Borderlands 2 Hands-On

A week ago we were invited to Next York City to be amongst the first group of people to get hands-on time with Borderlands 2. After bumbling through the city struggling to find the location where the press event was being held, my co-writer, Joey Davidson, and I finally arrived at our destination, a building which from the outside looked like where a girl would go to “get it taken care of.” We timidly walked through the front door and made our way to the elevator, heading up.

But once the doors opened on the tenth floor, we were greeted with a nerd’s wet dream. Dozens of televisions lined up with Borderlands 2 running on all of them. Joey and I paused, wiped the tears from our eyes and then got to work. The fine folks at Gearbox let us play two missions from the game with two of the title’s characters — Joey played Salvador the Gunzerker, while I played Maya the Siren (our avatars in this write-up represent our respective characters). The first mission was a story-driven quest set in a wildlife preservation. The second level, called “Caustic Caverns,” was essentially a stage to screw around in and perform a simple side mission if we got tired of blowing holes through skags.

For me, the two biggest complaints I had with the original Borderlands were born out of repetition. Enemies and areas felt old and tired after about 10 hours of play. The two areas we saw during our demo were wildly different. We played in acidic caves and the lush arenas of a wildlife preserve. Green and metallic against yellow and acidic. It was awesome. The enemies in each space were also completely unique and required unique tactics to beat.

Erik, you were new at the game, but I was surprised by how quickly you were adapting to its combat strategy.

But I also didn’t have to do that if I didn’t want to. I could have just said screw it and ran off and approached situations my own way, leaving you in the lurch. We got a chance to dabble in each character’s ability tree, and it’s clear there is a lot of variety to be found there. Granted, Gearbox let us pick up and play with characters over level 30, I believe. So when you’re starting the game fresh you won’t have that kind of instant freedom when determining your character’s talents. But what we learned from the whole scenario is that Borderlands 2 is still definitely a game that you can tailor to your unique style of play, much like the first game.

Now, Joe, I actually want to get your take on what Gearbox is doing story-wise this time out. I know a lack of story was one of the original Borderlands’ biggest criticisms as well. From what we’ve seen thus far and what we’ve heard from the reps at Gearbox, do you have faith that they’re correcting that folly this time around?

You don’t see walls of text anymore when given quests. You actually speak to characters in game, and their dialogue creates an objective list. It creates a better sense of actually being a part of the world of Pandora, rather than completing grocery lists with minor backstory.

We also have an ever-present villain in this game. Handsome Jack’s evil base is on the closest moon. You see it at all times (when you’re outside), and enemies fly in from it constantly. The ever-present villain coupled with more interactive and intelligent characters leads me to believe that Gearbox will be delivering a constant narrative.

Switching gears, what did you think of the actual combat and weaponry?

Individual guns are also quite differentiable. When push comes to shove, I felt all the weapons had that right amount of punch and plenty of visual flair to go along with their respective brands. And this in turn makes combat a satisfying experience. As you mentioned while we were playing, there’s something immensely satisfying about pumping bullets into a skag or bandit and seeing hit points rise off their bodies until they drop over dead.

How about you?