Borderlands 2 Review: All you need is WUB-WUB

Borderlands 2: All you need is WUB-WUB

When the first Borderlands came out, it offered a pleasant surprise for gamers combining fast-paced, co-op, FPS action with witty, poignant humor and an utterly addicting loot system.  This time around Gearbox Software faced the perils of the hype train as Borderlands 2 skyrocketed to the top of many ‘most-anticipated’ game lists.  Fortunately, the game delivers on all fronts, upping the ante in nearly every single aspect.  I’m proud to say that I joy-puked my face off more than once

Undoubtedly, the biggest criticism from the first game was the lackluster story where an ending so bizarre occurred that it felt cheap rather than creative.  Thankfully, Borderlands 2 fares much better with an engaging story that features a host of increasingly crazy and thoroughly entertaining characters.  Seriously, I could watch Tiny Tina, a mentally unstable, thirteen-year old bomb-maker, play ‘Pop goes the Bandit’ over and over again. 

However, the real crown of the story has to go to the main antagonist, Handsome Jack, the arrogant and morally-unburdened leader of Hyperion.  As he is a constant, driving force throughout the game, it was imperative for Gearbox to nail his personality and they knocked it out of the park.  Whether he’s gloating about his new diamond horse named ‘Butt-Stallion’ or mocking you for not seeing a twist in the story, the voice work of Dameon Clark steals the show. 

Also, for those who played through the original game, Borderlands 2 illuminates and fleshes out a lot of what happened during the first quest for the vault, granting you a sense of vindication for playing through it.  You’ll see the return of the four main characters from the first game, who have actual personalities this time around, along with the majority of the supporting cast, who are as diverse and hilarious as ever.

The basic gameplay consists of driving to a new area, shooting everything you see, and completing a series of tasks.  This may sound monotonous but, thanks to the diversity of settings varying from a frozen mountain pass to a glittering cityscape, the variety of quest types, and the amusing story, you never feel bored heading into new mission.

On a blog entitled ‘Beat that Boss’, I would be remiss not to mention the bosses of the game, which, one the whole, are fun and challenging.  However, none of them were all that challenging or required any additional strategy other than “Shoot it in the face as fast as you can”.  Still they were a lot of fun to take down and had the omnipresent possibility of dropping the gun of your dreams which is an enticing hook to any battle.

Another huge part of Borderlands 2 is the myriad of side quests, many of which are just as charming as the story missions.  You’ll occasionally be tasked with a fetch-quest or monster hunt mission but more often than not you’ll be taking part in multi-tiered, fully voiced adventures spanning from finding inspiration for a love poem to helping a cult leader set his followers on fire.  Either way, you know you’re in for a good laugh and ton of new loot.

Speaking of loot, unless your first experience with Borderlands 2 is this review, you’ll know that one of the draws to this game is the endless supply of death dealing, thunder spewing machines that you’ll have at your disposal.  They’ll pop out of everything that dies and can be found in crates, in boxes, in toilets, in corpses, in trunks, in machines, in mailboxes, even in piles of vomit.  And they do not disappoint.  Widely varying in their methods of destruction, the guns range from firing slow moving bullets that explode on impact to lobbing lumps of burning magma that ignite anything or anyone they touch.  Despite the frequency in discovering new weaponry, you will constantly find fresh ways of murdering bad guys.  One downside to this remarkable amount of loot is that you will be spending a lot of time sifting through menus and deciphering data.  Also, during my first play through, I only found 3 rare (orange) items which was mildly deflating.  Nonetheless, the sheer variety on display was enough to satiate my thirst for loot.

A huge component of this game that can’t be ignored is the plethora of cooperative options.  Team up with a friend at home or head online for a full, four-player experience.  Having a comrade with you turns up both the difficulty and the quality of loot yielded from the experience, two great reasons to find someone to play with.  Also, the compatibility between classes makes experimenting with different people a hugely entertaining prospect.  Wanna switch into the devastating Gunzerker mode? Better wait for your Siren teammate to lock someone in mid air.  Wanna drop a turret as the Commando? Maybe you should wait until Zero distracts them with a clone.  Experimenting with each class is absolutely a highlight of Borderlands 2.  The one downside to playing coop online is if you run into a loot hog who just jacks all the dropped guns and sprints ahead to open every important chest.  While this is rare, it’s extremely aggravating when you run into those people and could have been handled a little bit better.

Borderlands 2 has maintained its pseudo cel-shaded look with black outlines tracing every colorful vista and character design.  This art style serves the game well separating it from the pack of ultra-realistic FPS shooters out there.  However, a notable issue with the engine is that it draws in textures every time you load a new area, sometimes for longer than ten seconds, pulling you out of the experience.  Still, once it has fully loaded an area, your back at looking at a pretty, pretty game. 

As previously mentioned, the voice acting breathes life into a lovable cast, making you care about the fate of the denizens of Pandora.  With a few exceptions (Claptrap, Tiny Tina), don’t expect them to do too much though in terms of facial expressions or hand movement as most of them just stand around and do nothing all day.  Still, the writing is sharp as a tack and the humor is the best to come out of the gaming industry since the PS2 Ratchet and Clank series.

Throughout the game, the music is appropriate if not overly original.  Twangy, folksy guitars strum during the slow moments while rhythmic techno emphasizes action sequences.  I never really noticed the music until the ending level where a booming orchestral piece accompanies you, making you feel really, really epic.  

Overall, Borderlands 2 fulfills its promise to make you feel like a total badass.  Every time I finished playing a segment of the game, I realized that I had had a sinister grin plastered on my face from start to finish.  Whether your chuckling at some new innuendo, mowing down waves of robots with a buddy, or trying on a new gun for size, Borderlands 2 keeps you happy on every level.  So if you like shooting stuff, finding stuff, or laughing at stuff, do yourself a favor and go buy this game.

Score: 9.5/10