It’s a merciless economy, and during the holiday season, multiplayer shooters are a dime a dozen. Sure, everybody’s getting Modern Warfare 2, but what about that second game demanding your extra dollar? Ten hours into Gearbox Games’ outstanding Borderlands (Xbox 360/PC/PS3), and our weekly Borderlands Scrapbook takes a look at the game as we progress through this massive 4-man co-op experience, offering our strategies and peeks into the game’s gallery of ‘a gazillion’ weapons. We’ll show you more Skaggs and desert psychos than you can shake a boomstick at. Borderlands is the definitive sleeper hit of 2009. It’s the most compelling console co-op game since Phantasy Star Online, and if you thought that Left 4 Dead 2 was the end of any co-op conversation, you’re in for something special.

First off, this isn’t a formal review. We didn’t get the game in advance, and it’s far too large to offer any official score. That said, we do LOVE it, but we’re also playing the game right along with you. I’m the beginner of PCS (fellow writer Reuben Montgomery’s slightly further along), and what we see, you’ll see.

Find cool weapons worth bragging about? Send us a link to your Youtube video! For now, if you’re just getting started, here are some tips to make your trek towards Level 20 a little easier.

THE NEWBIE: SOLDIER CLASS
15 hours in, and the addiction is overpowering. It didn’t start that way, though, and it takes a good hour to get used to the feel of movement and weight in the game. 2K Games is calling Borderlands a Role Playing Shooter (RPS), and that’s pretty accurate. If you shoot at something that refuses to die, remember, this isn’t your traditional first person shooter. Those numbers that pop up over the heads of your enemies, inform you of an adversary’s power levels. The more powerful they are, the more powerful you need to be to take them down.

Choosing the right character class and weaponry suits your style of gaming. I’m playing through Borderlands as the all-purpose soldier class. While every character in the game is well balanced, Soldiers have the advantage of enabling support turrets, which can be useful as an additional helping hand during chaotic battles. Serving the dual purpose of temporary support gun and shield, the turret is upgradeable in several intriguing ways which you’ll discover as you become more powerful or find rare loot. If you’re looking for a durable class with high proficiency and increased accuracy in SMG weapons, the Soldier Class is the match made just for you.

I’m getting ahead of myself, though. It took me a little while before fully grasping the fundamentals of survival on Gearbox’s dusty plains, so hopefully some of these tips will benefit you in becoming strong enough to brave the wilds.

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GO FOR THE GREEN:
It may seem obvious, but wherever you see the color green in the game, go towards it. Green symbols are everywhere, and Borderlands rewards the curious. Find ANY green-colored light, interact with it, and you’re usually rewarded with some kind of money, useful item, or weapon that will always prove valuable as you progress in the game. Even during rare times when GREEN doesn’t yield loot, it’s a safe bet that GREEN is where you’ll find the next story progression point. Remember to open everything that you can. Borderlands is all about exploration. Kill everything and loot it. There are thousands of weapons and customizations in the game, so don’t get too attached to your favorite gun. Frankly, there’s ALWAYS something better. Also, because ammunition is limited, constantly checking what enemies leave behind will save your butt when you need those bullets in a firefight.

PAY ATTENTION TO THE ON-SCREEN DATA
If you’re accustomed to First Person Shooters, the Role-playing style data may be a little intimidating at first. At any given time, your screen is full of useful data that can help you make smart decisions. See the video above for a useful breakdown about what you should be paying attention to.

BEGIN IN SINGLE PLAYER
Borderlands shines as a multiplayer game, but it’s actually better to start off your adventure in the single player mode… at least until you reach level 5. Single player allows you to get the feel of the land, and early enemies are weak enough that you shouldn’t have too much difficulty taking them down. The biggest advantage of starting by yourself is that you get to keep all of your loot. During multiplayer games, the general rule is that whoever finds it, claims it. While the better online crews have a considerate trading system among parties, the greedier adventurers online won’t hesitate to find a wealthy booty, take everything, and leave you looking at an empty box. Starting off solo gives you a fighting chance at getting a good weapon to start with and being a valuable contributor to a party once your confidence level is up.

