Borderlands 2 (And it's DLC) Vs. The Review:

Borderlands 2 (And it's DLC) Vs. The Review:

Overview:

Borderlands is a wacky, fun and ridiculous FPS roleplaying game. You pick one of 4 - 6 characters and go on a mighty quest to find treasure, all whilst slaughtering bandits, looters, mutants, robots and more! The DLC for this game offers 2 extra playable characters, sets of cosmetic items, 7 minor story chapters (seasonal DLC named Headhunter), 2 level up packs increasing the level cap by 11 each pack, and 4 Major Story chapters.

Plots:

Vanilla Borderlands 2:

The game continues from the first game! You play on the fictional life sustaining planet Pandora. If you have not played the first it will be summarised here, so:

**SPOILER ALERT**

You play as a Vault Hunter, a person who is on a quest to find ancient treasures left behind by a far more superior race of Aliens. Some vaults act as prisons, some as weapon caches and others as teleporters to new world and so on. In the first game the vault you find is a prison for the Destroyer of Worlds and you must kill it before the game ends.

**SPOILER OVER**

In the second game it's the same premiums except you have an archenemy who kills hunters known as Handsome Jack, the company leader of the Gun creators: Hyperion. You must go on a quest to find this alien vault and kill Jack all at once.

Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt:

This is the first of the 4 main story DLCs, after completing the game, an NPC by the name of Hammerlock has invited you to his summer get away in the swamps and go on a big game hunt while also learning about the dark past of Hyperion and what it has done to the planet (Not earth but Pandora).

Captain Scarlett's Quest for Booty:

The second in bonus stories, mid-way through the campaign (levels 25-30) you can start on the DLC, you go to an arid area of Pandora known as Oasis, named this as it is an ocean that has lost all water so now it is a sand ocean. You meet pirates and fight a mighty beast all to create a key to a weapon cache hidden by another pirate. It's your typical pirate adventure with more charming characters than a normal pirate adventure.

Mr. TOURGE'S CAMPAIGN OF CARNAGE:

Think of WWE but actually funny and with giant explosions, jokes and the destruction of Oatmeal Cookies. You must beat and spill the blood of the biggest coward in Pandora to open an ancient Vault. It's short and sweet.

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep:

By far the best DLC I have played full stop, the whole DLC is meant to be played after you complete the vanilla game but if you want an extra to the game that feels like the best add-on, TT's Assault on Dragon Keep is the one for you. Without spoiling it you are playing a game of "Bunkers and Badasses" and yes it is a play on words for Dungeons and Dragons, if you're not huge on D&D then it's fine the DLC is filled with enough comedy and the vanilla game that it will feel like Lord of the Rings but with Guns!

Characters:

You have 4 - 6 characters to play from! Granted you have the Mechromancer pack and or the Psycho pack.

Salvador The Gunserker:

As Salvador you’re the Dwarf with muscle and that makes you the most damaging character in the vanilla game, Salvador has 3 skill trees and one special, each tree will add to his special ability or passives for the character. Your ability is Gunserker, for a duration you can duel wield 2 equipped weapons no matter what. This isn't as cool as the others but is useful as you can use it while being incapacitated, your accuracy drops harder then a brick hitting the floor from a high building but you can reload faster, and shoot double the guns!

Axton the Commando:

You play your part in constant and steady damage letting you special both tank damage and dish it out, you still have 3 skill trees and each affect you or your special. Axton's special is Deploy Turret, you throw a small grenade like object down and it creates a turret in its landing spot, the turret will focus the highest HP target and won't stop until the target is dead or when a higher threat joins the fight.

Maya the Siren:

You are one of 4 Sirens on Pandora, Sirens are normally seen to other inhabitants of Pandora as Witches. Maya is no exception, her special is Phase Lock, you chose one target and lift them into the air before trapping them in a bubble, while locked, enemies cannot attack and are weaker than other target. Maya gains a lot of bonuses from her skill trees using elemental weapons so make sure to always have on equip.

