Borderlands (PC)

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When Luchadores Go Nasty

Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford is in ebullient spirits. He's presenting Borderlands to a roomful of journalists in Cologne, and though he's probably doing it for at least the fifth or sixth time, his enthusiasm is overwhelmingly infectious. It's clear that he loves his studio's latest game: He cheers on the demo players, yelling out advice whenever a new threat shows up, singing out praise when somebody scores a spectacular kill. As his presentation is interrupted by an unexpected squelch, Randy whoops for joy. "You ran over a midget!"

This is the third time I've seen Borderlands in as many months, and I have to admit that I'm almost as excited as our host is. Indeed, after my first hands-on with the game in July, my only complaint about today's appointment is that I'm stuck in the spectator's seat. Still, this is Cologne: time is a valuable commodity here, and as a result play-tests are comparatively scarce. As expected, some of the demo focuses on things we've seen or heard about before, but there are new details too - and I seize upon them like a hungry dog. Borderlands is my most anticipated game for the rest of 2009, and I'll take any fresh info I can get.

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First up, we get a peek at the one of the game's vehicles - a lightweight two-seater buggy that, like pretty much everything else in Borderlands, looks pretty damn cool: the cockpit sits low to the ground while the front wheels are mounted on a pair of arms protruding forward, and at the back of the vehicle there's a hefty-looking gun turret. This thing probably wouldn't get your kids to and from school, but for a murderous rampage across the alien deserts of Pandora, it's pretty much the perfect ride. In keeping with the co-op nature of the game, one player shoots while the other drives - but if you get bored with your role, it's possible for characters to switch positions while the buggy is still moving.

There are four people playing co-op in today's show, and in the space of 25 minutes they blaze through several quests. First up there's a rescue mission, although the subject of this task is hardly your typical damsel-in-distress. The assignment is dished out by a chap named Scooter - a Mr Garrison sound-a-like who wants to free his chum from a group of bandits.

"Lucky's an old buddy of mine," explains Scooter. "And by old buddy, I mean 'asshole that ruined my mum's girl-parts. It sounds like he's in trouble, so you go on ahead and try to keep him alive long enough so I can kill him at a later occasion." How terribly charming! For bonus yuks, it turns out that the jokers at Gearbox have given this quest the title "Get Lucky".

There may be a subtle way to handle this mission, but if so it's not on display today. Instead the gang roars into the bandit camp with guns blazing, taking down several masked thugs who are riding around in vehicles of their own. The resulting battle is loud, bloody and messy. One of the many things I love about Borderlands is that the audio work is brilliant: I caught the entire demo on my dictaphone, and when I listen back to the tape it sounds like several arms dealers doing battle in a mental asylum while someone makes love to a giant mantis... with Randy Pitchford providing the commentary.

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