TAKE A BREATHER
Nobody tells you this, but just stopping to catch your breath is therapeutic in Borderlands. Certain shields recharge by standing and pausing, and some shields recharge your health by crouching behind cover and not getting hit.

VENDORS ARE YOUR FRIEND
Again, there’s a lot of on-screen information. It took me until level 5 to discover that you can sell items back to your vendor. Your shoulder buttons allow you to navigate through the tiers of your menu screen, and that’s important. You’ll access your map, inventory, and eventually, your Tech Tree A LOT. You can fill up your supply back pack quickly, as you acquire goodies from the badlands. Sell what you don’t need, or give it away to a buddy. Don’t horde. You’ll want room for that awesome weapon when you do find it, and the Vendors are often the best place to get modifications and upgrades as the game supplies them.

UNDERSTAND YOUR WEAPON PROPERTIES & ICONS
Whenever you find a new item, there’s a colored icon providing you invaluable information at a glance. Weapons, mods, and shields all have statistical data that is important in helping you decide if it’s worth it to pick up. Red lights over an item usually mean that the item is less powerful that whatever you have equipped. Green usually means that the item has some advantages over what’s in your stock, and white over an item usually means ammunition. You’ll often see gold lights, too. That’s money.

The same color system works with the value arrows associated with pretty much anything in the game. A DOWN arrow is typically red, an UP arrow, Green. Remember: You always want to go UP.

PARTYING IS FUN! DON’T BE ANTI SOCIAL
If you want to progress at a healthy pace, your best bet towards leveling up and completing story missions is to go online and join a multiplayer group. This is a co-op multiplayer campaign that can best be described as Phantasy Star Online in a fun First Person Shooter shell. Team with four other adventurers, defeat bad guys and bosses, and collect sinful amounts of loot. It’s not only addictive, but incredibly fun. Minutes turn to hours, and pretty soon, you’ll see half the night vanish behind wildly entertaining raid quests and story progression. Well, honestly, there really isn’t much story, but opening up new areas or just going back through old areas with more powerful weapons rarely gets old. Find a good crew of people and support each other. Play the game with the team in mind, and you’ll watch your levels rise faster than they ever would had you tried to go through the whole game alone.

KNOW YOUR ENEMIES
In the early parts of the game, all you have to worry about are the dog-like SKAGGS, Flying RAKKS, and the incredibly aggressive human Bounty Hunters. You’ll quickly discover that enemies in Borderlands aren’t bright, but they’re tough and will overwhelm you in numbers. The game isn’t about sophisticated A.I. There’s no trickery here. Borderlands will assault you with enemies that move quickly and hit hard. Worse, enemies have no problem attacking you with mixed types. Don’t engage an enemy that is considerably more powerful than you, and sometimes it’s better to wait in the wings while the varying enemy types pick each other off.

Enemies level up right along with you, and some of the later modifications of the early foes are too tough for one person. Learn how they attack early. Some lunge, some fly and dive, and some just hit you with whatever weaponry they can get hold of. While the patterns rarely change, the difficulty in killing them, and armor surrounding them, often does.

LASTLY, ENJOY CUSTOM MATCHMAKING
If you’re considering taking your character online for a quick match, don’t. The online matchmaking system is buggy when you want a quick run-n-gun, and will often drop early level gamers into sadistically difficult games. The best way to find traveling buddies is via use of the fantastic CUSTOM MATCH feature. Borderlands’ servers let you see players levels, the current mission they’re on, and how many open slots are available for you to join. Once in, the experience is usually lag-free, and the four-person limit keeps things chaotic without slowing down the technology running the party. In fact, your level of fun is probably only limited to the people you’re playing with. Gearbox Games certainly can’t make a patch for that, can they?

Enjoy!