Preview: Borderlands 2

Name: Borderlands 2
Genre: First Person Role Playing Shooter
Players: 1 – 2 (split-screen)
Multiplayer: Online cooperative (2 – 4 players)
Platforms: PC, Xbox 360, PS3
Developers: Gearbox Software
Publishers: 2K Games
Release Date: 18 September 2012 in North America and 21 September worldwide
Price: R 400 for PC, R 600 for consoles

The original Borderlands rocked gamers’ faces off back in 2009. It’s 2012 and we’re in for some more role playing mixed together with some chaotic shooting action.

For everyone not familiar with the world of Borderlands, here’s a quick summary: You’re on planet Pandora. A planet filled to the brim with bloodthirsty bandits, ravaging wildlife and all sorts of madness. Everyone is after The Vault; a monumentally mysterious treasure trove that would set you up for life without having the need to ever work or loot a day in your life ever again. The story begins with four bounty hunters setting out to find this mysterious vault. After a long and interesting journey in search of this vault, you and your companions will have a new story to tell.

However in the sequel, the players will have the choice to select four other characters that are new to the Borderlands universe with a whole new prize in store.

The Setting:

Five years have passed since the events of the first Borderlands game. A new villain dubbed Handsome Jack has taken credit for the secrets of the Eridian vault, and manages to overthrow and take control of the Hyperion Corporation. Thanks to this he manages to gain an iron fist over all of planet Pandora. Handsome Jack promises to wipe the planet clean of all lawlessness. He, however, has some ulterior motives planned for the planet of Pandora. What does he want to do? Exterminate all colonies and life to industrialize the planet.

The Plot:

The sequel to Borderlands kicks off by putting the player into a fight to the death situation, promised a priceless cache containing loot if he / she succeeds. These gladiator fights are held for Handsome Jack’s twisted personal amusement. After winning, the player(s) will be being denied their prize and marked by Handsome Jack as a threat to him and his reputation. He leaves the player(s) for dead. Being guided once again by the mysterious “Guardian Angel”, they are told to kill Handsome Jack and rescue the four Vault Hunters from the first game. News has been circling that handsome Jack plans to find an ancient evil known only as “The Warrior”.

Meet The Gang:

Slavador The “Gunzerker”

Much like the first game’s Heavy-class; Brick, Salvador is also one strong and bulky individual. He has the ability to dual-wield any combination of guns found on the planet. He looks to be of great use to those of us that like to go in guns blazing. Speaking of guns; this game has a lot of guns. A quote: “According to Gearbox, there are over 17,750,000 different variations of weapons, as of release. The game uses a procedural process to generate its various guns in certain classes, such as handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, and more, but with many variations of firing speed, reload speed, damage type and more.”

Maya The Siren

Lilith was our trusty Siren from the original Borderlands, and now that role is being filled by the new and pulchritudinous looking, Maya. Her unique ability is called Phaselock. This ability is something that sounds really useful. It temporarily locks an enemy in a different dimension, resulting in them being stuck and not being able to attack for a short amount of time. If an enemy is too strong or too large for Phaselock to have an effect, regular damage is dealt to the enemy.

Zero The Assassin

Zero is the new Mordecai. Slick, fast and deadly. Zero can create a holographic decoy of himself, make himself invisible whilst causing havoc with his trusty sword and / or  guns. While Zero is cloaked he can see the weakspots of enemies, highlighted in blue, and to make him even more deadly (read: awesome), the longer he stays in cloak mode the more damage he will be able to deal. He will still be able to take damage while in cloak mode, so be careful.

Axton The Commando

The commando class is probably the most flexible character when looking at all these examples. While most classes would be more useful using only, let’s say, just sniper rifles or just shotguns, the soldier / commando class will be able to wield all weaponry with more ease. While assault rifles may be his forte, all weapons will be handy in the hands of the commando after spending some time and getting familiar with them. Also, the Scorpio Turret makes a return: the Scorpio Turret 2.0 will have players spraying bullets or projectiles in bucket loads. Want to spray a lot of bullets and absorb a lot of them as well? The commando will be a fine choice.

Post-Launch DLC Mechromancer

There’s definitely a lot of speculation regarding post-launch DLC, and without choosing any sides, there will be an extra class to download somewhere within 60 – 90 days after the main game has been released. The fifth playable character doesn’t have a name at this time, the class is being identified as a “Mechromancer”. She will be able to take control of mechs and to make things even better, she’ll also get to take control of a mech that has me all giddy and excited, aptly named : D374-TP (Deathtrap).

All character classes will have multiple skill-trees that will support various styles of play. And to make things even more interesting, our four beloved Vault Hunters will return as NPCs. In the mood for having conversations with your former self?

Have you already decided on a favourite character class?

Name: Rudolf Venter
Location: Pretoria
Position: Author, Features & Columns

Rudolf has published 219 posts. Read all of Rudolf's posts.

• Email Me
• My RSS Feed
• Follow Me On Twitter