Zer0 the Assassin:

As Zer0 you are to take out high damaging targets with little to no damage taken. Your special is Decepti0n (Zer0 has a mask that projects the number Zero on it so all the words in his skill tree and names use Zeros instead of the letter O) you cloak yourself and launch a clone that distracts enemies, for a few seconds you are invisible, and enemies will not shoot at you but will shoot at the clone so don't get in the cross fire or you will get incapacitated.

Gaige the Mechromancer:

As stated by Mechromancer you can summon a robot called Deathtrap to help you in fights, without the bot, Gaige is pretty weak to enemies at range. She relays on single shot shotguns to give her bonus damage, reload speed and movement speed. Gaige is a rush character running at targets before they can land hits on her and get to cover, Deathtrap the robot helps with that as he dashes at enemies and uses melee strikes to get enemy agro leaving Gaige to pick up kills easier.

And lastly Kreige the Psycho Bandit:

Based off of the enemies Psychos, Kreige's special is Buzzaxe Rampage, you pull out a huge axe with a rotating buzzsaw on it and hit them with it, You can also throw the axe if you aim it like a normal gun. Kreige is squishy but his axe grants him the movement speed and damage to earn him the badge as Glass Cannon, upgrades can but gain to make him tankier or you can get skills which give him buffs if he suffers damage from any and all sorces, even allies.

Gameplay:

It's an FPS game so the main part of the game is aiming, pointing and shooting but it is also an RPG so guns are your only real source of loot, the guns have many manufacturers and all do different things, such as Hyperion making guns that are weak in damage but with continuous fire that makes them more accurate rather than the norm of losing accuracy the more you fire. The enemy variety is huge and absolutely loveable except for the Bandits (the main enemy) which become very boring very quickly and more of a chore or rather how fast you can kill them moment. They offer low quality loot and are only really good for money and health, since they are easy to kill you get minimal XP for getting them but they do have funny quotes, bandits have many names but are all the same thing, A.I that don't stop attacking until your dead, the most interesting and actually hard to deal with enemies are Suicide Bombers, the lunatics sprint at a fast pace and blow up chomping at your shield and health while sacrificing themselves.

Looting is done in a multitude of ways, killing, buying completing quests but they are normally White to Blue tier weapons, to but it into perspective the loot system works like this:

White - Common

Green - Uncommon

Blue - Rare

Purple - Ultra Rare

Orange - Legendary

Pink - Seraph (can only be bought with rare crystals)

Helpful Tip: Any and all White and Green guns, pick up and sell in bulk to get money very fast.

Levelling up is extremely simple but rewarding, you kill or complete quests or find new locations to get XP (Experience points) Getting to level 5 the player can unlock their skill, every level after that gives you a skill point (until level 72), in which you can upgrade your passive fighting or add bonuses to your skill, you get three trees to choose from and typically they are colour coded:

Green Tree: normally your support tree, you build this if you want to gain bonuses for both yourself and allies which are helpful this can range from healing allies after a kill to buffing yourself.

Blue: This is normally the defensive tree, offering players a balance of offensive and support abilities and normally good for newer players to build into.

Red: Offensive, the tree offers the player the maximum damage output possible for both their skill and fighting capabilities, this is best for glass cannons like The Siren who offer alot of single target focus and damage.

Opinion:

Buy it, the game is well written, funny, and extremely fun with friends or alone, the characters all have so much depth to they in which you can find out about by finding audio logs left around Pandora, the world is rich with colour, characters and so much more, if you’re a fan of comics this game is great as it all feels like it was drawn in a comic book style (Cell shaded). The game has a lot of diversity in the way you play, while also being pretty open, feel free to explore every corner for hidden items and loot.

Ending:

In a steam sale, the game can be £5 to £10 and its DLC is normally on sale as well, making it even cheaper! It's a funny FPS game with so many loveable characters and creative designs on art, enemies, landscapes.

#reviewsbydan #games #borderlands2 #review