You know I’ve satisfied with Borderlands 2 everyday I’ve played it (which is most days); and Gaige the Mechromancer is an awesome addition to the game but I’ll be honest people – I didn’t expect anymore til the next year and that would have been fine. But Gearbox in their infinite excellence just released a new DLC full of new locals, enemies, characters, and of course guns. Entitled ‘Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty’ (add your own joke here) this adventure takes the vault hunters to dusty dunes of Oasis to hunt down a legendary pirate. Sadly Oasis guarded by crazies and monsters (natch) and the treasure has been lost over the ages; so players will have to work with the completely untrustworthy Captain Scarlett. Will the vault hunters brave the dangers and find an actual treasure that’s not a monster or a trap? Will the Captain Scarlett predictably betray you and try to take the treasure for herself. There’s only one way to find out, buy the DLC today.
Meet Gaige the Mechromancer: if she’s not killing you with a big robot then she’s killing you a with a big gun. She’ll fit in just fine in Pandora.
That’s right Gaige, also known as the ‘girlfriend’ class (because of the ease of the character’s playing style), is now available for download and play Borderlands 2. Now if you all were like me and pre-ordered the game you were instantly joined into the Borderlands 2Premier Club; which got you not only Gearbox golden guns, a vault hunter relic, and a golden key but the ability to download the Mechromancer class for free. Sadly if you did not pre order the game you might have put some bills down to get this technological terror. I’ve spend some one on one time with her and I must admit having Deathtrap (her action skill) alone does make the game easier by comparison. That rocket powered rumbler is amazing; he can fly, hunt down enemies and destroy them almost single handedly. He even invincible and only is truly defeated when his 60 sec timer runs out. However what saves this class from being over powered is that the class tress themselves are double edged. For example the ‘Ordered Chaos’ tree is all about buffs and single DPS but at the cost of other stats and even health. The ‘Best Friends Forever’ tree is a safer choice for those not feeling daring but don’t expect to any real damage without Deathtrap. Finally the ‘Little Big Trouble Tree’ is all about status pain – if you like burning, melting, slagging or electrocuting this is the tree for you. These three trees here are for the experts, choosing which abilities will work best will separate the bots mastsa from the bot ‘last’sas. As for me; Gunzerking was fun, but I’m due for a change and Gaige has the right tools for the job. 2nd play through here I come.
Now it’s time for the long awaited Borderlands 2 review. To be honest I planed on posting this last week but I got laid up in the hospital (long story). However I used those extra days to give this game a thorough play through and I’ve come to the conclusion that this sequel is a tough, unforgiving, adventure into a world of contain conflict and strife. At a drop of a hat you’ll eat dirt by some monster 5 lvls ahead of you because your weapons are 5 lvls below yours. Your enemies are unrelenting, the trials you face are fierce and the hazards are many but ladies and gentlemen – you’ll love every minute of it. Let us begin.
The story for the first game went like this: kill things, open a door to awesome treasure, fight the beastie inside the treasure door (no treasure inside either by the by), watch opened ended ending, the end. Sure there were DLCs here and there, but that was basically it. Fortunately Borderlands 2 is more than willing to fill in the gaps on what happened to the original vault hunter group and Pandora after the vault opening – sadly it’s not good. Apparently, and how exactly I don’t know, a character known as Handsome Jack took the credit of opening the vault on Pandora and in turn was credited on finding a new and power element called Eridium. This discovery made him rich and the company he owns, Hyperion, a serious force in the galaxy. Now they all but own the planet now and driven the original team underground. Jack however doesn’t plan to stop there, he want to grab ultimate power and believe its on planet somewhere. To make sure he’s the only one to find it, he’s been luring new vault hunters to the planet and killing them. Which is there our new cast comes from, all hailing from different walks of life and having their own reasons to finding the new vault. Axton, thrill seeking soldier looking for the next big challenge; Maya, a powerful siren who wants to find her true purpose on the chaotic world; Zer0, cybernetic ninja/sniper who’s goals are his own; and Salvador, he shoots things –a lot. These four were the next in line of the Handsome Jack slaughter tour, but they survived and got away. So now the new vault hunters have a tall laundry list to address: find the new vault, find the old vault hunters, destroy Hyperion, save Pandora, and of course kill Handsome Jack – a lot.
