Every year, at least one game that I expect little from ends up blowing me away.

This year, “Borderlands” is that game.

“Borderlands” is a first-person shooter with strong role-playing leanings. It’s also a cooperative effort that can be played with two to four players.

The art style — colorful cel-shading — gives the world a distinct personality.

The game is set on a dusty planet called Pandora, which has been overrun by bandits and angry wildlife. Your character is searching for the Vault, an alien hold rumored to be full of treasure.

You have four choices in the character you play, and they break down by class: the berserker, who can melee with super-strength; the siren, who can turn invisible with a concussive bang; the soldier, who can use a sentry turret; and the hunter, who sends out a bird to attack enemies.

You earn experience for each kill you make and each quest you complete. Each level you earn gives you a point to unlock new skills. Most of these expand upon your class’s special move. For example, the soldier can also make his turret heal him.

Loot is at the core of the experience, with nearly every kill resulting in drops of money, ammo and weapons. Chests and boxes are scattered around, also offering up loot.

There are literally hundreds of thousands of weapons possible in the game, some with elemental properties such as fire and electricity.

Adding your friends into the mix only makes it even better. While you can play alone, it’s much faster-paced and more fun with teammates.

The cool thing is your friends can play regardless of level or game status. Even if your buddies are 10 levels above you and have already done your quests, they can still play along. The quests won’t count for them, but all experience and loot they gain in your game will transfer back to their save.

The game does a good job of balancing the different levels. There’s a bit of a rubber-band effect; the lower-level players will earn more experience on kills and will level up more quickly.

I was surprised by how much I liked “Borderlands.” It has both the frantic action of a multiplayer shooter and the immersion of an RPG’s loot-gathering and leveling up system.

A definite must-play.

• Ammo, please: A method of transferring ammo would be nice, especially if your teammate is using the same type of gun as you and is nabbing all the dropped ammo.

• Not that one!: If you happen to be targeting a gun drop when you hold down X to collect all nearby loot, you automatically equip it. This is nice if you actually want to do that, but more often, my looting zeal made me equip a bad weapon.