I could prey on groups by taking out the weakest first, invisibly eliminating each until only the toughest was left. You will receive a verification email shortly. It's fun, but the perks he can unlock as he levels up are less interesting: mostly percentage increases to this or that. I was dubious about how much fun it'd be to shoot metal instead of flesh, which now that I write it down doesn't make me sound like a particularly great person. But there's a twist: if the Goliath kills his friend, he levels up, getting stronger still with every kill. New York, Receive news and offers from our other brands? But we still couldn't connect to each other without some port-forwarding faffery, and we still had to argue among ourselves about who got what loot. I was chased by Skag-riding cops five levels too high for me as I hunted for a cursed gun. Additional visual customization options would make it better, and the occasional technical issue takes away from the experience, but overall this is an excellent shooter no one even remotely curious should overlook. Bull Loaders can drop their shield to the ground and ram you like a bulldozer. NY 10036. Borderlands 2's main hook is its focus on "shooting and looting." There was a problem. You spend most of your time trying to figure out why your robot guide Claptrap has stopped following you, and backtracking to unstick his sloppy scripting. The main quest takes you to some cool places, but it's often marred by disproportionately tough bosses. More than the class abilities, it's the enemy design that keeps the combat fresh. Jet Loaders transform from humanoids into fighter jets, and bombard you with missiles. I once made the mistake of using the nearby fast-travel station to get to a shop to restock. PC Gamer is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. The Commando can throw down a turret, a play style that needs some planning: you can execute satisfying pincer movements, but it doesn't help you escape if you screw up. The majority of the game is tied up in these side quests, and it's mind-bogglingly huge. “Why are you so mean? And although the quests later become a highlight, in the first hour they're a maddening drag. Receive mail from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors. I've become a gun scientist. We encourage you to read our updated PRIVACY POLICY and COOKIE POLICY. Please deactivate your ad blocker in order to see our subscription offer. Facing two of them in a bandit camp, I shot one in the head. Prepare to loot. The ultimate skill in that tree let me maintain stealth if my melee attack killed someone in one hit. The dialogue in that is mostly funny, but sometimes clangingly misjudged: every time it tries to properly demonise Jack or glamorise your friends, it resorts to being needlessly cruel or gratingly smug. Animal Crossing: New Horizons Winter Update Brings Turkey Day and Toy Day, The Best Cyber Monday Deals from Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, Dell, and More, Snyder Cut Will Reference Kryptonian “Mystery” Set Up in Man of Steel, Strange Monolith Discovered In Utah Desert Has Disappeared, Dell Cyber Monday: Score Big on Alienware and XPS PCs and Desktops, Fortnite Coming Back to iOS via GeForce Now, Control May Be Coming to Xbox Game Pass in December 2020, Things Ghost of Tsushima Doesn't Tell You. It's ages before the first randomised gun even drops, and for ages after that, it's all useless inaccurate trash. He turned to the other Goliath and screamed: “Ever been strangled with your own intestines?” then projectile vomited a stream of caustic acid into his face. I helped a malfunctioning robot delude himself into believing he was human. So if the amount of money you spend on games is a practical concern, it's worth saying that this one is freakishly good value. To that degree, the sequel offers significantly more choice and customization than its predecessor. Borderlands 2 is the epic sequel to the ultimate four-player role-playing shooter loot fest. Luring a giant stealth bat into a battle with a squadron of killbots is exactly what I want to be doing with my life. This is already sterling entertainment. Sometimes I fill all four weapon slots with different types of shotgun and throw myself into a nest of Skags – as one does – to take notes. I set up a tea party for a 13-year-old girl. Even if you stick to one class, you can start the game again after you complete it, taking your levelled character into a mode with new high-level enemies and loot. Sexual Themes, Intense Violence, Use of Alcohol, Blood and Gore, Includes online features that may expose players to unrated user-generated content, Language. Best of all, the robots, the bandits and all of the world's gargantuan wildlife hate each other. It's generally well-adapted to the PC: graphics options, an FoV slider, some sensible control tweaks, and most importantly smooth and responsive mouse movement. Borderlands 2 preserves the best parts of the franchise while also making numerous, much needed improvements to areas like narrative and class skill design. Dying in a boss fight also undoes all the damage you've dealt, wasting all that time and ammo. Borderlands 2 is a first-person shooter that randomly generates the guns you find, varying damage values, clip sizes, accuracy, and even how many bullets they fire at once. Thank you for signing up to PC Gamer. But it's hard to bench the Tediore, because when it's out of shells, you can throw it at someone and it explodes and a new one teleports into your hands. His victim was baffled. Borderlands 2 is a first-person shooter that randomly generates the guns you find, varying damage values, clip sizes, accuracy, and even how many bullets they fire at once. Summary: Borderlands 2 advances the distinct blending of FPS and role-playing genres to create an evolution of the Role Playing Shooter. And Constructors churn out a slow but endless stream of new bots until they're killed. At first he just seemed surprised. I've been playing Borderlands 2 all day, every day, for five days – and I'm probably going to play it again when I finish this. Love to collect loot, level up a hero and shoot guys in the face? My Assassin's second playthrough is as interesting as starting fresh with a new class, and I plan to do both. Visit our corporate site. But I needn't have worried. It's not the most consistently brilliant game, but I can't think of another singleplayer shooter that's given me more hours of fun. Prepare to get lost in the hilarious, bizarre and wonderful world of Pandora. If you just want a distraction while you slip by, that's perfect. The Gunzerker can enter a rage that lets him use two guns at once, regenerating health and ammo as he goes. I took photos to inspire a garage mechanic's terrible poetry. You can't headshot robots, but their joints are weakspots. It matters more than most shitty intros, because you'll probably go through it more than once. Combining invention and evolution, Borderlands 2 features all-new characters, skills, environments, enemies, weapons and equipment. I tried to solve a murder, and shot the wrong guy. I think I had one or two guns I really liked in Borderlands, and the rest were necessary but uninspiring situational alternatives. In 2, I have a full loadout of weird, powerful and satisfying weapons I love, and an entire 'alternate' set in my backpack that I switch in and out to compare potency. Future US, Inc. 11 West 42nd Street, 15th Floor, Because they're not about saving the world, they have room to have fun with the whims of the characters, who are always the strong point in Borderlands. This is the game, and it makes Borderlands persistently fresh in a way other shooters never are. It's spectacularly cool to leap into the air to get a perfect shotgun critical on your hovering victim. The interface for joining a co-op game is much nicer this time, and it's better at handling how quests are shared. And I took an assassination contract to kill myself – and completed it. https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/borderlands-2-review/1900-6415786 And goddamn it, I've run out of Skags. https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/14/borderlands-2-review More than in the first game, those abilities fit together nicely in co-op: the Gunzerker can be more reckless with friends around to revive him, the Assassin benefits hugely from distracted enemies, and it's a relief for everyone when the toughest enemy in a fight is suddenly plucked into the air by the Siren. The effort and invention that's gone into this stuff is a constant pleasure, and the sheer amount of it is overwhelming. The new Siren can temporarily suspend a single enemy in the air, and her skill recharges rapidly enough to be used in every fight. The robots belong to Hyperion, whose CEO Handsome Jack is the main quest's verbose antagonist. Even if it's not a concern, it's worth saying that this one is freakishly good. 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