Borderlands 2 Review

I've probably missed the boat on this one by a long shot, but I figured I might as well voice my opinion on Gearbox Software's latest game. Borderlands is a FPS/RPG hybrid that was hailed as something fresh in a market that some people felt was stagnated with the same dull military FPS's that were being released year after year. It combined elements of any role playing game (side quests and a levelling system) with elements of any FPS (blow loads of stuff up). It received many awards and won Game of The Year when it was released back in 2009. Now, after much anticipation, its successor is among us and is being lauded by critics everywhere. But do I think it's deserving of its praise?

Gameplay

Well, I don't really know where to begin. The gun-play is just fantastic, when they say there are 'gajillions' of weapons to choose from, they're not exaggerating (well, maybe just a little bit). There is an amazing variety to suit anyone. Want to snipe from a distance and corrode your enemies with acid? Sure! How about if you want to get in-your-face with a shotgun and watch them explode in a bloody mess? They've got you covered. There is something to suit everyone's style of play, and the vast amount of guns encourages you to mix up the way you destroy that bandit's hopes and dreams of disembowelling you without forcing you. There are 4 characters to choose from. Maya the Siren, a person with the ability to control elements and can 'Phaselock' enemies into a ball of fire, lightning and corrosion all at once, Salvador the Gunzerker, a short, yet massively built person who can wield 2 guns at once, doubling the speed at which any who oppose him will meet their maker, Axton, the commando who can deploy a turret to help decimate hordes of enemies, and Zer0, a mysterious assassin with the ability to go invisible for a brief period of time and eviscerate his foes with his sword. Each of the characters have their own abilities which helps seperate them, but apart from that, they all felt the same to me. For example, choosing the Gunzerker doesn't make your efficiency with weapons any better than if you had chosen the Siren. Each character has their own skill tree which enhances their special abilities and gives them new ones, such as quicker reload speeds for Salvador, or staying invisible longer for Zer0, but it's nothing that changes your style up too much.  The side quests are all unique and while they mainly boil down to 'Go to this location and kill this guy', they never actually feel the same and they actually make you feel accomplished each time you finish one. The control has been tweaked to be just right for any player regardless of skill to be able to jump in and start dropping your enemies quickly. You are given a massive open world to explore with a wide variety of landscapes, but I will go into more detail about that later. Gearbox did an excellent job with this one, especially when they needed to one-up the first game, but they definitely did not take any risks in regards to making Borderlands 2 feel like its own game.

Story

The story takes place 5 years after the events of Borderlands. The 4 characters are on a train together where they believe the ruthless dictator 'Handsome Jack' is on board and plan to kill him. However, it is a trap, and the train explodes, leaving the characters for dead in a frozen wasteland. You are saved by a robot known as Claptrap, a character who also served as the players guide in the first Borderlands, and a mysterious entity known as 'Angel'. The main goal of the game is to kill Handsome Jack before he reaches 'The Vault' and resurrects an ancient alien being known as 'The Warrior' to serve as his minion and cementing his place as ruler of this alien planet known as Pandora. The story is good, and will definitely keep you playing, but it mainly just serves as a framework for all the other quests in the game and to give your character an excuse to     go crazy on every bandit camp you see. I don't want to go into too much detail as I don't want to spoil the game for anyone, but the story is definitely very solid and doesn't feel like it's been plucked out of nowhere by Gearbox just so they could make a sequel.

Visual and Sound

The visuals are just outstanding. From the design of every gun right up to the vast and unique landscapes offered, Borderlands 2 promises to immerse you in the environment of Pandora. You will be battling enemies from the frozen tundra all the way to dying deserts and even huge cities as you struggle to return peace to this cruel and unforgiving world. The art style used in this game has allowed Gearbox to just go crazy on their design and that's exactly what they have done. And it is perfect. The sound in the game is just as well done as the visuals, with each set of guns having awesome sound design. The music in the game is equally fantastic, and while you may not here it much over the screams of enemies promising to wear your head as a hat,  each piece has been crafted well for the environment it represents.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer segment of Borderlands 2 is a drop in and out co-op style. You can team up with friends to complete quests, or use the matchmaking feature and drop in with some complete strangers for bandit-blasting fun. The multiplayer has been designed as  core feature of the game, and this is something I was not too keen on, as I felt like I was being forced to play with other people at times. I would get constantly swamped with seemingly non stop waves of enemies and it made me feel like teaming up with others was my best option of getting through unless I liked dying a lot. However, if you can get 2 or 3 friends together, you are guaranteed to have an amazing time.


