Claptrap's what I imagine Wall-E's whimsical cousin would be like: a trapezoidal-bodied droid with metal manipulators for hands, without the Pixar robot's introspective and sensitive demeanor, but with an outgoing, friendly attitude that's in stark contrast to the harsh, unwelcome landscape of the Borderlands world. He's a lively fellow, and it's his earnest urgings and advice that help guide me through the FPS/RPG hybrid's first handful of quests.
The game starts off (after a round of cut-scenes that, in the interest of time, publisher 2K chose to skip for this hands-on session) with Claptrap beckoning to me. "Over here!" he exclaims.
I feel obliged to follow.
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The starting area's shantytown seems filled with abandoned, ramshackle mobile homes and lean-tos, and friendly humans are far and few between. Given the desolate scenery, I find Claptrap's almost childlike mannerisms highly amusing. He yelps exultantly as he skitters (on his single wheel) from one point of interest to another, and his hands wave in the air as he goes; his robotic voice whines desperately for a mechanical patch-up kit once he's taken damage; and, at one point, after an enemy gang zooms by on a bunch of ATVs, kicking up dust and making a startlingly large amount of noise, poor Claptrap yells and does a bit of zooming around himself in search of an adequate hiding place.
This introductory section is also where I grow accustomed to the controls, though it's mostly standard shooter fare (Left Trigger looks down your scope, Right Trigger shoots, and so on). Perhaps the most noticeable difference is that whenever you find an object on the ground, like the money, health, or ammo felled enemies drop, you have to physically press a button in order to pick it up (or hold, if you want to suck in all nearby items). I like this idea in concept -- after all, you can play the entire game cooperatively with four players, and it'd be annoying if you couldn't differentiate between what items you want to pick up and which you want to leave for your mates. But, in practice, this non-finalized version of Borderlands' looting is cumbersome: to pick up any item, you must point the camera toward the ground, something you don't want to do when you need to be aiming at things to kill them. This would work much better (though less realistically) if you could merely walk over any given item and then press the pick-up button, but that's a small gripe.
Claptrap and I arrive at a gate that leads out to the desert (actually, it's all dusty desert so far) that's infested with the Skaag, aggressive creatures that look like a mutant cross between a boar, a wolf, and a Gears of War's ticker. The first human I encountered back in town -- a doctor of sorts -- wanted me to kill a handful of these creatures, the first in a chain of quests that will eventually bring me to the first boss encounter against an enemy gang leader named Ninetoes. But, as I run out into the open desert, Claptrap isn't following me. Wisely, he's chosen to stay behind in the town. Despite how much I've grown to like his ramblings, I hardly notice; the pull of quests, loot, and levels has me in its grip.
As I run between each subsequent quest (kill X number of monsters, collect X item from Y location -- actually, Borderlands almost has me hankering for a World of Warcraft session...) I begin to simply knife (my melee attack) the pestering Skaag as they race toward me. But taking out the gas-masked hunmanoid enemies is both a little easier and a little harder than the Skaag. They're easier in that they tend to stand still as they fire at me; they're harder in that, well, they're firing at me, damn it! But a quick duck behind cover, and, after a few quests, a purchasable (from a vending machine) regenerating energy shield helps prevent the Swiss cheese factor.
I do notice that I'm missing an awful lot, and bullets are growing scarce. Apparently, given my new life in Borderlands, I haven't leveled up my proficiency with the particular gun I'm using yet. No matter; that should be remedied shortly. With each monster I kill and quest I turn in, I rake in the experience points. At level 5, I'll be able to use my first skill point. The game has four characters each tied to a specific class. Roland, the character I'm playing, is the Soldier (most like a traditional fantasy Paladin), Lilith is the Siren (mage-like with psychic teleporting abilities), Mordecai is the Hunter (complete with pet), and Brick is the Berserker (aptly named melee specialist).
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The initial special ability for each character is pre-set (Roland's is a turret that you can summon for extra damage and to serve as a makeshift cover spot), but after that, the skills open up into three separate trees, each tailored to a specific strength. In what seems like the blink of an eye (a haze I normally only experience in MMOs), I find myself at level 5 in about an hour, right at the time I reach Ninetoes, the first boss. It's at this time that 2K switches me over into a four-player co-op game with 1UP's David Ellis and Garnett Lee as my teammates. 2K also takes the liberty of advancing us to level 20. Rather than switch character classes though, I stick with Roland. With 15 skill points available, I put them all into the far right tree, letting me become -- get this -- a healer. Now, in multiplayer games, I'm a stereotypical girl healer. In Borderlands, however, this option doesn't exactly relegate me to the backline, out of the action. It's a shooter, so you kill things mainly from afar, first off, but Borderlands takes things a step further. I heal with my bullets. Aim at a monster, and I do damage. Aim at a teammate, however, and my bullets pop off nice little green healing numbers. Hurray, action for all!
Unfortunately, voice chat isn't activated in this co-op foray, so it's a bit hard to target my zig-zagging party members effectively. I put away my long distance rifle and take out my shotgun instead, using the large blast radius to my healing advantage. I assume (and hope) this is easier with voice-enabled coordinated efforts. After all, co-op is my favorite ways to play shooters and RPGs alike. But even if I don't have any friends to play with, I won't have to travel the Borderlands alone. Claptrap's at my side...if the coward ever decides to leave the damn town!
i kid)