The wait for millions of fans of the original Borderlands game is coming to a close. With a tentative Borderlands 2 release date being slated by the developers as mid to late 2012, gaming geeks and fans alike are already speculating if the second installment can live up to the first. Let's cover what made Borderlands such a hit to start with and investigate if 2K Games and Gearbox Software can step up to the plate with their latest iteration.
Borderlands was released in 2009 and received critical acclaim for its meshing of gaming genre's, namely First Person Shooters and Role Playing Games to coin a new phrase in gaming, the Role Playing Shooter. By the end of 2009, Borderlands had sold over 2 million copies worldwide and this figure has now hit 4.5 million. The games' success was due to a number of reasons including filling a gap between the RPG and FPS genres, the striking cell-shaded graphics, almost endless list of weapons and enormous quest lists. Re-playability also factored into its ongoing success with four pieces of downloadable content which expanded storyline, quests, leveling abilities and included the ultimate of challenges, Crawmerax the Invincible.
The scene for Borderlands was the planet of Pandora and the storyline revolved around you, as one of the four main protagonists on a quest to find mysterious pieces of alien artefacts in order to open 'The Vault'. The game catered well for single player as well as co-op through either two player split screen or up to four players over the net.
Borderlands 2 picks up five years after the opening of the vault (the end of the first game) and the scene is once again laid in Pandora. The new main antagonist, Handsome Jack, has claimed the credit and the riches from the opening of the vault which has allowed him to take over as CEO of the Hyperion Corporation and implant himself as the dictator of Pandora. The players' role in this story begins when Jack back stabs and then leaves the player for dead on the frozen tundra, sufficient enough motivation for revenge.
Everything that made the original game so successful is set to return in its sequel. What can be garnered from available information prior to its release date, the visual style and humorous dialogue will be back, but what is going to set this apart from its predecessor? In a word...Guns. The selection in the first was almost inexhaustible but in the second, they will be. Guns will also be easier to identify visually so no more cross hairs over weapon to see if you want to add it to your inventory. The modifications to weapons will also be ramped up with the inclusion of Eridium enhancements as well as the standard mods available.
There are four new characters to choose from, only two of which have been announced prior to the Borderlands 2 release date. These characters are Salvador the Gunzerker and Maya the Siren. The skill trees for Salvador and all of the new characters have been completely overhauled as well. My favourite so far is Salvador's' 'Sexual Tyrannosaurus' (can you name the movie this was taken from) which regenerates health as you are taking damage.
Vehicles have received some attention with four person transports now being available, a great leap ahead as anyone who played four person co-op in the first can testify to. One of the criticisms of the first Borderlands was the 'sameness' of the environments. A concerted effort is being made this time round to ensure a plethora of different areas, with the added bonus that if you can see it, you can explore it. Three areas which have been named are the arctic tundra, dangerous grasslands and the corrosive caverns.
Brand new enemies are also on the cards with these already being named:
Elemental Skags - This time they pass their power to others nearby.Arctic Bullymong - A gorilla-like creature can throw torn up pieces of scenery at you,Surveyors - Bots who can re-energise nearby allies,WAR Loader - A large bot that fires missiles and bullets, and my favorite,Nomad - A chubby bandit with an all-round shield, and an angry midget tied to it.
From the limited information available to date, it seems that a significant amount of time has been spent to rectify the small shortfalls that were present in Borderlands. With the Borderlands 2 release date approaching, it appears that 2K and Gearbox have gone much further than a 'spit and polish' just to rake in some cash.
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