The verdict: While it takes no risks, it capitalises on the success of the first one and gives Borderlands fans the experience they've been hoping for. It is deserving of all its success and praise, and while there are some cons, they're not major ones and should not impact on whether or not you should purchase this game.

9.5/10


Thanks for reading my review, and remember, I am still new at this, so criticism is welcome and noted.

Take care!

Read More

Inversion Review

So I have decided to revive this blog of mine that I completely forgot about and will use it to review some video games. They won't necessarily be reviews of the latest games, but just games that I have recently played. So first up is Inversion, a game I felt was overlooked this year. For those who don't know, Inversion is a 3rd person cover-based shooter which gives the player the ability to manipulate gravity, adding a whole new play style to the game. I'll go into more detail below, as I will split my review up into different categories that I believe will cover the game in its entirety.

Gameplay

 The majority of the gameplay is pretty bog standard; just go from cover to cover, blasting anything that opposes you with the, quite frankly, pitiful number of weapons available to you. Nearly everything in the game is destructible, and this encourages the player to keep moving from cover to cover under heavy fire. However, the main selling point of this game is your characters use of the Gravlink, a device that allows you to fire a blast of anti-gravity in a certain area. This can be used to force enemies to float out of cover, or to pick up objects such as cars and barrels to hurl at your foes. It's a very nice concept, but very rarely does it ever come in handy, other than when the game forces you to use it to move obstacles out of your path. The AI isn't very smart and will constantly pop out to take shots at you even on the hardest difficulty, making one of the main features of the Gravlink completely pointless. The Gravlink doesn't even immobilise enemies when they've been struck by it, it just seems to give them more of a height advantage against you. The Gravlink gets upgraded and becomes a much more viable tool against your enemies later on, but by then, I had just gotten so used to relying on your guns, that I was completely forgetting about my ability to hurtle cars and leave my enemies in a bloody mess. Gravity control was an excellent idea, but its usage in the game is not.

Story

I will keep this spoiler free. The story definitely isn't the reason most people will be picking this game up for, but it still manages to be a somewhat engaging experience. In short, humanity is devastated by alien beings known as the 'Lutadores' and within 30 days, the once peaceful 'Vanguard City' is nothing more than a shell of its former self, as huge drills have destroyed everything in their path, and entire buildings have been caught in anti-gravity fields. You play as Davis Russel, a police officer who is on a mission to find his now missing daughter. You are accompanied by Leo Delgado, another police officer who was Davis's partner before the Lutadore invasion. The story definitely isn't the worst in these type of games, but there are definitely better. There was enough in it to keep me playing up to the conclusion, so that's definitely something.

Sound and Visual

I will keep this short because there really isn't much to say. When it comes to Inversion, Saber Interactive pretty much wrote the book for 'bland'. There is absolutely nothing, from the seemingly non-existent music scores to the generic and dated map design that will stay with me. Even the sections where you change vectors and are suddenly fighting hordes of Lutadores on the side of a building felt exactly the same as if you were on the floor. Everything is just the same dull, grey landscape and I feel they really dropped the ball here.


Ok, that's it for my review of Inversion. I was going to do a review on the Multiplayer segment, but I was unable to find a single game, due to the poor sales. All I can tell you on that side is from what I've read on forums and whatnot, and that is that it is pretty solid. I would like to check it out myself, but unfortunately that is impossible.

The Verdict: It's worth picking up if you can get it cheap, which shouldn't be too difficult now. It's fun enough to keep playing and if you manage to get some people together for Multiplayer, then there's even more fun to be had.

My score: 6.5/10

Thanks for reading. This is my first ever game review, and constructive criticism is welcome and will be noted for next time.

Take care!

Read More