Borderlands 2

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first off, i will write this review with one: no spoilers, and two: an assumption that anyone who reads this has either played or is familiar with the first installment of the game.

borderlands 2 is beyond an amped up version of the first game. it is bizarrely colorful. it is more difficult to survive. it is more fun to try. the guns are more unique. the gameplay feels better. the interfaces are better. the customizations are better. the skill trees offer more options to do bigger and better things. overall, it's pretty slick.

the basis of the game is that pandora has been taken over by handsome jack (clearly hiding something behind his strange mask) who is looking for someone to help him open the vault so he can harness some massive power locked inside.

if you spent any amount of time with the first, you will have the feeling that this is very familiar, yet completely revised, beautified, and streamlined.

my impressions were as follows:

grenades! in the first, grenades were more or less useless. here, even the early types you see can be AWESOME! some can combine crazy damage with transfusion, singularity, homing abilities, and various elemental damages. some turn into their own little flaming turret-like creations.

customizations: each character can change as various skins and heads are unlocked. i felt the first game lacked in this area. it isn't vital, but it certainly is fun.

item sharing: either between characters you play with in co-op, or between your own characters, the interface/s to share weapons and such is a welcome addition.

badass rank: the tokens earned from this can be spent on leveling up various attributes (i.e.: maximum health, elemental effect chance, gun damage) which go into effect across all the characters built from your profile. it felt nice to be putting in better stats across the board on my characters.

the guns! how could they get better? they did! the legendaries (orange) and some e-tech weapons can be remarkable, however entirely elusive. the drop rate for these items (especially legendaries) is absymal.

slag is a new element this time around. slag can coat your enemies and make any further damage really knock them out.

i will insert my peeve here: any time you look at a weapon, either in a gun cache or as a dropped item, it doesn't show the proper ammo type, it just shows a generic magazine next to the magazine size listing. i feel as though the rest of the weapon system is so thorough, why not just show the accurate ammo type (i.e.: sniper, launcher, shotgun), as this leaves it up to the image, and potentially the proper name of the gun to tell you what type of weapon it is. most of the time this is obvious, however there have been a few times so far that i haven't been able to tell right away. you can tell once you have the weapon in your backpack, but when looking, you have to just 'know' based on the gun image itself.

in conclusion, here is a general roundup:

concept: take borderlands. add steroids. and sugar. and red bull. and helium. shake it all up and let it loose. oh, and add an intriguing story (yes, we get one this time. and the villian is a truly sadistic b-hole.)

graphics: as much as i loved the first one, i would have liked to see more color. there are beautiful colors everywhere in this installment, be it from the environs to the enemies and everything in between. there were a couple of technical glitches here and there, but nothing that huge.

sound: the music is more cinematic than the first and the voice acting is quite good. i'm so happy claptrap is back! also, the voice chat feature for the ps3 is DRASTICALLY improved (thank goodness!). it was awful in the first one.

playability: everything feels smoother. yes, if you are playing co-op, there is still lag if one player is accessing a menu screen, but i'm not sure if that could ever truly be fixed. or if it can, it hasn't been yet.

entertainment: i bought the ultimate loot chest edition from amazon, AND bought the game on midnight release from gamestop so i could get their pre-order bonuses as well as have the opportunity to play it sooner. i played the hell out of the first one and continued to play it right up until the release of the second. i am certain i will play the hell out of this one as well.

replay value: i have completed the game six times (on three different characters). the additional dlc available certainly adds to the overall scope of available gameplay, however none of the dlc packs so far have been all that great, and certainly not as large as randy pitchford said they would be. hopefully the fourth pack will make up for some of that.

this is an engaging game, and hopefully it is well-supported by gearbox now and in the future.

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First things first, I own Borderlands 1, and all downloadables. I've beat the game several times, and camped Crawmerax for more hours than I care to admit. That being said, I think this game takes what was good about the first, and improves on it.

Starting with your character progression, the skill trees have been expanded for different types of play. For instance, the Assassin has 3 different skill trees. One for Melee, one for long range, and one for other character benefits. It provides many more options, plus, if you don't like what you've done in the skill tree, then you can (for a fee) just change your point allocation.

Now, I mentioned a long range Assassin, which is my typical type of play. It was one thing that frustrated me in Borderlands 1, because enemies would be at a long range, and still shooting me. Or they would come running and be way too close, way too quickly. But now, sniping has turned into a viable play type. I can stand hundreds of yards away and make my shots. As long as I have a quick recharge shield, those occasional shots that make it to me aren't an issue.

Speaking of shields, that's another change, that shields can vary not only the rate of recharge, but how long you have to not be hit before it starts to recharge. In a long range situation, I like a short time before recharge, at a penalty of overall shield strength. If you prefer, though, you can get a stronger shield at a cost of health. Or a shield with spike damage (Injures enemies if they hit you) Again, it just provides even more options for playstyles.

