Written by Lee Clifford
A few years back I heard about a game called Borderlands; a game dismissed by many as “a poor man’s Fallout 3” before it even came out and dismissed as “a wannabe FPS” from CoD and Battlefield fanboys alike. Well, I’m not exactly rich, and anything that makes CoD and Battlefield fanboys rage is okay with me, so I grabbed myself a copy.
Immediately I fell in love with the world of Pandora, its eclectic denizens and comic book art style. Though the game had the unenviable task of being slated as competition for Fallout 3, as they were first person action RPGs that came out roughly at the same time, the game held a charm and a draw that one couldn’t get enough of, and, where sometimes Fallout 3 felt more like a chore during the more tedious parts, Borderlands was sincerely fun.
And I’m sorry but Clap-Trap vs. that radio guy from Fallout, no contest.
So now Borderlands 2 has come out, a game I pre-ordered over a year ago has finally found its way into my Xbox 360, and it’s everything I remember with a side of delicious side orders of your choosing.
Plot
The main story of Borderlands 2 doesn’t stray far from its older brother’s: a foursome of vault hunters are looking for spoils in the wastelands of Pandora, and along the way have run ins with gangs, mercenaries, warmongers and general ne’er-do-wells. Though the recipe is the same, a lot of spice has been added to make things even more enjoyable as far as places and characters go. General inhabitants of Pandora, for the most part, offer hilarious off-the-wall experiences with one-liners that will genuinely make you need to pause the game to laugh; the only downside of this is when the player reaches places and parts of the story that has a more somber tone to it, it’s not as easy to feel the direness as one would with a Fallout title. The game’s premise is simple and doesn’t take itself too seriously, an aspect that could ruin another game, but it just fits for Borderlands.
Graphics
The updated graphics still look like something out of the pages of a comic book, but the motion is a lot smoother now and characters and creatures move more fluidly than in the previous title.
For an over-exposed, cell-shaded look, the world and those that dwell within it all look great. Some of the views can honestly be rivaled to titles like Skyrim as far as pleasing visual aesthetics go; from icy tundras to barren deserts and lush plateaus, the environments all looks great and feel like you’ve been sucked into a comic book.
Sound
The foley work for Borderlands 2 has received a big overhaul. Creatures sound more fearsome, vehicles sound heavier and more powerful and the clack of gunfire could rival any real first person shooter.
Voice acting is also done extremely well this time around, while characters deliver their lines perfectly, making the out-of-place serious lines at least have some legitimacy to them, but the delivery of the hilarious lines are sheer genious as the characters sound like they’re playing it straight while they spout out some of the most ridiculous lines I’ve heard in a game in a long time.
The music gives a strong presence to the game, but doesn’t really steal the show. The melodies suit the moods and environments properly, having a “lone gunslinger” kinda feel to it most of the time, while ramping up intensity during adrenaline-filled firefights.
Characters
As stated a few times now, where Borderlands shines is the colourful characters that litter the narrative, and Borderlands 2 ups the ante big time. The playable characters, minus Zero, he’s kinda emo, mostly have some great lines that share a taste of humour through the trash-talking. The citizens of Pandora usually have amusing things to blurt out in passing, and Claptrap is always hilarious, but where Borderlands 2 blows away the older game is in its villain.
Borderlands’ Commandant Steele was a cold, heartless bitch, and that was about it. She was a villain that the gamer could hate, but mainly because she was just bland, she was evil just for the sake of being evil and when she met her demise (oh sorry, spoiler alert) the player really didn’t give a damn because there was little interaction with her and what there was just didn’t steal any attention; yes the game made up for it with Dr. Ned, a maniac who ran an island of zombies in a DLC bundle, but the initial villain was dull and lacked any character.
Borderlands 2’s Handsome Jack, however, is a villain you love and love to hate. This is a villain who, again, is evil just for the sake of being evil but damn if he doesn’t have fun with it. This is a villain who really feels like more of a main character, as he often threatens to steal the spotlight from the heroes. I love villains like this, as it takes a great villain to create a great hero, and while the heroes of Borderlands 2 may not become iconic gaming characters years from now, Handsome Jack could possibly go down as one of the most memorable villains in at least current gaming; if DLC was made where you could play as Handsome Jack, I honestly would play it, this guy is just such a great villain with a presence that overshadows everybody else.
What I like
It’s a game that’s fun, challenging, and doesn’t take itself too seriously. No game has made me laugh like this in a while. The controls are extremely responsive and the flow of the game feels perfect.
What I’d change
How I felt when the oracle (a recurring video clip of a really pretty girl who pops up on your screen now and then, and that I had jokingly said to my friends “yeah, I probably would”) turned out to be an artificial intelligence (that means “robot” in not-geek) and it ruined it for me.
Final Thoughts
It took something special to pull me away from Fall of Cybertron for a while, and though I’ll be playing with my Transformers again sooner than later, this is a title definitely worthy of being in the collection of anyone who enjoy FPS games or RPGs and can let themselves not take themselves too seriously and have a laugh.