Borderlands 2. Sequel to the divisive Borderlands. Some loved it, others (myself included) hated almost all if not all of it. Now Gearbox brings a follow up that promises to fix what's broken and make it work for everyone. Is my first step into the game a good time? Or is it just more of the same? Well, you gotta read the post to find out!
How they are gonna follow this logo gimmick up for the third game is beyond me.
I did not expect this. Gearbox has always been an iffy studio with me. I loved Brothers in Arms: Road to Hill 30 but their dodgy practices and sometimes middling products have left me with a wary mind to anything that has their name on it. And yet, they actually seem to have done what a sequel is supposed to do -- fix all the problems and make the game better. I'm not exactly sold yet, as this is still a fairly bland shooter when there are other, better and more creative shooters on the market. That said... this could work.
I've been playing as the assassin Zer0, and I've just made it to Sanctuary. I've completed the few opening sidequests, met Butt Stalion, and unfortunately have had to save Claptrap more times than any human should be forced to. And... you know what, I am congested. I started writing this back before the house got full of dust but now I am utterly zonked so, I'm going to lay it out rather bluntly and hopefully will have something more coherent to say next time:
The Writing -- THERE'S ACTUALLY SOME THIS TIME! Turns out Gearbox hired someone who can write about more than incest obsessed perverts, blind men who die way too early, and sociopaths who have almost no meaning. I mean they seem awfully conflicted on whether to make us feel pity for Clap Trap or laugh at his torture, but at the very least, the rest of the cast seem, I don't know, INTERESTING. Roland's a bit generic and feels way to eager to get you on board, but you know what, this is still better than anything Gearbox presented in the first game.
The Gameplay -- THERE'S ACTUALLY SOME FUN GUNS THIS TIME! I mean it when I say that the original game's guns were bland. Even the "experimental" Eridian weapons were just some stupid ridiculous crap that felt more pretentious in their usefulness rather than ever actually seem useful. Now, guns have a enough variety and their effects so varied that unless I can find a decent replacement, I keep the guns I found earlier on because they still are better at killing, because it's about more than f***ing stat crunching. Go figure! I never would have guessed including some amount of shooter aspects beyond shooter controls to your action-RPG would have worked better!
I mean, it's still the laziest shooter on the market -- I even found some bullets visibly bend to hit their target, but if this is the closest you can get your friend to doing a co-op shooter with you, it's better than the last one. I really hate the idea though that someone will play this and go "all shooters are bland, this is boring". This is like the McDonalds of shooters. This is not the rare acquired taste of games like Syndicate, neither is it the big, insane blockbuster like Red Faction Armageddon. It is the most basic of shooters, save for some grenade modes and weapon modifiers. The closest translation to this is Bioshock and that's still a stretch since this one is an RPG and Bioshock is basically a survival FPS with RPG elements glazed on top.
The Music -- HEY! I ACTUALLY LIKE THIS OST!
The Multiplayer -- I haven't been able to try co-op yet due to a number of reasons, but if I get the chance later on, I'll give it a shot.
The Graphics -- Wow, this doesn't look like it'll run on my toaster now! I mean it, the original game looked like s**t. This one doesn't. Maybe because it isn't actually the color of s**t?
No snark, this guy is just plain awesome by comparison to every character in Borderlands 1. He has what we call "a semblance of personality". Something your last game utterly lacked!
Okay, my headache is getting worse so that about covers it. I'm sorry if you're just joining in on my 31/31 now -- please check my backlog, you will find MUCH better posts than this one.
Cheers,
Paradigm the Fallen
I. Hate. Dust. Allergies.