Remember those achievements that were in B1, that would then give you exp. when you completed them? How many hours did you spend idly running over critters to get the next achievement and 5000 exp? Well, those are back, with a twist! Now, each achievement earns you "Badass points". What are those, you say? Simply put, they allow you to improve character aspects across ALL CHARACTERS on you account! You want more accuracy in your guns, spend your badass points on that. You want a faster shield recharge, or more elemental damage, spend it on that. Either way, it works great. This also takes the place of mastering the various gun types, which doesn't exist anymore.

I mentioned running over critters, and that's also changed. Oh, you can still run them over, but the amount of damage is less, and I've spent several minutes on various animals backing up, driving forward, backing up, driving forward. You want to move quickly, you're going to shoot your way out now.

Lastly, B2 has now brought in this new element called Eridium, which functions like a currency in game, for special items. Whereas in B1 you could buy magazine capacity upgrades with in game currency, now it requires Eridium. But not to worry, it comes all over, from various enemies, or in lootables. Eridium is also used to increase backpack capacity, as well as bank capacity. That's right, I said bank capacity. You no longer have to buy a downloadable pack to get a bank, it is part of the game. Not only that, there is another bank that allows you to safely transfer items between characters on the same account

All in all, if you liked the first one, you'll like this one too. The graphics are even better, and gameplay is great. I wish the opening sequence wasn't so long for a new character, but other than that, I am having a great time playing!

Now, one caveat...there is a lot of language in this game, so it is probably not the best to be playing with small kids around, but with the amount of blood and exploding heads, you probably shouldn't be doing that anyway.

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My husband and I love to play couch co-op games. We played through Borderlands #1 two time and was excited to get this #2. It is pretty much exactly the same as #1, but why mess with a great thing? We played this twice through and all of the downloadable content. Not appropriate for children, they say some crazy things.

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I bought this game not expecting to fall in love with it. I played the previous installment and immediately lost interest pretty quickly but there's something about this game that kept me coming back. It's been the first game since Fallout 3 and BioShock that kept my complete undivided attention. The four standard character classes all have their strong points: Sirens [Maya] are great for groups as medics and slowing down the battle. Assassins [Zer0] can give you a bit of room in battle with cloaking devices & sniper enhancements. Commandos [Axton] Their sentries can easily do a ton of damage and give you the much need back up. Gunzerkers [Salvador] Give you the option to wield any too guns at the same time and take a bevy of damage in gunfights. There are also Mecromancers [Gaige] & a new class [Krieg] being released soon but both are available as DLC or on a expansion pack.

The game is great as a single player experience but is epic with two or more players. I never knew how much more fun it was until I played with a relative... I as a siren and he as a Commando. We left a trail of carnage unlike I ever seen in a video game and mainly because out powers complimented one another. I could heal and phaselock (freeze) and he could lay deathtraps with his sentries that just decimated the opposition. I definitely recommend anyone who plays this to play multiplayer and witness how much fun it is for friends to get together and blow through waves of enemies. The campaign is fun and Handsome Jack [Main Antagonist] is a perfect fit as a enemy you love to hate. Pandora is a filled with many unforgettable characters such as Claptrap, Sir Hammerlock, Moxxxi, Marcus and my personal favorite Tiny Tina who will all have you laugh in between the gun battles. The game could be beat within a weekend if you skip all the side missions but you're only robbing yourself of so many memorable moments that it would behoove you to explore all the side missions if not only to level your character up. I beat this game twice and I am at level 50 and still having a blast battling Pandora's Worst. Not many games sport such style and finesse like this game as well as welcomes teamwork in a non deathmatch COD way. It's a greet FPS with RPG elements that welcome you to choose what style of play you like.

The Skill Tree really gives you the option to tailor you character to your strong points. Whether you rather have a healing factor or you rather deal ample amounts of damage or simply want to move faster it's all up to you. And I haven't even got to the guns in this game. I guarantee you while playing this game you will find a gun every so often that will make you say "Where have you been all my life?" as you inflict such a devastating amount of damage that it will become your go-to weapon until you find the next "OMG" gun. I could talk about the shields and mods that will reflect bullets or "nuke" your enemies dumb enough to attack you but there is so much in this game that I can't help but say it was THE best game I played last year. Mainly because I never got bored playing it. It was just plain fun that few games really know how to conjure up.

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If you are looking for a game just to sit down for an hour just to blow off steam, this is it. I have played it a total of 8 hours since it's release and it is like a first person Diablo. Tons of loot and missions. I love the dark humor in the game. The controls work very well. One reviewer hated that the phrase "god damn" being used which I find funny. It's OK to blow peoples' heads off and see women wearing outfits that have their boobs almost falling out, but to be offended with the cursing. Wow! It is a mature game so it is expected. Other than that, it is mindless fun.