Borderlands 2

The most RPG-like shooter has arrived!

Borderlands as a series is rather strange. A hybrid of shooter mechanics and RPGMMO looting mechanics it blends together fun shooting galleries while also providing the temporary high of getting an amazing new weapon in a loot chest at the end of a dungeon. The first was a fun game with almost no story and a huge emphasis on co-op gameplay. It was a great game that I enjoyed playing very much, however the sequel blows the original completely out of the water.

The story first then, and this is perhaps where Borderlands 2 improves the most. If you haven’t played the original, essentially an alien planet known as Pandora (no, not that one) contained a huge treasure vault of alien tech known simply as… well… The Vault. You played as 4 vault hunters who went around the planet looking for it. In the sequel however the original vault hunters did find it, however it contained nothing. The sequel however brings upon the idea that one of the great gun manufacturers, Hyperion, has returned to the barren planet in order to find even more hidden vaults. This brings upon one of the greatest game villains ever, Handsome Jack. The self proclaimed leader of Hyperion and current dictator of Pandora he is ruthless, hilarious, and has multiple layers to his character. As a new set of 4 vault hunters, you will also be searching for these vaults while Handsome Jack tries to stop you. The story really has improved with Handsome Jack being introduced as he is constantly known to you throughout the story and so this allows you to build up his character yourself as you get to know him during the course of the game as he keeps on calling you.

Our 4 new vault hunters, pick your flavor.

The presentation is a staple for the Borderlands series as being a strange cell shaded style while also maintaining a style of realism. It works well and borderlands 2 brings a wide variety of locations to explore, allowing the visual style to constantly impress in this seemingly apocalyptic styled planet. While not a massive variety of color pallets are explored you can see that the locations were well thought out and help to flesh out the planet of Pandora well. The music too is also a staple of the series, while battle music and such is nothing to write home about, intro music and the stylized, outback music style works well in this setting, especially considering this is a game purely about guns. The main thing which makes Borderlands 2 stand out however is the characters you meet. Each of them are unique and have interesting personalities and backstories, from the annoying but constantly in peril claptrap to the absolutely bizarre Tiny Tina. The characters help to turn a story that would typically be rather generic into a fun filled adventure of excitement and guns.

Guns are the main focus of course, the gameplay is all about shooting and looting, as the game so happily calls itself a ‘shoot n loot’. You do typical FPS style combat against a wide variety of enemies while you upgrade your character with RPG like mechanics and find new and better guns. The game is addicting, if nothing else. Providing that at the end of each encounter there is a loot chest with your name on it, it begins to take over your life as you try to always get the gun with the better stats. Each of the guns are randomly generated so they have the capability of being a shotgun that shoots rockets or an assault rifle that shoots flaming swords, that also explode. It provides an interesting twist on gameplay and it drives you to keep on going as you hear the sweet hum 0f a treasure chest nearby. The leveling up mechanics allow you to customize your character to match your style, which also works well with the 4 player co-op. Purely this game works best with friends in co-op as you fight to defeat a difficult boss together and squabble over who gets the best loot. It is a great experience that if you get the opportunity to you should definitely get some friends to play with.

Oh yeah, you also tend to shoot this guy’s clones. A lot.

There are however problems. While the enemy variety is good for the most part if you don’t like the idea of gun gameplay followed by more guns then there won’t be much for you as the game is literally nothing but shooting. Along with this normally these kind of games where you fuss over if a gun has a 0.6 faster reload speed than another gun work best on PC due to the interface. However it is clear that in order to also cater to the console generation the interface had to work with a controller. This leads to an interface that is not only confusing for a first time user but also is not great for either console or PC as it doesn’t give you enough detail to compare and contrast guns. Finally the intro of the game is rather slow paced and feels rather boring, but give it time or start a new game+ mode with high octane super guns and enemies to match them and it becomes a blast.

A great game then, no easy feat. The ability to make a game all about shooting and still not only be interesting but highly addicting is a great achievement. The characters truly make this game a stand-out from the usual shooter crowd and even those who prefer that kind of safe gameplay will enjoy the endless amount of new guns they can get their hands on. Back to Pandora it seems, Loot awaits!