Borderlands 2 Review
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Here's a couple of excerpts from it:
Trying out skills and then reassigning skill points over and over is important in Borderlands 2, especially when you consider that you can play alone or with up to three other people. Grouping in Borderlands 2 makes the combat feel different; enemies get harder and you can use each class's power to support your allies. The Commando could toss out a turret, drawing enemy fire while the Assassin closes in and pummels enemies to death, for instance. Since loot is shared you need to pick your partners carefully. Playing with strangers or super aggressive friends means you'll likely find yourself in a race to see who can grab everything the fastest, and that's really not all that fun. No matter how you feel about Diablo III, making it so each player only sees their own loot is brilliant design, and it's a shame Borderlands 2 takes it in a route that means people are competing with one another.
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The main story's good, but the best writing in Borderlands 2 comes from the side quests. If you played and enjoyed things like the General Knoxx or Claptrap DLC from the first game, then you'll be in for a real treat throughout Borderlands 2's more than 30 hours of game time. Each time the main story starts to slow down, you're almost always given a number of sidequests to jump into. Mechanically they don't do anything all that different from typical RPG (kill this) or (collect that) fodder quests, but the writing, presentation, and acting turn them into some of the most memorable content the game has to offer. For instance one mission has you fighting off a (splinter group) of ninja-like bandits who just so happen to live in a sewer, eat pizza and talk like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Another side quest tasks you with collecting body parts for a robot who wants to become human, and his take on humanity, as well as the way he talks, turns into genuine comedy. Not many games manage to make me literally laugh out loud, but Borderlands 2's mixture of gutter humor and sharp wit did so repeatedly. Even when I had far out-leveled the sidequest content I couldn't help but return to it, lest I miss out on something awesome.
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Borderlands 2 preserves the best parts of the franchise while also making numerous, much needed improvements to areas like narrative and class skill design. Additional visual customization options would make it better, and the occasional technical issue takes away from the experience, but overall this is an excellent shooter no one even remotely curious should overlook. Prepare to level. Prepare to loot. Prepare to get lost in the hilarious, bizarre and wonderful world of Pandora.
