Borderlands 2 | Review

By: Ryan Seiler
Posted: October 4, 2012

Video games – the art of interactivity. Since the days of olde they’ve tested our wits and reflexes, teaching us through experience lessons we could never have hoped to live. Titles like Missile Command taught previous generations of gamers the duality in nations control of nuclear armaments, allowing players to experience the losing battle most Americans believed was inevitable during the Cold War. In more recent times, Limbo placed players in the shoes of a child trying to survive a dark world of death and despair, asking those who play what they would do in similar situations, evoking a sense of loss and desperation.

But every now and then games like Borderlands 2 come along to give those games a swirly; allowing players to shoot at creatures called ‘bonerfarts’ and indiscriminately blow up just about everybody in sight. Borderlands 2 brings the most basic of game mechanics, that 30-second feeling of total ‘bad-assedness’, to the surface, parodying modern videogames and lovingly mocking any attempt they make at masking what they really are: games.

The original Borderlands hit the scene in 2009 and became a sort of insta-cult-classic due to its first-person shoot-kill-loot style of gameplay lifted from PC dungeon crawlers like Diablo and Torchlight. Set on the danger-ridden planet of Pandora, the game followed four ‘Vaulthunters’ on a mission to find and plunder ‘the Vault’, an alien ruin of untold riches. The menial storyline only served to set-up gameplay, largely being passed over in lieu of constant shootin’ . Although it received high praise and positive reviews from critics, most agreed Gearbox’s shooter could use plenty of improvement, primarily stemming from its visually and mechanically repetitive nature,  and having an identity crisis to whether it was a serious or comedic game overall. With a successor promising everything the original fell short on, does Borderlands 2 pay up? Or does it get left in the Pandoran dust?

Story/Design

Borderlands 2 tells the tale of four new Vaulthunters: Axton the Commando, Maya the Siren, Salvador the Gunzerker, and Zer0 the Assassin.  Set five years after its prequel, Borderlands 2 returns to Pandora, now under the commercial and military control of Handsome Jack. The tyrannical and eccentric leader runs his corporation, Hyperion, at the total expense of Pandora’s citizens, and it’s up to you to stop him. It’s a classic spaghetti western trope, epitomized by the clichéd ‘new guy in town’ plot that plays out center stage. Think Rango or even Blazing Saddles, where an official or company is profiting off of a small desert town’s suffering until a gun-toting outlander shows up to challenge the status-quo, eventually becoming the townspeople’s savior.

So, evil king gets taken down by the hero. Pretty standard stuff, right? Wrong. While the basics of the story fall into heavily clichéd territory, Borderlands 2 takes a sharp turn from traditional with regards to its characters. Unlike the first game, characters play a huge role in the sequel, Handsome Jack being in the forefront. The evil bastard is akin to a cross between Batman the Animated Series’s Joker and what Occupy Wall Street thinks of the 1%; referenced by how the trillionare spends his money, namely either to gain more money or to torment the citizens below. Did I mention he resides in a giant ‘H’ shaped space station always present overhead? Yet being the CEO of Hyperion he’s never too busy to taunt you in your exploits, constantly throwing in his 2-cents on just how pathetic you are, at one point buying a diamond Horse (because he can) and naming it after you, “Butt Stallion”.

Almost every bit of story and exposition not directly performed by the player is presented through audio recordings or via radio. Thankfully the voice acting and writing behind it all are spectacular, becoming the driving force – at least for me – in terms of motivation. (A few of the more notable personalities being Tiny Tina, Pandora’s deadliest 13-year old, voiced by Hey Ash Whatcha’ Playin’s Ashley Burch, Claptrap, the painfully upbeat bossy little robot, and of course, Handsome Jack.) Additional character dialogue can be downright hilarious too. Rarely do I find myself laughing at a video game, at least in a positive light, yet Borderlands 2 elicited quite a few chuckles; be it from Claptrap believing me to be his ‘minion’ after following so many of his directions, to Jack’s constant put-downs, often while munching away at potato chips, the game could easily be the first ‘comedy-shooter’ ever.

The four Vaulthunters from the original game are cast as the story’s supporting cast members, attending to their roles in bringing Jack down. Each has more dialogue during one level than than in the entirety of Borderlands 1, leaving it up to the new cast of playable characters to be this round’s silent protagonists.

The great voice acting and writing work extremely well when coming from a radio or recording; sadly the same cannot be said when coming from an NPC’s lips. The character animation during dialogue is on par with a PS2 game, as characters repeat the same movements time in and time out. I’m sure you’re familiar with this type of looped animation, where a character sways their arms and body movements in the same 30-second loop, in no way synced with their dialogue. This can be a major distraction, especially when most personalities are heard only. And when actually visable, their robotic movements can be jarring; totally breaking the emersion.
Story/Design 9/10

Gameplay

Like the original, Borderlands 2 plays like a first-person-shooter take on PC dungeon crawler RPG’s. Get quest, kill things, get loot, get new quest. It’s fairly simple scaffolding that Gearbox builds on with a slew of gameplay mechanics; mostly in the form of guns (the game proudly advertises a “bagillion” guns, and they do a damn good job at actually reaching that number).

