Need more guns? Would a bajillion suffice?
Moxxi can trap enemies in a vortex for a limited time, leaving them more susceptible to fire.
The last time gamers were hit by this much colour was when we unleashed a two-year old on Microsoft Paint. Borderlands 2 loves colour. From the deep, cold blues of its icy plains, to the overwhelmingly yellow Caustic Caverns, the play space of Borderlands 2 is clearly the work of a bored Unreal Engine artist finally let loose with a complete colour palette, vomiting up a world of primary colours and neon splashes for players to traipse around. Which is exactly what Borderlands needed, really. The original certainly looked the part (and, of course, played considerably well) but suffered from a complete lack of personality – the game’s last-minute switch from humdrum real-worldy visuals to style-heavy cel-shading clearly not reflected in the simplistic narrative or sci-fi setting.
Gearbox promise vehicular combat will be a more complex this time around.
Here, though, you’ll be sent on quests built to match the game’s zany comic book attitude, and meet a host of new and returning characters that wouldn’t look out of place at an exceptionally violent 1940’s freak show. We’ve played two of them: one sending us on a mission to rescue Bloodwing, a mysterious feathered animal whose appearance Gearbox is keeping close to its chest; and the other set within the aforementioned Caustic Caverns, retrieving and returning some ‘revealing’ pictures of well-endowed DLC character Moxxi.
Intriguingly, on reaching the sexy snaps we were given the option to return them to either Moxxi or ex-husband Marcus, with the reward differing depending on who we chose. Moxxi offered to pay us a wad of cash, while Marcus offered something much more significant as a reward. What it was, though, we’ve no idea, with Gearbox closing the curtain on our preview just prior to the mission’s finale. Choices and decision-making, however, could play a much larger role in Gearbox’s sequel.
There's plenty of customisation options available to your chosen character.
Other tweaks made to Borderlands 2 make it much more streamlined than the original, too.There’s now a ‘proper’ private trading system, letting players switch guns and gadgets without the fear of other players sneakily running off with the goods. And you won’t have to constantly tap a button to pick up loot either, with cash and ammo automatically acquired by the nearest player.
Beyond that though, this looks to be very much more of the same lootin’-tootin’ first-person Diablo-inspired adventuring that you experienced the first time around, only crazier, much more colourful and with an even greater sense of fun and imagination. And hey, isn’t that exactly what you were hoping for?
Tags: Borderlands 2
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