Gearbox’s sequel to the award-winning 2009 FPS Borderlands is here, and we give you the low-down and our impressions after a few intensive gameplay sessions.
Title: Borderlands 2
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: PC, also available on Sony Playstation 3 and Microsoft XBOX 360
Price (PC): £29.99
Genre: FPS/RPG
Review Sponsor: NVIDIA
Minimum Specifications (PC)
OS: Windows XP SP3
Processor: 2.4 GHz Dual Core Processor
Memory: 2 GB(XP)/ 2 GB(Vista)
Hard Disk Space: 13 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 /ATI Radeon HD 2600
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
Other Requirements:Initial installation requires one-time internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client, DirectX 9, Microsoft .NET 4 Framework, Visual C++ Redistributable 2005, Visual C++ Redistributable 2008, Visual C++ Redistributable 2010, and AMD CPU Drivers (XP Only/AMD Only)
Processor: 2.4 GHz Dual Core Processor
Memory: 2 GB(XP)/ 2 GB(Vista)
Hard Disk Space: 13 GB free
Video Memory: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 /ATI Radeon HD 2600
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
Other Requirements:Initial installation requires one-time internet connection for Steam authentication; software installations required (included with the game) include Steam Client, DirectX 9, Microsoft .NET 4 Framework, Visual C++ Redistributable 2005, Visual C++ Redistributable 2008, Visual C++ Redistributable 2010, and AMD CPU Drivers (XP Only/AMD Only)
Recommended:
OS: Windows XP SP3/Vista/Win 7
Processor: 2.3 GHz Quad Core processor
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 / ATI Radeon HD 5850
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
Processor: 2.3 GHz Quad Core processor
Memory: 2 GB
Hard Disk Space: 20 GB free
Video Memory: 512MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 / ATI Radeon HD 5850
Sound: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
The World of Pandora
A sequel to the 2009 Borderlands, Borderlands 2 is a First Person Shooter with RPG elements set on the fictional world of Pandora, the same world as the franchise debut. You play a lone Vault-Hunter, a mix of archaeologist and soldier of fortune, searching for the fabled second technology/weapons/apocalyptic alien robots cache located somewhere on the planet (the first Vault was dealt with in the original). The main antagonist is Handsome Jack, agent of the Hyperion Mega-Corporation and chief evil-doer also in search of the Vault for his own ends; your only ‘friend’ is Claptrap, an obsolete and abrasive bucket of bolts who guides you to the town of Sanctuary and allies capable of taking down Jack.
The characters and setting will be familiar to anyone who has played the first in the series, but those for whom Borderlands 2 is their first experience of Pandora will not feel rudderless in a sea of flavourtext: exploration and questing add additional background to the story and introduce characters new to first-timers but old friends to those who played the original and its DLC. Furthermore, in a feature reminiscent of BioShock, major characters interact with you through ECHO – an in game radio – feeding you flavourful exposition as you go. Through these systems the game world is fleshed out to feel more distinct than ‘generic brown-and-grey desert landscape #5’, a failing of many other First Person Shooters.
Realism? Who Needs Realism?
The Cutscene animation style is representative of in-game graphics
That seems to be the thought process Gearbox went through in creating Borderlands and its sequel. A rare form of cel-shading style graphics are the order of the day, making it look like no other RPG or FPS currently on the market and easily distinct from those who strive for photorealism and high graphical fidelity.
The parts of Pandora we see evoke the Borderlands concept strongly, and if the game was a movie it would be described as a heady mix of Wild West Frontier and Mad Max anarchy. Coupled with an excellent soundtrack, the game rarely drops this old-world pretence, even whilst the player takes out flaying machines with electrically charge rocket-launchers, and exemplifies the idea that it’s possible to build a story around fairly broad thematic strokes, even in video games.
Geographically, Pandora is split into regions with multiple entrances, exits and a fast travel node; navigating between locations is quick and easy when the previous title’s DLC was not. Whilst diminishing the feel of an ‘open world’, the system allows regions to be visually distinct and would let Gearbox expand Pandora relatively easily with post-release DLC. On the other hand, as a consequence many areas which look accessible are walled off, in some cases with invisible walls, breaking immersion and making you feel a little penned in at times. To combat the limited size of many regions most also have a longish linear underground dungeon, the traversing of usually being the objective of a quest issued by one of many NPCs.
Yes, that ship is casting a huge shadow on Pandora’s moon.
