Updated Oct 19th! See updates below.

Despite all the great games coming out, Borderlands has become my No.1 must buy game for the holiday season. I would even go as far as saying that all games from now on need to consider what about Borderlands seems to have resonated with so many gamers. That’s a bold statement when you realize that I haven’t even played the game yet.

So what about Borderlands is making me rave like a converted cultist, potentially riling up legions of fanboys for Mondern Warfare 2, Halo: ODST, or Left 4 Dead 2? Quite simply: From the get go, Borderlands has been touting key features which I believe all game developers need to evaluate as part of their game design.

So while I reserve judgement whether the game will live up to expectations, there's no denying that there is a great deal of gamer interest because of these particular gameplay elements below.

4 Player Co-op
There are so many games that would have scored a perfect 100% in my book had they included 4 player co-op. Not to say that I didn’t enjoy my time with Saints Row 2, or Crackdown, or even 50 Cent: Blood in the Sand. But having taken on dozens of 2 player co-op games, I’m always reminded how I’m always let down because I had I to tell friends of mine who wanted to join in the game that it wasn’t happening. This feature has become so critical in my gaming choices that I would coordinate on a regular basis with friends of mine, and outline which games we would get next time so that we can play together.

Now, there is a RIGHT way to include 4 player co-op.
1.    You MUST allow people to jump in and out of a game at anytime. 
2.    You MUST allow 4 players to play through the entire single player experience. Don’t trick me to believing that you got 4 player co-op and then limited it to 2-3 stages. I’m looking at you Turok: Dinosaur Hunter!
3.    Don’t force me to play through the entire single player game to unlock multiplayer features!

I’m sorry Modern Warfare 2, but stripping out 4 player co-op was a big mistake. In summary:

Single player = Masturbation

4 player co-op = Orgy

RPG Elements
Borderlands stands out in the vast crowd of generic shooter games because it incorporates a heavy amount of RPG elements, thus making the experience much deeper, and personalized. You can find new loot which allows you to upgrade your weapons. You can gain experience to enhance your stats for various abilities. There is no reason why a game like Gears of War or Halo can’t include RPG elements that would allow you to enhance your character and stats. Even a game like Puzzle Quest proved that a puzzle game can break all expecations with RPG features. I was completely bored with the match 3 puzzle game genre until that game showed me that too many developers are taking a lazy route when creating match 3 puzzle clones.

I predict that by next year, if you don’t include customized stats, game reviewers will start to ding you. We are at that turning point in gaming history where the old way of doing things just won’t fly anymore, like when we moved from 2D FPS to 3d FPS. Or when games allowed to you save any time, instead of forcing you to save at arbitrary points in the game.

Unique Character Choices
Borderlands offers up the opportunity to play as 4 different classes, each one with a unique play style. You have the Brick (Tank), The Lilith (Assassin), Mordecai (Hunter), and a Roland (Soldier.) What cool about each class is that you have a skill tree which you can deck out as well, which can result in very different play styles even if everyone on your team is the same class.

Even games like Left 4 Dead and Halo didn't live up to my expectations, because I find that when I play the games with friends, I feel like my character was nothing more than an assembly line created Model T Ford. There’s nothing about my character that stands out beyond some simple aesthetics. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Left 4 Dead initially, but I eventually didn’t really care who I played. All the characters moved the same, used the same weapons, and had no back story that makes you want to play through the game several times to see how each person’s story unfolds.

I’m not proposing to make each character so different that it introduces inbalances in gameplay. But imagine if one character could use a flamethrower, and another that could carry around an extra health pack. Even based on that most basic tweaking, you then are forced to have to work together even more, so that one person covers you as a healer, while another person can enter tightly packed rooms of zombies to take them all out.

Why don’t we see more of these features in every game?
Despite my keen interest in doing my part in encouraging every developer to add all of these elements into their game, I realize that there are some real challenges to do so. These particular features require significant additional development resources to pull off. A simple shooter is suddenly complicated by multiple branching paths to how the game could be played. Imagine trying to design, and test a game that introduces hundreds of ways a gamer could do something that could deviate from what you planned for initially. In addition, there is the additional challenge of trying to tell a tightly narrative story, similar to Modern Warfare 2. The developers admitted that the main reason why they removed 4 player co-op in the single player missions is because it breaks the storytelling.

But let’s separate the excuses from the reality. The reality is that you can STILL build in 4 player co-op play into a narrative driven game. And while the story may not unfold the same as a single player game, having the OPTION to play with others is what I seek. I can still enjoy the single player story, and get the added bonus of enjoy the multiplayer co-op.

So the reality is that developers are strategically making the choice to cut these feature, rather than include them, because they are determining that it won’t hurt sale enough if you didn’t 4 player co-op, or RPG elements in a game, or unique customizable characters.

Which is why a game like Borderlands needs to sell. Because the best way to encourage someone to do something is to show them what they could be missing out on. I’ll continue to do my part, ranting and raving the only way I know how. I hope you join in the cause.

Update 1!

Since making this post, I have heard some heated feedback over on NeoGAF, a gaming forum known for its no-holds-bar commentary, so I thought I'd go back and edit the piece to clarify some points. I also wanted to add some additional thoughts.

I'm not proposing that every game needs to be an action RPG. What I'm saying is that these three key gameplay elements can be added to any game, and improve the experience. I also realize that every game can't have a blockbuster budget behind it, and that these elements would be expensive to implement. Coming from a game development background, I can understand the challenges of this sort of implementation. However, in this scenario, I wanted to tackle the issue as a gamer, and not as a game developer.

There's also no guarantee that Borderlands will be a great game. I'm pretty hopeful that it is. However, if it does fall short of the mark, that shouldn't diminish the importance of the features that many gamers have been anticipating for so long.

In any case, we'll follow up shortly with some gamer commentary. And what happens when you get banned from GAF. Things sure can get ugly quick.

Update 2!

I just posted up a follow up feature on the whole NeoGAF madness, and how I got banned, due to this particular post! Just so it's clear: No, I don't work for Gearbox and no I'm not a viral marketer.