the land at the game's beginning spends his time absent-mindedly humping the air, and runs screaming at the first sign of danger.

You can play as one of four characters, each of which is a familiar archetype. Mordecai, the sniper. Roland, the soldier. Lilith, the magic user. Brick, the tank. You pick one to play, and the other three can be used by other players with the game's drop-in, drop-out multiplayer. Co-op is a go, and seems to be the way to play the game, but arenas pepper the landscape and allow players the ability to test their skills and weaponry against one other. And make no mistake, this is a game about weaponry.

We need guns. Millions of guns

The game promises to deliver literally millions of procedurally generated guns. I can't speak to that, since our demo was limited to the first 15 character levels or so. Basic types of guns mixed with buffs and scopes and effects mean that you never really know what you're going to get as you fight your way across the barren countryside. My favorite? The Ladyfinger, a handgun with a scope stronger than many sniper rifles that's fully automatic. Plus, it's red. I'll also cop to falling in love with a handgun that carries a chance to set enemies on fire.

When you hit an enemy, you see how many points of damage you inflict, perfect for the RPG fan who lives by the numbers. You can also upgrade your favorites at automated ammo and gun vending machines you find around the landscape. The game features an elegant way to increase proficiency with your weapons; simply use shotguns primarily to upgrade your shottie skills. Want to be the perfect sniper? Stick to your sniper rifle while out in the field. With so many guns, ammunition could be a problem, but the game deftly sidesteps that issue by making the weapons class-based. There may be hundreds of thousands of variations on handguns, but the handgun rounds will work in all of them.

Constantly checking the weapons you gain for special effects and power is one of the chief joys of the game. One shotgun I found fired a long line of energy-based projectiles that moved in a wave-like motion. Looks like I have a way to clear rooms.

If you loved the loot-collecting aspect of Diablo—and make no mistake, this is a First-Person love letter to Diablo—you're going to be in heaven here.

Roll with a friend and liven up the quests

The quests we played tended to fall into the "go here, kill X of Y, and return the trophy to me" variety, although the game hinted at a wider story in a way I won't discuss here. Death also carried a very light penalty; you lose some money, you get sent back to a spawning station, and you're back in the fight. In fact, despite my gamer-like lust for the science-fiction weaponry and Gunslinger-light setting, the game started to drag on relatively quickly.

That is, until I grabbed another gaming writer who happened to have the same preview code. The netcode was tight, with very little lag in the game we played, and playing the game in co-op was much more enjoyable. Ambushed by a pack of Skags, four-pawed animals that attack like coyote lizards, my companion dropped into an invisible mode to confuse them, I dropped my turret to do damage while I gained some space, and switched to my flaming rounds to set a few of the lower-level skags on fire. As they burned, I threw a few grenades at the "Badass Skag," seemingly the pack's leader.

Once they were all taken care of, we divided up the loot and went about our way. Playing with other people added quite the tactical punch to the game, and allowed you to explore your special abilities and take on missions together. Again, this is very much like a first-person Diablo; if you have a tight group of gaming friends, you may have found your next addiction. Just for fun, the other writer and I jumped into an arena to see who had the best guns and to play his teleportation ability against my turret. Good stuff.

One to watch

The guns pack a punch, and everyone will find something to like. Knowing how hard you're hitting your targets means you can easily see how powerful each gun is in practice and allows you to perfect your arsenal, and the game earns its M-rating with some delightful ultra-violence.

The world of Borderlands may be a lonely place to tackle by yourself, but once the main story gets going that problem may be alleviated somewhat. Our recommendation for when the game comes out on October 20 on the 360, PS3, and PC? Find some friends and bust some skulls.

Listing image by 2K Games