Borderlands 2 uncovers more hidden treasure on Pandora.
Update 9/26/12: It seems that a lot of people are coming here to find secret things hidden in Borderlands 2. This is my review / opinions of the game. For a rundown of in-game secrets check out this Kotaku article. Now to the review:
The game that every intrepid vault hunter has been waiting for is finally out. Borderlands 2 returns players to the world of Pandora with a new set of hunters, a new villain, and a seemingly unending supply of weapons with which to rain violence down upon the heads of anything that gets between them and their treasure. I haven’t had a lot of time to sit down with the game as it was just released on Tuesday, but what I have seen has not disappointed. So here are my early impressions with the disclaimer that I may need to add further depth to my opinions later on as I get to spend more time with the game.
The best looking game
Borderlands 2 is one of the best looking games that I have seen on a PC. Not that the art style is particularly realistic, but everything retains that very engaging gritty storybook aesthetic that makes me feel like I’m making up an art genre by throwing words together which made the original so fun to look at. Full disclosure here: I am running the game with all settings maxed at 60 fps. So clearly that’s a variable based on individual machines, but when it’s running full tilt this game is just visually stunning. Of course, you shouldn’t take too long admiring the surroundings or you may find that crazy people holding grenades want to come hug you and watch the sunset for the rest of your (imminently short) lives. It’s also nice to see Pandora environments that are more than just desert wasteland. For example, you start out in an arctic wasteland. Isn’t that a nice change of pace?
The guns, oh the guns
So pretty, but so quickly replaced.
Come on, it’s a shooter and you want to shoot things. Gearbox gets that, at least most of the time (I’m looking at you, Duke Nukem Forever), and they give you just what you want with this game. I haven’t crunched the numbers, but they tell us there are 87 bazillion guns and that seems about right to me. You can have up to 4 equipped at any given time and keep as many additional in reserve as your backpack will hold just as in the previous incarnation of the game. The manufacturers you love are back with new twists to spice up game play. Want a gun that you throw like a grenade every time you reload? Tediore has some new models for you. Jakobs now makes revolvers for every gunslinging fantasy you’ve wanted to live out by allowing characters to fan the hammer as fast as they can click that mouse button. Add a seemingly endless variety of scopes, special properties, combinations (how I love you, my spread shooting machine gun), and paint jobs for the requisite style points, and you’re sure to find a weapon that perfectly matches your play style. Sadly, those that pre-ordered the game are probably going to throw out their Gearbox painted weapons almost immediately for better guns in the same classes by about level 3.
The characters
Getting in a little multiplayer action. Note the special skin for Borderlands veterans.
I’m not going to highlight each of the four individual characters that are part of the game at launch. There are numerous trailers out there that will happily do that for you. Instead, I want to talk about customization. I have mostly been playing Axton, the commando since loading up Borderlands 2. What I loved right off the bat was the ability to choose a particular head style and paint scheme to try and make myself a bit more unique in multiplayer content. What’s even better is that you can acquire new heads and custom color schemes throughout the game as quest rewards and drops. Why can’t a game steeped in blood and violence be fashionable as well?
The real fun part of customization is the Badass rank system. It’s pretty simple: complete challenges, earn badass points which translate into levels and earn you coins. You then spend those coins on permanent stat boosts (accuracy, gun damage, elemental chance, reload speed, etc.) that are conferred to all of your characters! That’s right, not just the one that earned the points, but every character you have or will have gets those bonuses. That’s probably one of the best incentives that I have seen to replay a shooter with a new character.
Just play it!
I’ll admit that I love playing games that present enough of a challenge that I’ll have to try an area or a boss a couple times before I beat it, but that still let me run around being the baddest thing on the planet. Borderlands did this masterfully and the tradition continues in part 2. The new network options that let you set your game as offline, online for friends, or online publicly allow you to have as much or as little social interaction as you want in your game experience. Having friends drop in and share in the fun is ridiculously fun and seamless. If you liked Borderlands at all, then you should probably consider buying this thing. Even if you weren’t thrilled with Borderlands, but you like shooters you should at least give this a rental because it might just change your mind. My only problem (and this is an unfortunately common one) is the understandable lack of cross platform multiplayer. Not everyone I know has a computer that they use for gaming and it’s sad to not get to interact and share the fun with those people playing on PS3 and Xbox 360. Just in case you haven’t seen it yet, here’s my favorite trailer for the game:
