Pondering Pandora

Borderlands was, to be frank, a pretty weird concept. Combining a fully-fledged first person shooter with a Diablo-style loot-centric RPG? These ideas seem pretty hard to gel, when first thought about, but Borderlands worked because it just didn’t take itself seriously at all. The whole thing was just one big joke because it had to be. The ridiculously overpowered guns, the crazy character abilities, even the way the game showed you numerically how much damage each shot had done – these things just wouldn’t have worked in your bog-standard shooter. But with its cartoon-style graphics, over the top gore and ridiculous cast of characters, the whole thing worked, and all-in-all, Borderlands was a pretty good game.

However, at the time, I had my issues with it. Once you got past the humour and the outlandishness of the whole thing, the world of Pandora, where the whole game is set, was pretty lifeless. Missions were handed out to youby noticeboards or over an intercom ferrying you from point A, to point B, to kill bandits C, before you return back to point A to collect a reward and accept another very similar mission. It also didn’t help that this game was released at a time where barren post-apocalyptic wastelands were two a penny and Pandora just felt like another identi-kit empty desert. To top it all off, the story itself was poor with no real direction and a famously terrible ending. All-in-all, this quickly made the game feel grindy and repetitive as you performed missions just to perform missions and inch your character closer to that next level up.

Borderlands 2 is pretty much more of that same game. Cartoony, violent, a stupid amount of guns. It’s another sequel of the many sequels released these days. However, unlike Call of Duty and Assassin’s Creed’s almost iterative attitude to game design, where annual releases are not only common but expected, Gearbox has spent 3 years perfecting the Borderlands format. Borderlands 2 is better in absolutely every single way, transforming the franchise from good, to absolutely fantastic. The AI has been drastically improved – now enemies jump out of your line of fire and use cover far more often than before. The classes feel familiar enough for those who played the original, but with enough modifications to make it all feel fresh. There also seems to be a lot more emphasis on balance between the various classes, especially at the endgame with stupidly strong enemies that require a well-equipped and intelligent group of four players to kill. It’s often hard to spot graphical improvements with games that adopt a cartoony style, but with Borderlands 2 it’s noticeable. If you’re playing on PC and have a relatively modern NVIDIA card, there are some fantastic physics on show. The water effects are astounding and fabric tears apart beautifully as it is shot to pieces.

Best of all though, Pandora now feels alive and exciting. A large hub city introduced very early on gives the player a sense of home and a base full of NPCs that provide the majority of your missions. The boring drab deserts are now replaced with a variety of landscapes, including lush highlands, tundra and large metropolises.

The game also sports a much better story. Something as simple as giving the game a proper villain does wonders. The game’s antagonist, Handsome Jack, completely steals the show and provides the majority of the game’s comic relief. Yes, Borderlands 2 is a very, very funny game. Jack is a truly sadistic and warped individual, constantly communicating with the player just to piss them off. The supporting cast is equally entertaining – my personal favourite being Tiny Tina, a crazed thirteen year old orphan, who spends most of the time inviting local bandits to her make-believe tea parties just to blow them up. All in all this leaves you with a game that is just, well… really fun.

In terms of problems, the game’s online component has a few issues. There’s no real loot system in play; money is divided equally amongst players as it’s collected, but weapons dropped by enemies or found in chests are awarded on a first come, first serve basis. Play with a stranger and there’s a good chance they’ll just hoover up every weapon dropped regardless of whether they intend to use it or not. Also a level scaling system would have been appreciated. I’ve been playing a lot of Guild Wars 2 recently and that game levels you down to the area’s level cap, meaning you can always go and help a friend who has played less than you. Borderlands 2 is definitely a game best played with friends and it’s a shame when one of your friends out-levels you. Sure, you can still play with them, but they’ll just sweep the floor with everything, whilst you do pretty much nothing.

That aside though, Borderlands 2 pretty much marks the beginning of the Autumn/Winter gaming period. Sure, maybe it’s not innovative, but if anything, this game is an example of how to make a sequel. You don’t need to throw out everything you know and reboot the entire franchise and you shouldn’t release a new instalment every year until you get it right. Instead Gearbox have taken their time to perfect what was already a pretty good game, providing both a great shooter and an engaging RPG.