One hundred and eighty, one
hundred and eighty one, a critical hit for two hundred and fifty! Bingo!
Destruction! Numbers swarm around your screen like a pack of angry maths Bees
in Borderlands 2 and it never gets old. Unfortunately the same can’t be said of
the NPCs and objectives they give you.
The sequel has built lightly on
the foundations of the original. Tweaking the little things and putting a high
polish on the funky fusion of FPS and ARPG. Still set on the planet of Pandora.
A fresh group of four vault hunters set out on their quest for riches. Utilising
the random weapons and explosives you loot along the way to build your arsenal and
take down Handsome Jack. And find the real vault of Pandora.
Handsome Jack is the driving
force of the game’s narrative. Having tricked the vault hunters in the first
game. He’s now using his power as CEO of the Hyperion Corporation to unlock the
real vault. Of course he’s not going to get it all his own way. You quickly
become a thorn in his side by escaping his trap to kill any new pesky Vault
Hunters. Only to discover a planet ravaged by his efforts. You quickly side
with the resistance. The Crimson Lance led by Roland, one of the original Vault
Hunters and set about taking Jack down.
Currently there’s only a choice
of four characters. Salvador the Gunzerker, Maya the Siren, Axton the commando
and Zero the assassin. They are all very familiar in theme to the first game’s
characters in that their powers are similar. But this is where Borderlands 2
takes its first step forwards. The old powers were very disruptive to the FPS
gameplay, which made them feel as if they had very limited use. The new powers
synergise with the FPS nature of the game a lot better; either increasing your
firepower or providing damaging support.
However it still suffers from a
lack of active actions you can perform. Shooting is the majority of the action,
with a few on-kill effects and your class power to liven things up. It would
have been nice to see some minor powers thrown into the skill trees, giving the
player more tools and active abilities to throw at enemies. Admittedly it would
be a push for space on a controller, but it would help with replay-ability.
Another mechanical improvement is
the introduction of badass ranks. These replace the old gun levelling system
which married you tightly to your favourite gun in a literal shotgun wedding.
Now you gain badass points for achieving the mass murder of hostile locals in a
variety of ways. Get enough points and you can choose from five random character
stats. Each provides a small percentage bonus to gun damage, shield capacity,
melee damage etc. The bonuses have diminishing returns to discourage
min-maxing.
The scenery also received a much
needed upgrade. You’re no longer stuck in a desert environment for hours on
end. Instead Borderlands 2 starts in a frozen tundra and within the first few
hours of gameplay, the story takes you through other settings. Each of the new
locations fits well with the cell shaded aesthetic.
The sequel makes further
improvements over the first game. Most notable is the ridiculousness of the
guns. The designers have clearly had a lot of fun coming up with new designs.
The combinations of gun parts the game generates keeps providing moments of
looting glee. There’s a lot more variety within the gun types as well, so you
have a choice to make between guns. Do I go for the assault rifle that’s masquerading
as a mini-gun, or the high power single shot for the tougher enemies? And these
moments keep happening throughout the game, although the start is still a case
of pick the one with biggest numbers.
If only the same variety could be
found in your quests. The vast majority can be categorised into kill this and
fetch that. Even worse, quests that make you back track through weaker enemies.
After doing a few, I found they served little purpose. They weren’t even
entertaining distractions. It was just a check-list of things to do, which
exposed the shallowness of the experience. When you notice you’re doing tasks
that pad-out the game, the numbers driving the ARPG side of the game take over.
Everything you do simply pushes up arbitrary bars until you’re awesome enough
to progress.
The problem would be muted if the
minor NPCs actually did anything interesting. After a usually dramatic
introduction with a funky splash screen, they promptly hand you their first
list of chores. If they had back pockets, you’d see a whole wad of them stuffed
in there. It would be nice if they actually played an active part in the quests
they gave. I’d love to go out in the world and box some locals with Sir
Hammerlock, but no; he just stands in Moxxi’s bar not even drinking. Barking
fairly polite orders at you over the radio.
Thankfully the major NPCs aren’t
quite so unanimated. Every now and then plot allows some of them to join in the
fun. Handsome Jack steals the show as the best written character. His lines
strike the right balance between the silliness of the world, and atrocious acts
of evil. Brilliantly voice acted by Dameon Clarke. You get the sense that every
line is delivered with a sadistic smile.
Ultimately Borderlands 2 is still
a game that is best enjoyed in multiplayer. Playing solo is ok, but after a
while you do get tired of all the enemies shooting you. Having allies makes the
combat a lot more satisfying, hiding the monotony of the gameplay. It also
allows you to get something out the equipment and skills with team benefits. If
only the game was designed to let characters at different levels join the same
game. You can always join a friend at low level, but you’ll be able to kill
everything with a single melee attack. The game sticks to rigidly to a
levelling system. Borderlands 2 is a high quality game, but if the series wants
to progress for good to great. Quests and multiplayer need a big overhaul.
