Play This: Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 Cover Art

For the past few days I have been in constant need of something new to do. I have been reading, writing blogs, working on artwork, playing video games, watching movies, watching television shows, and going on long walks. Still, boredom seems to take my mind and I was not sure that I could be cured of it. And then Tuesday finally arrived and everything got worse for a few hours before everything got better. Why? Because I decided to order Borderlands 2 from Amazon, which meant I also had to wait for the mail to arrive before I could start playing it. Dragging myself around the house for what seemed like forever, I was beyond bored. I even checked my door every few minutes to see if if the video game had come. I know, it sounds bad to be waiting for something to do when I have a lot of other things I should be doing. But that is not how procrastination works. Finally, the video game came and I started playing Borderlands 2 immediately. After a good, solid amount of time with the game, I think I finally know how I feel about it. Here is my review, with the side-note that I have only played this for less than half a day.

Borderlands 2 [2012]

Anyone that is a fan of the original video game Borderlands should rejoice, for the world's finest first person shooter role playing game has finally returned in this new sequel. Basically, the game starts a few years after the first one ended. Everyone from the original game has found a place in the world Pandora and so you must start a brand new heroine in this edition. There are four new heroes to choose from, and again each one has a special skill-set made for killing. Side note, a fifth character is going to become available as DLC in the near future. These five heroes (if I include the fifth one) are:

• Salvador - A "Gunzerker" who's special ability is to hold two guns at the same time and fire twice as many bullets while in his rage mode. Also, this recharges his health and gives him bullets so that the firing never stops.
• Maya - A Siren with the ability to phase lock the enemies, which raises them into the air, prevents them from moving, and stops them from attack for a limited time. Works wonderful on bosses since this stops them long enough to let you get your shots off.
• Axton - A Commando with the ability to throw out a turret that both attacks and diverts enemies while he continues moving. In the last game, this character was the best because the turret would also recharge health and ammunition for anyone close-by
• Zer0 - An Assassin with the special ability of turning invisible while also having a duplicate running around in his visible place. At the end of his attack he unleashes a critical hit.
• Gaige - A "Mechromancer" though I am not exactly sure what her special ability is.

Borderlands 2 Opening Cinematic

I would like to note that the video displayed above his the opening scene from the game, the one you are forced to watch the first time you place the disk in your machine, instead of the trailer because I honestly thought that this opening scene was so much better. The highly crafter artwork and everything that is really Borderlands can be seen in this video. I thought if I am going to inadvertently advertise the game, I might as well show of the best it has to offer. Love that video.

Anyway, I love this game. I played the original and loved that one, but this one tops it right away. First of all, gone are the constant desert levels as they add in a few new background sceneries. I cannot even begin to say how excited I am just for knew backgrounds. The original's desert setting worked fine in that game, but the problem was that after about ten or twenty hours of watching that it become boring. So having a new ice and lush plains look really is refreshing in this series. And best part is they start you off in the ice lands, giving you something new to deal with right away. Besides this, graphics overall have received a really nice tune-up and the overall stuff has also been given a brand new, refreshing look. It is wonderful.

The new characters are really well done this time around too. I felt that in the first game a few of the characters were lacking, like some where definitely more powerful than the others and not all of them were as much fun to play. This time around they are all great and I love playing as the different characters. Not to mention, they all still have their own personalities that just make them more interesting to learn about. Speaking of personalities, this game still has the hilarious and funny comedy background that the characters all bring. I love the new villain, he is pretty chill and I like how he basically laughs at your characters the entire time. I also love the side-characters each player will meet. Some of them will be familiar, since they are returns from the original Borderlands, but all of them retain the things that make them funny and it really adds to the gameplay.

At any rate, Gearbox has made a great game and I am happy that it came out now so that I can play it to hell and back before the other seasonal hitters come into play.