Borderlands Previews
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From CVG:
While there are quite a few action RPGs about, the hierarchy tends to be RPG first, gun fights second. Here it's the other way around, with Gearbox using their years of FPS experience to great effect. Pitchford explains that while he loved Fallout 3, he found the combat limited, and he desperately wanted to play it with friends. Borderlands appears to be those desires realised.
That's not to say there isn't a great deal of RPG fun to be had. Each character can be rolled and built to suit your approach. If you play as Brick, the tank class, there are three skill trees for him to climb, letting you focus on brawling, tanking or blasting. You've also got a soldier in the form of Mordecai, magic-using siren Lilith, and healing support class Roland.
And a bit from Games Radar:
Four characters to play means four different classes: Brick the tank/berserker, Lilith the assassin/siren, Mordecai the hunter/sniper, and Roland the soldier/engineer. And yes, you could potentially have four of the same character in a single game. Each character has three different skill trees, and each has a unique ability (triggered by pressing LB in the 360 version we played). Playing as Brick, for example, enables you to trigger a berserker ability in which he ditches his gun, puts up his fists and longs for the taste of blood. The screen turns red and Brick becomes harder to take down, maniacally laughing while you massacre enemies.
Other abilities include a (phasewalk) that enables Lilith to sneak around and execute enemies, a shield turret for Roland, and a pet bloodwing bird of prey for Mordecai. All of these abilities have cooldown times, but are meant to be used frequently on the battlefield.
