The name “Borderlands” suggests a place where competing extremes, be they geographical or ideological, are straddled. Gearbox's first-person shooter/RPG hybrid of that name indeed internalizes the notion of clashing opposites by mixing much good with some bad.

The story of “Borderlands” brings four uniquely powered characters to Pandora, an arid post-Apocalyptic wasteland of a planet. Each of the new arrivals seeks alien technology and secrets locked away inside a mythic mountainside Alien Vault that permits entry only once every 200 years. The player selects a character and sets off on the beautifully ravaged Pandora, guided only by the planet's grizzled remaining residents and grainy transmissions from a mysterious woman guiding players toward the Vault.

On top of their character's permanent ability (in the case of my soldier, Roland, a portable turret I could spawn to lay down heavy cover fire), players in “Borderlands” can wield more weapons than any first-person shooter I can recall playing. The game's content generation system randomly creates hundreds of thousands of shotguns, machine guns, rocket launchers and more arms of varying power, magazine size and fire rate.

But guns aren't all that players will relentlessly upgrade. As they progress through the game and level up, players can bolster their health, shields and weapons while gaining new powers (several of which also benefit teammates in co-op play, a savory option in “Borderlands”). The game's RPG customizing blends well with the first-person shooter action. Though deep enough to make the characters feel malleable, swapping weapons and assigning skill points is accessible enough to keep players mangling more than meddling.

The continual improvement to one's character makes “Borderlands'” first-person combat especially satisfying when a once-challenging foe can be slain with a couple shots. Popping up in the player's cross-hairs are both human and bizarrely non-human targets. Bandits and hatchet-swinging psychos (of the normal and badass varieties) represent the human opposition for the bulk of “Borderlands,” but the feral Skags, armored Spiderants and elusive flying Rakk equal their upright-walking counterparts in number.

The fun of blasting through shanty camps of bandits and midget psychos settles to a modest buzz about five hours into “Borderlands” and turns numbing after the next five. Fending off leaping Skags and Spiderants with frantic shotgun blasts is a more lasting thrill. The sudden emergence of the creatures from the dusty ground or a nearby foxhole spikes the pace of play until every last snarly beast is dead. The only drawback to these sequences is the disorienting strobe-light frame rate that all too often results from the presence of too much on-screen motion.

Vehicular combat pops up toward the middle of “Borderlands” and soon proves mindless, but an altogether different class of human adversary, the Crimson Lance army, resuscitates the combat late in the game by transposing it onto an urban warfare setting.

It was in battle with the Lance that I most frequently died, but in “Borderlands,” the end of the health bar only sometimes means the end of life. A second chance system immobilizes the character when his shields and health run dry. To get back on their feet, players must fell an enemy from a downed position, while the screen dims, with only their current weapon. Hurriedly firing at the nearest foe and watching the red slowly chip off their health bar can charge the player's adrenaline, but the system often feels cheap. Players can rush a horde of enemies and withstand a brutalizing crossfire only to survive after half a dozen near-death experiences.

The boss battles in “Borderlands” felt similarly cheap at times. A few, like the mammoth Rakk Hive, the rampaging (but precisely named) Roid Rage Psycho and Skagzilla, demand strategizing, precise aim and patience to recharge one's shields. Other bosses (the shotgun-toting Sledge, Mothrakk), can be blown apart with the right amount of brute force and dogged aim. And yet others (energy-blasting skags Moe and Marley, the final boss) can be bested by finding a blind spot in the game's AI - a particular position the foe simply won't strike while the player hammers on the fire button.

A main sequence of 30 missions will bring players straight to the Vault with a few bloody stops along the way, but about 160 side quests sweep players to all ends of Pandora. There's enough to enjoy in the game play of “Borderlands” to goad players into exploring many of its options, but the redundant mission structures (kill this guy, pick this thing up), spotty AI and sometimes-sputtering frame rate make the game a borderline recommendation.

David Wilcox

253-5311 ext. 245

david.wilcox@lee.net

If you play.

Game: “Borderlands”

Score: B

Parental rating: Mature for blood and gore, intense violence, mature humor and strong language

Developer: Gearbox

Publisher: 2K Games

Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows

Price: $54.99

Play: Single, local and online multiplayer

The final boss: Though imaginative and well-designed, a few nagging flaws in the execution of “Borderlands” sometimes interrupt the fun.