So, we have the world of Pandora, but it’s not a realistic world in any visual sense thanks to that cel-shaded and certainly not when compared to high-quality Modern Military Shooters such as Call Of Duty. But lack of realism doesn’t mean poor graphics – the style remains is consistent throughout the game with high-detail textures you could put up against many Triple-A titles released on PC in the past few years. The game, within its own unique aesthetic, looks amazing and in no way feels cheap or dumbed-down.
Borderlands 2’s graphics aren’t only defined by this style however. Dynamic night/day lightning make the world’s almost garish colouring pop when it could otherwise be disjointed or ugly, and just looking up will show one of the most beautiful sky-domes ever created. Seeing the Hyperion capital-ship in orbit fire onto Sanctuary for the first time is an almost perfect video-game moment not tied to a cut-scene.
Not Just Any Old Console Port
Rightly or wrongly, Triple-A multi-platform titles are usually viewed as ‘console ports’, where the PC-specific gameplay experience has been watered down to fit the limited potential of a console. Whether it be a control system specially adapted to gamepad, or a lack of graphical options stretching the capabilities of even mediocre PC hardware, the expectations we have of these titles diminished over the last five or so years. So with that in mind, we present you the Graphical Options Menu:
We’d like to shake the hand of those responsible for this
Isn’t it glorious? Resolution, Field of View, even HUD size can be tweaked in one of the more comprehensive screens we’ve seen all year. A glance shows that Gearbox didn’t approach the PC version as an afterthought, which by itself deserves praise.
Just as important as graphics tweaks is the ability to fully re-bind controls, which Borderlands 2 achieves with a minimum of fuss. Even so, the default controls are logical for a First Person Shooter so you should be able to jump right in rather than spend the first twenty minutes binding jump to [Space] rather than [P] etc.
Online co-op multiplayer matchmaking is performed through Steamworks rather than a mechanism developed in-house. Lack of competitive multiplayer makes life a little easier for Gearbox in this regard, but it’s nice to see a system which just works rather than adds unnecessary frills. Of course, this also means you need to be logged-in to Steam in order to play online, but that’s something of an acceptable evil these days.
If we were scoring Borderlands 2 purely on the strength of the port it would get an A and glowing letter sent to its parents. But we can’t just yet…
The Way It’s Meant To Be Played – A PhysX Equation
PhysX is a subtle beast.
Developed through NVIDIA’s The Way It’s Meant To Be Played programme, Borderlands 2 features out-the-box support for proprietary NVIDIA features such as FXAA and PhysX, though currently TXAA is not supported. In order to experience these features fully you need to possess an NVIDIA GeForce GTX graphics card with sufficient overhead to also run the game at the resolution and detail settings you desire. The improvements FXAA bring to gaming are well understood and in most cases are now available on a driver level, whereas the impact of PhysX varies greatly on a title-by-title basis.
In Borderlands 2, as with many TWIMTBP titles, the effect of PhysX is in the main fairly subtle and does not seem to impact gameplay to any great degree. There are no complicated puzzles absolutely demanding well-modelled physics; instead you’re treated to more substantial interactions in the environment for fluid, particle and cloth dynamics. This may be expressed as shrapnel sheering from gunfire and manipulated by implosions, a Psycho dissolving into a pool of acid, or simply an outhouse violently expelling its contents; the upshot is a cel-shaded world paradoxically realistic in how it models interactions and with small moments where you whisper to yourself: ‘… cool’.
The computational cost for utilising the PhysX API is relatively small when performed through the GPU, but can serve to be an extreme bottleneck if load is placed on the CPU instead. Gearbox allow you to tune the complexity of interactions from off through to High; playing at 1080p we’d suggest that anyone with a system above the recommended spec and NVIDIA GeForce GPU try a High setting, adjusting to Medium if the performance hit is substantial.
Experiencing Borderlands 2 with high levels of PhysX enabled won’t drive you to immediately purchase a GeForce GTX card for your system, just as it didn’t with Arkam Asylum and previous PhysX-enabled titles, but could be the deciding factor when buying your next GPU. Whilst performance per pound may reach some form of parity between manufacturers, as things stand only NVIDIA can offer hardware accelerated physics on a wide range of PC titles. This will by no means be the last game with the NVIDIA-exclusive feature, and PhysX itself is continually refined to produce more realistic environmental effects.
Gameplay – Guns, With A Dash Of Grenades
The gameplay model utilised in Borderlands 2 owes a lot to the original: rather than concentrating on RPG elements such as Experience, Character Progression and class Skills, FPS gunplay is very much at the fore. Four classes are available to play at launch – the Siren, Gunzerker, Assassin and Commando – each of which have their own specialisations delivered through the talent system and a unique class skill. As you would expect, levelling and descending a skill tree makes your class skill ever more powerful, but your character in never useless in a particular scenario so long as they have the right gun.