Borderlands 2 is the grand love child of adventuring, role playing (somewhat), and first person shooter genres. While most of the time you’ll be shooting something, this game has tons of hidden gems to keep you busy – such as customization. For each character players have three different skill trees to work with. They can finely tune different abilities within the trees to make the perfect character for their play style. Players can also change the look of their character class, because what’s the use of setting people on fire with your mind if you can’t look good doing it. As an added bonus, certain costume pieces (and weapons) can change what the character says (or does) in battle. The world of Pandora is larger and more varied than it was first game; acid swaps, frigid cliffs, desert junkyards and more awaiting an eager vault hunter who wants to see sights and kill the things living there. Speaking of which – the enemies this times around are the sheez. I’m serious no two types are enemies fight the same, each one has their own tactics, tricks, and abilities that make shooting mobs challenging and enjoyable. And just to break the routine they’ll throw a ‘b@d a$$’ version of an enemy that are big, stronger, less vulnerable, and always fun to put down. Finally the weapons – they’re awesome! Most FPSes try to change up their weapons in unique ways or create new ones from the ground up however a shotgun is a shotgun no matter what. However in Borderlands 2, who makes the weapon (the Weapon Manufacturers, eight in all) will radically effect how the weapon functions. You’ll wish for more hours in the day to discover the countless ways of dealing damage. All this and a Co-Op and Game + options.
Ranking
Yeah this is a no brainer here; Borderlands 2 is like the original but 87 bazillion times better. Better story, better weapons, better enemies, better settings, better characters (slightly), better action, better game. Play this game whenever you can and buy it as soon as possible, don’t even wait for Christmas – it’s that good. My only ‘one’ compliant is that I wish the game was longer, but hey that’s what DLCs (and Game +) are for. Thank you Gearbox, for once again affirming my love for video games let your creatively never end.
Well people today D day, meaning the day to pick up your copy of Borderlands 2 (yes!), which is something I’ll be doing the first change I get. However there are a bunch of players giving the Borderlands series a try for the first time. Pandora’s a trip and coming to it for the first time can be very painful without a little guidance, so the following here are some of my collected knowledge & strategy of my time spent in the first game. Yes, I know the 2nd game maybe different from the first, but from what I researched the core mechanics are still there so these tips are good. If nothing else it will help you die less.
Know your character classes: Seriously, this is more important now than it was in the first game. In Borderlands the classes were different sure but they were only good for dealing damage. Which is good and bad for many reasons; however in this sequel the classes are finely tuned and actually have roles on the battlefield. The Gunzerker can bring the pain but also tank enemies to keep the team protected; the Siren is a controller keeping enemies suppressed or confused but she’s also a decent healer if spec’ed correctly; Commando is a true DPS taking out mobs of enemies with his turret(s) – heck he can upgrade it with a nuke effect every time its deployed so yeah there you go; but of course no classed based game would be complete without a massive single DPS assassin which the game also has (funny enough you can choose to take that role up close or through a sniper scope). Find a class that resonates with you and go for it, just make sure you know what you’re getting into.
Know your Gun: With 87 Bazillion Guns at our disposal this should be obvious, but again people just want to use the most powerful they can, not realizing the difference of the guns and the Manufacturers who made them. The difference between a Jakobs shotgun and one from Maliwan can make all the difference in a fire fight. Jakobs is the higher caliber weapon on paper; however Maliwan attaches elemental effects to all their weapons and that’s a definite plus against enemies’ resistance to non-elemental damage. Fortunately for us players we get up to four weapon slots to customize our arsenal with; so for the love all things good and awesome don’t be a brand loyalist – try new things!
