This sense of customization and variety will extend into Borderland’s vehicle and enemy types as well. Given that the game’s terrain is so vast, you’ll be doing a lot of driving to get from place to place. The vehicle customization sounds complicated, but Borderlands allows you to just pick parts willy-nilly and slap ’em together. There’s depth for those who want it, but it’s hardly a prerequisite to enjoy the game. The enemies are randomized as well, with each having different sizes, properties, and abilities. The rep showed us a "scag," which is something like a feral hog. Some will shoot fire, while others will have different attacks.

Borderlands lets you play as one of four different characters, each with their own unique capabilities. For example, the Tank-class character--lovingly named Brick--can go into a "berserk mode" that makes his punches extremely powerful for a limited amount of time. Mordecai--the Hunter class character--can summon an alien vulture-like creature to assist him in battle. In addition to these special traits, each character has a skill tree that you can level up as you desire.

Borderlands offers four player co-op for the campaign, with online, two-player split-screen, and LAN options all being available. The interesting thing is that you’ll be able to hop into a friend’s game with your current character, play some co-op with them, and then keep any experience and items from that game for your own adventure. Thus, no time playing will ever be in vain.

It’s clear that Gearbox has set out to do one thing and do it well; create a compelling, addictive shooter with a lot of customization and variety. Borderlands feels like a single-player or co-op MMO in a lot of ways, in that you spend your time leveling up, collecting loot, making weapons, killing things, and having fun while doing it. While we have yet to see how much variety there will be in the mission structure or how often the story will play into the events, Left 4 Dead has taught that us that coop games don’t necessarily need those things to be fun. With polished FPS action,Fallout 3’s epic scope, and a truly astonishing level of customization, Borderlands seems to be one of the best co-op shooters on the horizon. Look for it this October on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.