Each class has three tiered talent trees and one upgradeable class skill
The talent trees in the main convey minor improvements to damage and durability, emphasising a focus on the players FPS skills to see them through rather than some quirky combination of class abilities. Reaching ‘hexagonal’ talents however convey a significant bonus on your class ability or how the class uses a particular weapon(s), ensuring that there is some payoff for focussing on one talent tree, at least initially.
Questing
Questing in Borderlands 2 is generally a means for guiding the character through the game and delivering well-paced story, typically amounting to familiar riffs on the kill/collect/deliver/discover formula. We would like to have seen more complicated mechanics involved, but the game sets out to accomplish what it wants well. Objectives aren’t open-ended and the consequence is a fairly linear delivery of storyline rather than the ‘craft your own adventure’ style of a Skyrim-esq RPG. Players who become involved in the story won’t find this to the detriment of the overall experience, but hardened RPG fans may want to approach the game as more of a diversion from the serious business of more hardcore versions.
Following the quest series isn’t a hard and fast rule, but you will eventually want to complete the storyline quests to open up new areas and (eventually) complete the game. Completion requires a little more than 30 hours of gameplay according to Gearbox, and that certainly tallies up with our experiences.
Itemisation
Backpack space is expandable, meaning less trips to sell what’s dropped
Throughout the game you can pick up various forms of loot, most of which are either weapons or equippable items. On the face of it there are merely seven different types of weapons aside from Melee Combat – Pistols, SMGs, Shotguns, Assault Rifles, Sniper Rifles, Rocket Launchers and Grenades; however in general this only identifies the type of ammo it uses rather than how it works.
The way a gun handles is defined both by its type and the weapon model it uses – that’s a little hard to parse but in essence it’s the idea that if it looks like a mini-gun it’ll fire like a mini-gun even it it’s weapon type is ‘Assault Rifle’. In addition, every gun has two firing modes: generally defined as ‘from the hip’ and ‘from the shoulder’. Guns without sights aim down the barrel in the second mode, whereas if the model has a sight (even if it’s a shotgun) you will aim through the sight. A weapon’s fire dynamics will may also change based on the firing mode, such has becoming more accurate or even enabling a burst of shots when zoomed.
Grenades form the seventh weapon type, with effects defined by a chosen grenade template. As with projectile weapons the damage and effect of these grenades are highly variable, but only require the one ammo type.
Hot-swapping weapons from your inventory in combat is possible, even preferable in some cases, but as you progress through the story a 3rd and then 4th weapon slot will be unlocked, making weapon cycling a simpler process as encounters become more complex. Those used to traditional FPS games will feel a little cramped by the 2-4 active weapons at a time, whereas Modern Military Shooter aficionados will feel much more at home.
Other items to collect and replace as you progress are Class Mods – class specific items conveying a boost to your abilities or cooldowns – Relics – more generalised bonuses to some facet of gameplay such as chance to drop rare items – and Shields. The latter are the most important of the four, conveying significant defensive bonuses durability which regenerates over time.
Elemental Damage – Explosive, Electrical, Corrosive, Burning and Slag
Crucial to Borderlands 2 gunplay is the concept of elemental damage. Each weapon you find in game has a chance of elemental damage properties, rendering it extremely strong against some types of foes whilst near-useless against others. For example, early weapons often cause Burning Damage and damage over time which is highly effective against many early human enemies. However use those weapons against the flameproof Pyro’s and they’ll make short work of you.
The distinctive purple indicates it’s a Slag weapon. Different colours highlight other elemental weapons
Juggling elemental damage weapons becomes crucial as you progress, especially if you come to favour a particular weapon or play style. Slag represents a unique form of elemental damage which operates more like a status effect than up-front bonus. Slag’d enemies, identified by a purple surface glow, become significantly more vulnerable to other forms of elemental damage for a short period. A single shot with Slag-inflicting weapon before switching to another elemental damage source can greatly improve your fighting effectiveness, as well as the light show.
Nice Touches To Round Out The Package
Multiplayer
Borderlands 2 eschews competitive multiplayer for 4-way co-op play, allowing you to progress through the game with three other players whilst tuning up the difficultly accordingly. A great addition to be sure – almost every game is better with friends involved – but competition for loot drops may mean that you stick to your circle of friends rather than rely on pick-up groups.
A criticism for co-op which will come up time and again is the lack of class synergy – class skills tend not to complement each other as much as you might think. When coupled with a pretty steep scaling curve for enemy hit-points : number of players, gameplay can drag on somewhat, leading to progression being considerably slower in co-op over solo.
