Review #155: Borderlands 2 - Game of the Year Edition

 Time to raid a new vault!

 BORDERLANDS IS BACK BABY. I loved, and I do mean LOVED Borderlands 1, which is why waiting for the GOTY of Borderlands 2 was so tough, since I want to have everything on a disc. The waiting paid off, mostly, Borderlands 2 is awesome.

 Borderlands 2 sees the arrival of six new Vault Hunters, led by the same "Angel" that drove the past vault hunters. Unlike the past game, this game has a ton more characterization, there's a lot of conversations, notes and a bit of development, at least when it comes to NPCs. Almost every character from the last game returns, even the playable characters who have now been degraded to supporting cast, and they became much more fun than before. The game also features a fantastic new villain in the form of Handsome Jack and the Hyperion corporation, Jack himself spending a lot of time taunting you through radio("Echo"). While the story has its fair share of serious moments, it's almost 90% humor, most of it being actually funny. Basically, don't expect a serious storyline.

 The game plays just like Borderlands 1. When you start the game, you pick from one of six characters, each with 3 unique skill trees and a unique action, for example, the Commando can deploy a Turret for a few seconds and the Gunzerker and dual wield for a while. Borderlands 1's archetypes more-or less return, some Actions are similar, while one of the six characters probably has a skill tree that allows you to play more or less as you did the last time(For example, Zero the Assassin can be used similarly to Mordekai from 1, or if you want to be a combat medic, Roland the Commando supplied that role in 1, but now it's Maya who has the skills needed). If you are not happy with you build, you can just spend some money to respec your skill points at a few specialized stations. While the first game only allowed you to change your character's colors, you can now find, from enemy drops, more color palettes or different heads for your character, being a first person shooter, only other players will be able to see you, but it's still a nice touch.

 The rest of the game remains unchanged, it's First Person-meets-dungeon-crawler. You can find a ton of sidequests(Over a 100!) from NPCs, or just carry along with the main story missions, your choice. The biggest draw of the game being the randomized weapons that you can find. Instead of the boring weapons from most FPSs, here you can very well find a pistol that shoots rockets. Or a shotgun that shoots swords that explode into other swords. Or pistols that shoot tracking, corrosive needles. Admittedly, the loot system has seen a few changes that only the most hardcore fans will notice, as the drops aren't as random as they used to be, personally, I didn't mind it and I kinda like how this time around I saw myself switching weapons far more often. As for the small changes, firstly, you now get a mini-map on the corner of the screen which is a godsend. There's also a new currency in the form of Eridium, that you can use to upgrade the amount of Ammo you can carry, or the size of your backpack. They also introduced a great new feature, Badass ranks. Completing certain challenges(Like "Kill X amount of Psychos", "Get X amount of criticals with a Gun") will earn you badass points, amassing badass points nets you Badass Tokens which you can then spend to get small boosts to your stats. Pretty neat, and is a great incentive to try out different weapons or go out of you way to fulfill the requirements, plus, you'll earn a ton of them just by playing the game, so it always feels like you are working towards something.

 This is probably as good a time as any to bring this up... this is basically Borderlands 1.5 Quite literally, if you see Borderlands 1 and 2 side to side, the only way to tell that it's the sequel is the HUD. Mind you, Borderlands 1 was so  good, that I wanted more Borderlands and I got just what I wanted. If you didn't like Borderlands 1(What's wrong with you!?) you won't like Borderlands 1. If you liked Borderlands 1, you will almost certainly like Borderlands 2, even if you hate the change to the loot system. Another issue I found, which probably only applies to the Normal difficulty, is that enemies can be quite dumb. Get-shot-and-not-notice-until-two-thirds-of-your-life-bar-is-gone kinda of dumb, it's not a common occurrence, but it does happen occasionally to a very few, singled-out enemies.

 The GOTY edition of the game includes four DLC packs(Scarlet's Pirate Booty, Mr. Torgue's Crater of Badassittude, Hemlock's Hunt and Tiny Tina's Dungeon Keep(Not the actual names, but pretty close)), and all four of them are fantastic additions to the game. They are definitely not as tightly built as the main game, but I enjoyed all of them, and together, if you like doing everything, will last you over 15 extra hours. OVER. 15. EXTRA. HOURS. Gearbox has always provided quality DLC(At least as far as Borderlands is concerned) and these are no exception.... However, the GOTY edition doesn't include "every" piece of DLC, you'll be missing some of the DLC heads and colors, and all 6 "headhunter" packs. While Borderlands 2, by itself, offers hours upon hours of gameplay, and the four DLC packs adds over 10 more, it's kinda disappointing not getting every DLC. If Gearbox ever sees to release the missing DLC on a disc, I will be buying it. Just saying.

 Remember how I said that this was basically Borderlands 1.5 and looked exactly the same? Well, yeah, graphically it's exactly the same. Borderlands was a very colorful and good looking fame, so this isn't exactly a bad thing, and to be fair, guns now look much better. Specifically, Borderlands 1 had mostly realistic looking guns, now Borderlands 2 has very colorful guns with a ton of weird geometrical shapes and what have you. I think they fit the tone of the game much better, and they are just so cool to look at, which is why it's a bit disappointing when your shiny new gun looks similarly to your old one!(Which is a very rare occurrence). Voice acting is top notch, aided by a great script that has references to everything and anything. Which makes characters and their voices and speech style very memorable. Handsome Jack is particularly good and convincing, he has great lines and the delivery is excellent. Music is usually drowned by the gunfire and screaming, but it's fairly good, the DLCs having some of the best tunes in the game(Seriously, the Tiny Tina's DLC's soundtrack is amazing).

 Borderlands 2 was made for me. Well, kinda, all it needs now is specialized melee weapons and I'll have a new favorite game ever. REGARDLESS, Borderlands 2 is one of my favorite games ever, improving a lot on the already great Borderlands 1. Oh, and it's best played in Multiplayer, having split-screen is awesome and the local play is handled extremely well, players can shop or enter their menus without pausing the game for the other player. Genius.
 10 out of 10.