Borderlands 2

Voices of: Colleen Clinkenbeard, Bruce DeBose, Dameon Clark, Jason Douglas, David Eddings, Jason Liebrecht, Markus Lloyd, Marcus M. Mauldin, Michael Turner, John Swasey, J. Michael Tatum, Ashly Burch
Developer: Gearbox
Directed by: Paul Hellquist
Rating: M
Genre: First Person Shooter
System: Xbox 360, Playstation 3
2012

Times Completed:
Tim: 1

Summary: Vault Hunters join the struggle on the planet Pandora to defeat Handsome Jack, a megalomaniacal, powerful dictator.

Review:
Tim: While I loved playing the original Borderlands, I experienced a lot of fatigue with that game while going through the DLC. I needed over 1.5 years away from the series before I felt good about returning for the sequel. I felt some trepidation in going back to Pandera for a game that was even bigger (and longer) than the original. My concerns quickly dissipated- Borderlands 2 improves on the original game in nearly every way. I was stunned by how much I loved this game. It does keep much the same, but the narrative, the characters, the villain- they all represented an enormous improvement. That feels so incredibly rare to me. I contrast this with Bioshock- a similar franchise in some ways. The first game was outstanding, one of the all-time best. The sequel was good, but it felt derivative. It felt like the same experience, just a bit worse. Borderlands 2 goes the opposite direction and that should be celebrated.

I thought it was brilliant to use the playable characters from the first game as the main NPC characters this time around. I never really got to know Lilith, Roland, or Mordecai, so for them to become some memorable, larger-than-life characters here felt like a real treat. And, when Brick finally shows up, I felt pure delight in seeing that character again. This was such a great move. The game is helped immensely by introducing a formidable antagonist in Handsome Jack. Jack's dialogue is great and as a constant nag, he becomes someone you desperately want to kill. Instead of this game just focusing on finding an alien Vault, there's a whole narrative around trying to defeat Handsome Jack, save Sanctuary, and potentially find another Vault. I read that the script this time around was 7x longer than the original- the emphasis on story here truly differentiates the game. Handsome Jack is a hateful tyrant. As you play the game, you feel more invested than ever before.

Similar to the first game, I randomly picked a character without much research. I picked Salvador, since he kind of reminded me of Brick. I'm not familiar with the other new characters. I won't say I ever loved Sal, but he was fine. I admit, I never really used his Gunzerker abilities. The game offers the same animated violence, the same over-the-top, ludicrous humor. The writing is really good in this game. It also helped having such familiarity with the franchise at this point.

For the main game, I completed 125/128 total missions. I didn't do Customer Service, Arms Dealing, or You.Will.Die.(Seriously). I could have finished the first two, I just hated the timed mailbox missions. They felt so stupid to me, pointless and annoying to try and navigate around the map. This was really something that would grow as I progressed in the game- a determination that I didn't need to do everything. Some of this is due to the fact that this game is even more massive than the original- with all the DLC, there's 287 total missions. That's really cool, but it feels like it takes forever. Many of the ones here pit you against "Invincible" foes or missions labeled "Impossible", to push you to do the True Vault Hunter mode, or to tackle bosses with multiplayer. I solo'd it, so it quickly became an easier choice to decide I didn't need to do everything here. I wanted to experience the game deeply, but felt little desire to complete everything.

This was important, because like the first game, beating it is only the beginning. There's a seemingly endless amount of DLC. When I finished the main game, I was blown away- the narrative, the characters, they are all significantly better than the previous game, which I thought was incredible. There's no doubt that Borderlands 2 belongs in the conversation as one of the greatest games of all time. So much to celebrate. But, because Gearbox loves and hates us, we also have a ton of DLCs to work through. My approach started out more "completionist", but eventually I decided to play until I stopped having fun. I started with the Captain Scarlett DLC, which I thought was okay. The story and characters were pretty bland, but for the first DLC, I finished 29/32 missions- I didn't do Treasure of the Sands (which I think is just beating it over again for no real reason?) and then the two Invincible ones- Hyperius and Master Gee. I didn't feel much desire to level up forever or find online partners to tackle those. After that, I did Mr. Torque's Campaign of Carnage. I hate the battle arena missions, but I absolutely love Torque- the dialogue, the delivery, he's one of the funniest characters in the game. I did 30/40 of those missions and ignored lot of Tier 3 ridiculousness that I wasn't interested in doing. Next, I did Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt DLC and this one nearly broke me. I felt the most fatigue here and I mostly hated it. Hammerlock is one of my least favorite characters and some of the hunting missions were beyond annoying. I seriously considered just stopping the game. I did stick it out for 12/17 total missions. I moved to Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep, and my love for the game returned. This was by far the best DLC- the spoofing of Dungeons & Dragons, getting to see all the characters playing a board game together, the humor, the settings- I loved it. It brought new energy and joy to my playing. I finished 24/31 missions. I also did 2/3 missions of the Ravenous Wattle Gobbler (the third mission with Grandma glitched out, and I wasn't going to do all that again), then I did 2/2 mission for How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day (so much fun), 2/2 missions for Mad Moxi and the Wedding Day Massacre (fairly decent), 2/2 missions for T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest (okay, but annoying), and 2/2 missions for Sir Hammerlock vs. Son of Crawmerax. I also did 2/3 missions for Raid on Digistruct Peak, and I did all 5/5 missions for Creature Slaughterdome.

That's an insane amount of content, and even with completing every DLC (I did all the story missions) and a lot of the side missions, I still left a lot on the table. I had to. Because, even though that already seems overwhelming, there was also Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary, a challenging DLC released much later that bridges the gap between Borderlands 2 and Borderlands 3 (and spoils some of Borderlands The Pre-Sequel. I completed that DLC, too, and a total of 16/20 missions.

I know that in the world of this video game, I'm probably middle of the road as a player. I completed all the story missions in the game, but left a lot of the optional side missions unfinished. As a total number, I completed 253/287 total missions. That's way more than the first game. I admit, a small part of me feels badly that I didn't do more. But, from a narrative and experiential standpoint, I feel proud of what I did in this game. I played the game for a total of 105 hours, and I got Salvador to Level 45 Beast. I totaled 2,644,358 XP. My shield was 11,779 and my life 34,207. I finished with $198,484, but I died a lot. I thought the new mechanic of Badass Rank was fun. I never purposely chased increasing this, though. I finished with a Badass Rank of 9,627. Some of my plus-ups were Max Health +9.8%, Gun Damage +9.1%, Critical Hit Dmg +8.4%. Gun Acc +7.6%. Again, I totally admit I'm average here. I saw pics online of others' Badass Rank and it nearly defies belief. That was never my intention. So, I could have done a lot more, but I don't think that discounts all the things I did here.

While I did feel fatigue at times and especially towards the end, the reality is that I love Borderlands 2. It's one of my favorite games of all time. It improves on the original in nearly every sense and it furthers the worldbuilding of Pandora and the Vault Hunters. I enjoyed my time here even more than in the first game and this one shoots the franchise massively up the ranks. I 100% need another long vacation from this game, but unlike the last time, I'm legitimately excited to keep playing. My break this time won't be as long, because I can't wait to jump back into this world. Gearbox pulled off something truly magical here- Borderlands 2 is an all-timer.



Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



If You Enjoyed This Game, We Recommend: Borderlands, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Bioshock, Portal, Portal 2