Almost immediately after the opening cinematic, you’re introduced to just about every type of gun Pandora can throw at you; including your traditional fare of pistols to sniper rifles. While that by itself may seem dull, each gun has unique attributes, whether it be how many shots it fires, amount of recoil, and even elemental type. Additionally each weapon is made by one of eight  manufacturers; Hyperion weapons have excellent accuracy and sport a sleak sci-fi look, while Tediore weapons are cheap pieces of shit that are not reloaded, instead they are thrown away and explode; the more ammo left in the clip the larger the explosion.  Lastly each gun may carry one of any five additional elemental effects.  From the more traditional incendiary ammo, to slag ammo which coats enemies in slag resulting in higher damage from each additional hit. (Use slag ammo!) Considering gun type, manufacturer and elemental effect, thousands of possible combinations have been created.  Making opening every chest a bit like opening a gift, you never know what you’re going to get.

Loot is an essential part of any RPG, especially dungeon crawlers. Be prepared to spend about half your time in Borderlands 2 opening crates and looting bodies. Crates themselves contain randomized items determined by your character’s level. This can be either a blessing or a curse. You may find yourself desperately in need of a good fire elemental weapon only to keep opening chests containing only pistols and sniper ammo. The lesson?  It’s best to stock up before your next mission.

The four character classes have changed little in the three years since Borderlands came out, the Commando, Siren, Gunzerker and Assassin classes are just new iterations on an old template. The Commando is a well rounded soldier armed with an auto turret. Firefights often turn into hit-and-run operations as you run into a skirmish drop a turret and get the hell out, pecking off enemies on the way. Sirens play like wizards in fantasy games, using their magic-like abilities to control the tides of battle. Gunzerkers are the brutes of Borderlands 2, able to dual-wield any two weapons and absorb massive amounts of damage. And lastly there’s the Assassins; they play as snipers at long range and use stealth in close quarters combat, using a cloak and hologram ability.

Borderlands 2 is best played cooperatively. While the game is made to handle single player campaigns, the shooter is designed to be played with friends. The amount each player can customize their character’s weapon sets and abilities makes for exceptionally deep strategic gameplay. Just make sure you’re all at or around each other’s skill level. The highest level player will inevitably get the most kills. We wouldn’t want one person to have all the fun now would we? One downside is that the amount of loot dropped remains equal to single player. Play nice and don’t fight (too much) over good weapon drops.
Gameplay 8/10

Presentation

Presented with a cel-shaded, comicbook style, complete with outlines, Borderlands has always stuck out in a world full of drab realistically palated shooters.  Coupled with an original art style keeping consistent throughout character designs, landscapes and items, the overall look of Borderlands 2, while maybe not being the most graphically adept game, feels complete and satisfyingly original.

Pandora is broken up into smaller open-world levels. A hub area/town justifiably called Sanctuary, acts as the central location to the game, where you can purchase items, talk to the heavy hitters in the plot and begin most of the game’s many missions. The other areas are far larger, most needing a vehicle to navigate.

Speaking of navigation, a Crazy Taxi or Dead Space style navigational guide would have been a great improvement. Each level has twisting corridors and rooms layered over one another, surrounded by large open areas. The map only shows a top down image of previously visited areas, displaying no depth. You may think you need to head directly towards an objective, when in reality a longer round-about path is needed; or maybe even a path two levels below the one you’re on. In short, you will get turn around eventually. But hey, you’ll get plenty more loot along the return journey.

Borderland’s spaghetti western themes continue on into the soundtrack, albeit with a futuristic sc-fi twist. During tranquil areas, such as world exploration, an atmospheric area-specific series of light melodies and noises can be heard. Most areas of the game take place in arid western towns and landscapes, where the familiar twang of a ‘gee-tar’ blends right in. Other areas, like the utopian city of Opportunity carries with it a modern synthetic tone similar to other science fiction shooters out on the market. Every track is accompanied by a deep bass that picks up during combat and is particular to the game as a whole. 
Presentation 8/10

Overall

Borderlands 2 takes the addictive gameplay of roleplaying games and wraps it in the action of first-person shooters, effectively marrying the best of both worlds. Looking and sounding unique and colorful, with a truly enjoyable story and a myriad of genuinely humorous characters, the world of Pandora is a joy to explore. With only a few downsides, Gearbox has turned out a damn fine game.
Borderlands 2  8.3/10

Game Info

Platform: PS3, Xbox 360, PC
ESRB: M

Publisher: 2K Games

Developer: Gearbox Software

Release Date: September 18, 2012