Borderlands 2 Impressions

Whilst this is in no way a full written review as I sincerely doubt I am near to completing my latest game purchase, Borderlands 2, these are some of my impressions with it thus far.

On the whole, the sequel to the much loved Borderlands is... good. It's by no means the greatest thing to come out in recent months but neither is it poor in any way. Whilst there are a few things I dislike about the game, on the whole, I have found the experience enjoyable and compelling, if a little repetitive.

When starting the game, after choosing your character class, you then get a brief introduction to the story: you are a vault hunter on the violent and barely hospitable planet of Pandora, a planet not long colonised by humans, and since then has been abandoned by those that have any sense, to leave only crooks, criminals and the desperate. Most of it seems to be under the control of the head of one of the arms companies, Handsome Jack. With an army of killer robots, he is hoping to take control of this god forsaken planet.

The story is interesting enough and offers several laughs along the way with a witty script that takes inspiration from modern pop-culture. The characters, for the most part are also intriguing, all have detailed back stories and seem to have some substance to them. Whilst the interactions with them all revolve around completing various missions for them which all seem pretty similar, each one did feel different because of the premise behind it.

It's cartoony art style is not unlikable 

Indeed the gameplay itself is pretty repetitive. A mission is usually go to check point A, kill a number of individuals with the large and varied amount of weaponry at your disposal; return to collect reward. However, because the gameplay is so well designed, and the story normally entertaining enough, one can put the repetitiveness to one side and get on with it. Put it simply, its thoroughly entertaining to blast your way through a room of enemies. There is enough variation in the types of target to make it feel different on each occasion and the weapons are so plentiful that you can approach a situation in a number of different ways. Having said this, how long that will last is another matter. At the end of the day it is simply shooting. There do seem to be a number of environments, each with different characteristics; some open expanses whilst others are dark compact corridors, but again there's only so much that can change.

What I haven't appreciated that much so far and what Borderlands 2 is really renowned for is the online play.  You can have up to 4 players working together to fight the hordes of Pandora and help each other complete missions. The catch is that it does make the game harder. Whilst in theory this is a good idea, one which in a game like Left 4 Dead works well, I never feel like its that beneficial to have coop allies. The reason being is that at times they can be more of a hindrance than a benefit. Because individual mission objectives to change every now and then, you have to rely on your allies to know what you are supposed to be doing. If they go off and try and do their own thing, it can just be a pain. They may also try and take the good weapon drops, leaving you with their crappy seconds...

Played with friends though this could work much better, however with randomers, lack of communication can hinder gameplay. That said you have control over whether you want people to join or not. If you play at it alone though, there are no AI companions to keep you company, which I found to be a shame.

To resume though, whilst I will persevere
 with Borderlands 2 as I do find it entertaining, it is certainly not the greatest game out there at the moment. I've regularly found myself return to Gears 3's Horde mode for some more rewarding online coop play.