Game Review: Borderlands 2

If you haven't played Borderlands this may be a good time to start, and I do mean both games. This review will focus on Borderlands 2 but believe me the first one is just as good as the second one. In Borderlands 2 you can choose from 4 different characters, 5 if you get the DLC. These characters are in search of the Vault just like the ones from the first game. The story starts out by the characters arriving on Pandora and surviving an assassination attempt by a man called Handsome Jack, who has taken over Hyperion corporation from the first game and has taken over Pandora as well and taken credit for opening the vault from the first game as well as the monetary gains from it and has attempted to kill the original 4 members from the first game. Handsome Jack has made it a point to murder new Vault Hunters so that he has no competition in looking for another Vault in Pandora because he is after the treasures the new Vault may offer. After this we are introduced to a player select screen and the new characters which are Maya "The Siren" Axton "The Soldier" Salvador "The Gunzerker" and Zer0 "The Assassin" Each characters has his or her specialties not only with weapons but also with powers. Maya the Siren for example can stop enemies on their tracks and act as a healer or severely damage enemies through elemental damage. Axton can toss out a turret than can shoot bullets and rockets and cause explosions as well and can gain extra gun damage through perks. Salvador is pretty much a tank but he is also able to dual wield in Gunzerker mode and can heal and regenerate ammo, and Zer0 is an expert with Sniper rifles and melee damage, gaining a great deal of extra damage through perks and he can also become invisible for a couple of seconds to either escape or deal extra damage while unseen. Borderlands 2 however really excels in its storyline, this is one of those games that pays A LOT of attention to creating a storyline that really absorbs the player and it also incorporates many pop-culture elements such as memes, the Ninja Turtles and Batman to name a few. The game is full of surprises and even though it boasts a huge world map it still excels in back tracking a few times for extra surprises. I hate doing spoilers but I'll say this much, the ending is pretty good and a bit shocking it certainly didn't disappoint us here at Drake's Reviews. The game does have some flaws though, the graphics sometimes take time to render and can make the game look blurry in some parts for a couple of seconds, it's not a game killer but it is rather bothersome. There's a few places where your vehicle or character can get stuck and you may have to restart from your last save or it may take some time to get out of that situation. The fact that you can pick up millions of different weapons is awesome the bad part is that it is really dependent on luck and while you may pick up a weapon that is powerful and awesome on your first run, you may also pick up nothing but underpowered weapons for your level and have a harder time completing missions. The game is very challenging but to a fun degree and it has a lot of exploits that can help you out, sometimes though missions glitch and your enemy never comes out or gets stuck somewhere unreachable or can even be locked in position allowing you to kill them with no problem and this doesn't make for a very fun play through. The game is best played with a friend or with a couple of friends as loot gets better and while it becomes a bit more difficult having your friends there makes it more enjoyable and working in teams is a must. In Drunken Monkeys' and my playthrough we played as Gunzerker and Assassin, he was the tank while I covered with Sniper fire and homing grenades, or if we were in an enclosed space I would do reconnaissance and assassination before he went in guns blazing. When it came to loot we picked up as much as we could but we shared the weapons each of us preferred and when we both liked a weapon we would just clone it through an exploit cuz that's what friends do right? Hahahaha. If you're in the mood for a good multiplayer game Borderlands 2 is a great choice even for single player but as mentioned before it is better to play with a friend.

Drake's Reviews Score 9 out of 10