Know your mods: Like the guns, the Manufacturers also affect the mods you use. Mods, if you didn’t know, enhance your grenades, energy shields, and even your class stats in unique, sometimes unexpected, ways. You got to decide which is most useful to you and your combat roles because you’ll need every advantage you can get as the weight of Pandora starts bearing down on you.
Kill, kill, kill!: Now most guns you can buy from the venders or get as rewards for completing quests. We all know however all the really deadly goodies are hidden on or in the baddies we take down. What’s more the higher level monsters often have the best gear to loot. So the bigger and badder the beastie is, the more likely your get that purple, gold (not orange, gold), or dare I say, pearlescent item of your dreams. Of course in order to get those high valve targets, more often, you’ll have to join with others players online. Which brings me to…
Putting the Co-Op back into the Co-Op: Now I know everyone want to show everyone else online that they are quote/unquote ‘Badass’, but running into a pack superbad midget psychos, popping to off your abilities (not spec’ed well might I add) too soon, then dying doesn’t nothing for the team but leading the little anklebiters to us. And since we’re a lame man down we die too – thanks a lot! You want to avoid this then work with your team, know what they’re capable of, watch each other’s backs, communicate, avoid being petty with loot and you’ll go far. Mass rage quits are the #1 killers of online play, don’t let this happen to you.
Keep this tips in mind and you too can survive to horrors of Pandora, the find the new vault and put Handsome Jack in his place.
See most players planning to buy Borderlands 2 all know about the Mechromancer, which is that she can control mechs including the huge super Deathtrap (the thing that she’s sitting on) – and that was it. Well recently another new factoid was revealed: her name, which is Gaige. Oh and her character class will be released in a little under a month after the game’s comes out. Yes I know that not very much but quite frankly a much bigger piece of news just hit and you should really be paying attention to that so if you follow the link: here – thank you.
Ok,ok, you guys know I would never leave you hanging. Here’s some footage of Gaige in action.
This video is the perfect vehicle to show the changes Pandora went through under the domination of Handsome Jack, the character classes, and other neat things we should know. All presented my everyone’s favorite new character: Sir Hammerlock. Enjoy!
Borderlands 2 will be out next week and I couldn’t be more excited – why? Well besides the obvious, the games for the fall of games haven’t turn out as I expected. If they weren’t delayed into oblivion then say fall short of their potential (really, really, frustrating short – can’t talk about it til after the game in question’s beta, just you wait though). So at this point a lot of my hopes are on this sequel; I know I know eggs in one basket thing, but still I have a good feeling about Borderlands 2. So to get yourselves hyped for the game the rest of the week and next week till launch will be devoted to Borderlands 2 coverage starting with a skill trees preview. Those who played the first game knows what skill trees are, but for those who didn’t skill trees are three slots that contains abilities (both passive and active) different for each class. Player can customize your class as you wish, so long as you have the points – which there are a 50 total. You can max out a slot or spread the points to all three, thanks to Gearbox Software you can get your strategy down with a flash preview of the skill trees on he BL2 website. I’ve already got my character down, I won’t say much but let’s just say I’ll be Gunzerking forever.
Yes people the Fall of Games is coming once again, a magical time where all game developers, publishers, and companies break out their killer app games in order to grab your attention (as well as your dollars) for the holiday season. This year’s lineup maybe lacking in numbers but not in quality. Take Borderlands 2 for example, they have another trailer showcasing the big bad this time: Handsome Jack. Now he’s your typical take over the world type of character, but he does have ‘character’ which is always a good thing. Sure he’ll shoot you in the face and/or back, but at least he’ll do it with a wit quip. So many bad guys in games lately are either serious, angry, or both; which is boring. With Jack here I hope it herald’s the return of the antagonist that you want to shoot not just because they’re evil and done evil things; but because they’re arrogant jacka**es who thinks their drek don’t reek – like Handsome Jack. I can’t wait to shut him up for good, but I’ll miss him.
Video Game Armada 