It's like somebody threw a firecracker right into a bucket of colors. The screen is covered by high-tech gun smoke, indications of taking damage and desert dust. The newly blown-up robot guards spray their metal residue all over the screen at the same time as their reinforcements show up.
Suddenly the ground starts to glow in all the colors of the rainbow by the shining loot me and my game-partners has fought over. We taste the sweetness of victory, consider shutting the session of - but instead play another hour of Borderlands 2.
The sequel for 2009's fresh - but not perfect - "rpg-shooter" is a clear improvement on all points. Like you did before you get to choose between four different distinct characters/classes and throw yourself out into a cell-shaded, open-world that offers an abundant array of story- or side missions. The feeling of freedom is very present as you blast away with a desert-truck into the wide, sandy plains - while at the same time trying the effect of 30 million weapons (not a typo) and develop you're character - a so called " Vault Hunter" that takes up the battle against the sleazy super-villain Handsome Jack and his Hyperion Corporation.
The wide enemy flora offers everything you can imagine and then some.
You get to choose from four different characters that each represents a class- and the distinctiveness in each class is very interesting and carefully designed. I mained the assassins class that's called Zer0, a sniper with a special ability that let's him send out a misleading hologram of himself. The dual-wielding Salvador is also fun to play battle-royale with. We also get to choose between Maya, who let's her enemies hang in the air with her phase shift-ability, and also the war-engineer Axton with his multitude of different practical turrets.
Overall Borderlands 2 is effect in it's ability to keep a balance between you and enemies, and also the classes between themselves. Hectic battles are mixed with some demand for after-thought and strategic thinking, which is a welcomed aspect. You always have to compare which weapon is best for any given situation, what grenade-modifications to use and how to spend you're "Badass-points" that are basically skill-points for your hero that let's you fiddle to develop you're own playstyle.
Gearbox are not afraid to give us awesome views in all the different colors of the palette.
Sometimes you get those "kill X amount of enemy Y"-challenges that aren't exactly any gaming-thrillers, but overall the missions are varying and enjoyable. It feels awesome to infiltrate a guarded enemy den where the enemies levels are almost as scary as the rewards are tempting, and if you would fall on the battlefield you can quickly get back into the heat thanks to a smooth resurrection system. The support-directed pointers from the machine that brings you back to life are also very humorous (in a good way).
Just as it's predecessor it's the co-op mode that Borderlands 2 shines the most in: If you got 3 friends and play online you'll get one of the most awesome experiences, both the exploring of Pandoras new zones and the intensive battles become real highlights with the right company and a feeling of companionship quickly develops during discussions of who should get a newly found weapon, or how to conquer a hard boss in the best possible way.
You get to develop you're character trough 3 different skill trees.
The gameplay also feels great and it creates a fantastical mix as the game also offers a lot of content. Even after 40 hours I still have a bunch left to do, There is always some side-mission to delve into, another Sanctuary-citizen to speak to or more weapon-modifications to experiment with. After playing the game for a while you'll also find a gladiator arena where you can try you're trigger skills. To try another class also gives a great feeling of variation, and for a cheap penny you can also "re-spec" you're current character to another tree in the skill-tree. A new game mode also awaits after you have played trough the entire game and there are also 4-group endgame bosses to encounter after hitting level 50.
And then there is the graphics. Screenshots and trailers had long been luring us that this would be a unique, beautiful and cocky visual experience and in that regard it totally delivers in a surprising way. Snow-capped mountaintops with powerful contexture s, the colorful bosses and the way numbers and text fly from the enemies, the cell-shaded visuals works just above and beyond. Borderlands 2 looks it's best at PC, at least if you have a good enough rig.
Of course the vehicles return to Borderlands 2, this time with a more realistic driver-feelings.
The visuals also works great with the relaxed and humorous tone that Borderlands 2 claims. This time we also get much more dialogue from the NPC:s and they more then not offer some laughs. Claptrap, the constant cocky robot-sidekick is as funny as Wheatly from Portal 2 and even the loading screen's are covered with texts that are just oozing with Borderlands feeling.
And it's just that feeling, that attitude, that can only be described as "very Borderlands", is what makes me really love this game. It's very fun and extremely addictive to adventure among the stretched desert plains as you hear futuristic bullets fly trough the air all while tying new and stronger bonds to my vault hunter.
This review was sponsored by BitGaming. The owner of the website gave me a copy of Borderlands 2 to release a review with a link to his website, so please do check out BitGaming, a website where you can buy Steam games for 12+ cryptocurrencies (Steem included of course).
