I picked up Borderlands 2 for the Vita yesterday. I’d like to say I was pleasantly surprised, but the fact is, I wasn't. Gearbox has established a solid reputation for awesome and porting a known success to the most capable hand-held device on the market is pretty much a slam dunk, so I expected this to be awesome. And it is.
Gearbox has shed more light on their upcoming Headhunter pack, The Horrible Hunger of The Ravenous Wattle Gobbler. The Thanksgiving themed pack will bring a new area, new characters and a return of the ever-popular Mr. Torgue. Like the last Headhunter Pack, the shenanigans will lead to an immense boss battle, after which each player will unlock a special head to mark the achievement. The Boss this time? An enormous, nigh invincible Turkey monster creature... thing. It's scary, trust me.
I promise, this one is not a cop out. The latest in a long line of DLC for Borderlands 2, T.K. Baha's Bloody Harvest brings back one of our favorite characters and pits players against a fresh batch of themed enemies. Our beautiful pumpkin here is based on the climactic boss fight with the Pumpkin Kingpin.
Bloody Harvest is the first of a number of upcoming DLC packs calledHeadhunter Packs. Each pack will feature a theme area, mission and boss fight. Upon completion, players will receive the head of the areas boss. Because nothing says "badass" like wearing the head of your enemy.
A while back, we had the opportunity to talk to Josh Jeffcoat, the lead designer of the Headhunter Packs, to talk about Bloody Harvest and the Kingpin himself.
Borderlands 2 has been out for more than a year now. We've spent a great deal of time playing it but a disproportionately small amount of time talking about it. Tonight, we change that, and at the perfect time. Today, 2K Games and Gearbox Studios released the Borderlands 2 Game of the Year Edition. Alongside this release, 2k has also announced the $100K Loot Hunt, a contest featuring some of the games rarest loot and an array of impressive prizes. All these things aside, Borderlands 2 remains an expansive, hilarious and sickeningly fun game.
My first introduction to Borderlands was years before it became the phenomenon it is today. I remember the old trailers for the game. Pre cel-shading, pre wub wub. The Borderlands I saw appeared to be a straightforward game of unforgiving wastelands, ruthless bandits, and legendary alien technology.
This Borderlands seemed to take itself too seriously, with little to show for its strange, clichéd efforts and odd humor. I lost interest in the title for the most part and the game dropped off my radar.
Then came PAX '09. Desperate for food and lured by the promise of pizza and a friends interest in their panel, I found a seat at the GearboxPanel. The attendance was so sparse we found ourselves with a pizza each. As the gearbox team began to speak I found myself looking at that same old trailer I'd dismissed before. They spoke for some time about the game they started to make.
As they went on, I was surprised to hear them talk about their own disappointments. They received unenthusiastic response from the press and public, even from publishers. The game was missing something.
So the team at gearbox did something unorthodox. They scrapped the game as it stood. They went back and changed the look and feel of the game. Replacing the realistic, gritty look with the cel-shaded graphics we see today. The humor they had tried for at the outset suddenly fit. They were able to take it further, finding new elements they could expand on with the freedom their now more overtly lunatic realm gave them.
More than a hilarious and solid game, I saw a team of developers that loved what they were doing. To take a project they had slaved over for years and remake into something entirely different was more than bold. It was insane. But to see their faces light up as they talked about what their vision had become, to hear them squee when they found some other little tidbit to show off. I think that is what sold me on Borderlands.
It's a shame that when we talk about the series today, this crucial step in the games development is so often glossed over or forgotten. It shows in every inch of Borderlands and even more so in its incredible sequel.
Since its release I have seen countless posts on Reddit from players that found specific, personal moments within Borderlands 2. This is often attributed to the writers skill and attention to detail. Its more than that, in my opinion, though their decision to take Anthony Burch on board is yet another spot of brilliance. The ability to find the humanity and depth in what on the surface is an insane, blood and mutant filled treasure hunt comes from that same heart and gut I saw at that panel in '09.
The Gearbox team created an expansive and entertaining world. I enjoyed my time working against (and sometimes for) Handsome Jack. He was a far more interesting villain than I'd first understood him to be; one with a real investment in the world we shared, a goal that seemed rooted in the corruption of heroic ideals. Nuanced and calculating, Jack is a villain I will remember for a long time.
I'm not done with Pandora. I still have the DLC to play through. Pirate's Booty and Big Game Hunts await me. And hell, I'm only level 37. I'll be happily traversing the wasteland for many more hours. Thanks Gearbox for your dedication to good storytelling.
This is a few weeks late, and for that I apologize and renounce my belief that education is more important than video games, right next to breathing. No really guys, I am sorry! Over the past couple of weeks I've been making tortoise pace progress through Borderlands 2 (Thank you Nvidia!) while watching the reviews come out left and right, even Wall Street Journal had a few things to say (The affront to the gaming community, the attempt at redemption). My take might sound slightly different from theirs, but I assure you that's not a gameboner, this is more like an OMGGRAPHICSboner. In a cell shaded game, this is definitely a take that seems to be rare, but I also had the privilege to play this on the PC with a graphics card that can support PhysX (Nvidia GTX 560 (vanilla)). Let me just say, the little things that are present when running PhysX make Borderlands 2 an entirely new game (OK maybe it's more of a remaining PhysXboner I've had for the past month, I should really get that checked out >.>)! Simple things, for example, in the cargo holders that are oftentimes used as cover, and probably shelter for the bad guys, there's usually cloth covering the entrance and waving in the wind, and now, my personal favorite particle control: When a giant, furry four-armed snow ape (to be referred to as bullymong from here on) throws a giant snowball/rock at you, the pieces of the snowball/rock formed from bouncing off of your apparently adamantine skull don't just disappear into the ground, the stay there, as well as the bullymong and its vital fluids which leave the ground an absolute mess from the recent melee! It's beautiful! Here have what is probably the same comparison video I posted last.
In my opinion, despite the cartoon-y graphics, the PhysX makes these graphics absolutely revolutionary and adds a surprising bit of permanence and realism to an otherwise otherworldly (both in and out of game) experience.
Next I have to note the dialogue. Some find it annoying, I find it to be so awful that it is hilarious! I actually eagerly await Handsome Jack's (the villain) *le sigh* phone calls. I mean, he calls you, while you're fighting through an enemy encampment, to tell you about his diamond pony named Butt Stallion while simultaneously eating stale pretzels, tell ya what folks, he's a keeper!
("Butt Stallion is best pony!")
Next up, gameplay. So, I've been playing through as Salvador the Gunzerker, which is actually pretty excellent once you get the Gunzerking skill. I'm not complaining about regaining 50% health and the ability to use two guns at once for a moment, in fact it's pretty awesome (when I remember to activate it!). Single player is nice because you can pause at will and take your time. Multiplayer is great, too! It works on the same mechanic as the first game so it's quite convenient if you need to help your buddy with something on their game or they need to help you on yours. Having the characters say reassuring things while patching each other up in battle is an excellent touch as well.
The story? Well, the story's pretty straightforward, kill the jerk who tried to kill you, and find the new vault. But really amidst everything else the smaller goals along the way and the way that things are laid out actually make the game feel quite casual, and I really do love that aspect. I'm not in it to kill some dudes, I'm in it to kill some dudes and have fun doing it, preferably with the help of friends!
