Borderlands is a lot like Hellgate: London. I hated Hellgate: London. It was a terrible game and an example of how to do almost everything wrong. I quite like Borderlands. In every way it's like Hellgate: London, it's also better than Hellgate: London. It's what Hellgate: London should have been: the finest variation on the action RPG since Diablo invented the genre.

Read about it after the jump.

Both games have the same basic agenda: an action RPG inspired by Diablo, but without Diablo's god's-eye overhead view of the action. Both games are based on character development that's a combination of a limited skill tree and constantly upgrading loot. Both games move you pretty linearly through certain areas, quests, and boss battles, with a healthy helping of optional side quests. But both games let you grind, replaying areas to farm experience and treasure. Both games are better when you group with other players, either with different classes complementing each other's powers or the same classes compounding their strengths.

So far, so good. Two peas in a pod. But Borderlands understands a few important things that were lost on Hellgate London.

* Men in armor loitering around subway tunnels aren't interesting. A cel-shaded cartoon version of Fallout is.

* The circle of loot doesn't have to involve a slide rule. Hellgate has all sorts of upgradable craftable slottable gear festooned with stats and requirements. Borderlands has guns. Many of them have unique twists. They have unique artwork and animation. They sound and feel different from each other. But they're just guns. Guns with character.

By way of example, I'd like to show you something a friend of mine named Moore posted while he was playing Borderlands.

I found a new sniper rifle. 3x elec , with red text modifier I do not understand, 97 accuracy, 250 damage (not that great at first glance) 16 ammo count, 4.5x zoom, 3.somethnig firing rate. The red text says 'a hunter lives among the stars'. It shoots as fast as I can pull the trigger, and the elect effects is HUGE and appears to be 3 shots, and it has a giant shockwave looking air ripple effect. It fills the damn screen everytime I fire! this thing is CRAZY. Item name color is a deep red orange.

About an hour later he posts again:

Sweet mother of god the bullets f***ing bounce too, I can snipe around corners now, sorta

I can't imagine finding anything in Hellgate: London to engender that sort of excitement, much less the sense of discovery as you use it. Borderlands knows how to give its weapons personality above and beyond the numbers. The gear in Borderlands transcends math.

* You need wheels in a post-apocalypse. Do you hear that, Fallout 3? The vehicles in Borderlands are nothing to write home about, but they're vehicles, and they have mounted machine guns and rocket launchers. I would probably have hated Hellgate: London 5% less if it had vehicles. Not that it needed them. Borderlands doesn't need vehicles either. But it has them.

* If you're going to look like an action game, you should probably play like an action game. Hellgate was a confused mish-mash of player skill and character skills. And even though Borderlands' guns have an accuracy rating, it's very much a skill-based shooter. How good you are (or aren't!) matters. Borderlands is a shooter that rewards you for using cover, managing ammo, and getting headshots. Hellgate was just a bad RPG.

* The best kind of decision is a decision that matters. Hellgate: London was full of decisions, almost all of them trivial. But Borderlands teases you with the occasional meaningful decision just around the corner. If you just play a little longer, you'll get another skill point. You might find a better gun. Some new bargain will be posted at the vending machines. A new quest area will open up. You might unlock a new gameplay mechanic or find out what that last weird equipment slot is for.

* Leave being an MMO to the MMOs. Hellgate was a confusing grab bag of ways for the developer to try to get money from you. Borderlands is a game you buy and get a lot of mileage out of. And when the downloadable content for Borderlands is put up for sale later this year, I'll be first in line to buy it. Form an orderly queue behind me.