Borderlands 2 Review

Borderlands 2 can be called a major hit of this year, as it is an exciting game with well-designed gameplay, witty and cynical dialogues, as well as countless weapons and equipment

At the time, the author of this review skipped the original Borderlands, so the second part was a real discovery for him, and its captivating setting drew him in for dozens of hours. If you’re wondering whether you should buy Borderlands 2 and if it’s much better than the first Borderlands, you can put your doubts aside. This is exactly the kind of game that’s worth your money, your time, and it is much, much better than the original.

Have you bought and installed the game? Don’t rush to dive into the open world just yet. A couple of hours won’t be enough to appreciate the whole game and all its strengths, so be patient. Besides, the game’s unique visual style might confuse fans of “graphics.” You won’t find super lighting, incredible textures, or other complex graphical effects here. However, after just 20–30 minutes, you’ll probably like Borderlands 2’s graphics more than the much-praised Battlefield 3 and Metro 2033. The thing is, in some inexplicable way, your brain “fills in” the details and features of all the game’s surfaces, while in “graphical” shooters your brain is more likely to notice inconsistencies and inaccuracies in the visuals.

Borderlands 2 borrows its RPG elements from five playable classes, which can be roughly described as: rogue, tank, warrior, mage, and mechanic. Each of them can use weapons, but every class has significant advantages with certain weapon types. For example, the tank can wield two machine guns at once, while the rogue often relies on powerful daggers. In addition to firearm proficiency, each class has its own unique abilities, and the skill trees have become noticeably thicker. What’s more, every skill is much more useful and has a significant impact on your character and their abilities. As is customary in RPGs, the final skills provide significant bonuses, though unfortunately you won’t be able to unlock two of them at once—you just won’t have enough points.

Players will be pleased with the well-connected story and gameplay. It’s this combination that allows for excellent role-playing with each character, grabbing you from the very first minutes and not letting go until the very end. Surprisingly, the story turned out to be excellent. The adventure is long, exciting, full of unexpected twists and unanswered questions, and simply wandering around Pandora is a very interesting process on its own. The writers also put a lot of effort into the side quests, which are impressively detailed. Often, they consist of several stages and frequently tell something about the backstory of game characters or the history of Pandora as a whole.

Along the way, you’ll also encounter purely conversational quests (which resemble rap battles) and even showdowns between bandit clans, reminiscent of similar situations from GTA. The entire game is steeped in dark humor and exudes a wonderful atmosphere of anarchy and chaos. And if you love endless shooting and the non-stop hunt for new gear and weapons, it will be impossible to tear yourself away from Borderlands 2. The variety here really is with a capital V.

Weapons, for example, are generated from a random set of parameters such as accuracy, fire rate, reload speed, magazine size, and elemental damage. For instance, acid corrodes machinery, fire easily deals with enemy flesh, electricity shocks targets and breaks their shields, and weapons made from the rare “eridium” alloy leave enemies with no chance at all. Additionally, each gun has a manufacturer bonus. For example, weapons from the “Torgue” company have massive stopping power, but only at close range, while “Tediore” guns are thrown and explode instead of being reloaded, with a new copy teleporting into the character’s hands. To top it all off, the developers have divided guns into tiers from common to legendary, and each tier gives its own bonus to all weapon stats.

Shields and other gear are a bit simpler, but they also vary widely. By the way, there’s a lot of variety among the enemies too. From location to location, both the enemies themselves and their weapons and tactics will change. This is very important, because the player will constantly have to adapt to their enemies, remember their unique weak spots, and keep changing their combat tactics. What’s especially nice is that each location is populated by its own “locals”—the fauna of Pandora, which existed on the planet long before the first settlers arrived, and this fauna won’t be friendly toward you.

All of this “zoo” is eagerly waiting for the player, and you’ll have fun and be entertained whether you play solo or in co-op. The first time, it’s definitely better to try your luck alone—get a feel for the setting, listen to the funny character dialogues, memorize the enemies, and pick the optimal weapons. For your next playthroughs, you can safely gather your friends and explore the expanses of Pandora together. The gameplay will become even more engaging, and the enemies—more deadly. If you manage to handle them, you’ll be rewarded with very rare trophies that you wouldn’t be able to find in solo play. There isn’t a full-fledged PvP mode here, but you can still test your strength against other players.

Gearbox Software can be congratulated on a true success. They managed to release an excellent game, which is also receiving new story expansions and fan-made mods. The gameplay, story, and RPG elements of Borderlands 2 easily surpass the competition, whether it’s RPGs or shooters released in the past year.