Co-op synergy is mainly dictated by Class Mods – items which can change not just individual but whole team stats such as class skill cooldowns and elemental damage. A Siren’s Phaselock ability may not add much to Team DPS, but picking off enemies with a Slag Assault Rifle will improve the damage of every team member using an elemental weapon without needing to hot-swap weapons mid-combat.
Badass Tokens
Perform feats to increase the power of all your characters
Achievements in Borderlands 2 break from the norm by having tangible in-game value. These Badass Tokens, acquired when you complete in-game challenges such as a certain number of head-shots or looting rare/epic weapons, can be used to purchase incremental character improvements for all your characters. The improvements themselves are strictly minor, +1% Health/Damage etc., but it does mean that achievements are significantly more meaningful than many ‘serious’ RPGs.
Claptrap’s Minion Stash
Every RPG gamer will enjoy the ability to ‘twink’ out gear between characters, and Borderlands 2 allows you to do just that. Unlocked for each character once you reach the central quest hub of Sanctuary, the shared stash allows items not ideal for the character who found it to be accessible to another character on the same Steam account. Only the two currencies cannot be moved between characters, which in of itself is no great hardship.
Vehicles
Outfit your vehicle to balance weaponary, and choose models allowing more passengers
Plodding around Pandora is made more lively by the inclusion of ‘Catch-A-Ride’ to ferry you and your allies between points of action, and of course are yet another outlet for character customisation as and when you fancy a new paint job. Controlling vehicles will take some getting used to thanks to mouse rather than keyboard steering, but precision driving is never a requirement. Some sections with vehicle combat are included and tend to be short-lived so as not to outstay their welcome.
Rewarding Exploration
A closed world Pandora may be, but the insatiable search for loot takes another turn with hidden areas and jumping puzzles leading to large loot chests. Loot chests respawn every time you re-load, so there’s nothing stopping you from farming the large ‘hidden’ chests for more random high-quality loot. If anything we would like to have seen Gearbox go further with this feature, adding ever more complex puzzles to decipher – something for later DLC no-doubt.
Conclusion – Out Of This World?
PC gamers approaching the franchise for the first time will be doing so with trepidation, but they need not worry. Gearbox have crafted a game which oozes personality through every pixel and is arguably much more suited to the PC than any home console.
Handsome Jack, villain of the piece
Rather than the legion of card-board cut-outs from many other modern video games, characters in Borderlands are extremely well fleshed out. Unique models and voice acting help, but each is also imbued with a unique personality memorable in its own right – from a stoic Roland, de-facto leader of the Resistance, to the playful Ellie extremely happy with her independence well outside Sanctuary. Gearbox chose not to just start a-fresh in the sequel, but rather build on the original game and adding the especially deviant Handsome Jack, who exhibits Kefka-levels of maliciousness and insanity at times. The voice acting is top-notch, with Jack’s character once again able to be singled out for special praise.
It would be simple for the game to descend into farce, or for Handsome Jack to morph into a a perverse anti-hero – thankfully it doesn’t and he doesn’t. Almost from the first quest the narrative is tone-perfect, and for all the character idiosyncrasies their interactions are spot-on. Lighthearted moments make the darker parts all the more dark, and whimsy still has a place.
Even the smallest character has their own splash screen
Those expecting a deep RPG experience will be disappointed with a lacklustre skill/talent system and no crafting to speak of; it’s more like Torchlight meets Doom than Skyrim meets Gears of War. With the exception of sometimes rather frantic gameplay, the graphical style, loot-hunt and often tongue-in-cheek humour is the hook for Borderlands 2, not character crafting and world exploration.
We should flag up a few words of caution: players will need to persevere with the game before it begins to pay-off. The first two hours of gameplay are pretty linear with relatively sparse action, your one constant companion: the dulcet tones of an infuriating robot who you are charged to protect. It’s a poor advertisement for an action-RPG-FPS that doesn’t come into its own until you reach Sanctuary, by which time you start to see some of the more exciting weapons types available and excitement levels step up a notch.
Borderlands 2 is an accomplished and flavourful First Person Shooter which would benefit from being less linear in structure. Gearbox have chosen a niche graphics style which sets it apart from modern games, and backed that up with attention to detail and fully supporting the PC version. With dozens of hours of solid content and more DLC to come, it’s well worth a look to fans of the genre.
Pros:
+ Almost Unique Graphical Style
+ Fast-paced gameplay
+ Engaging Story
+ Co-op Multiplayer
+ Multiple classes
+ Consistent Character Progression
+ Huge variation in weapons
Cons:
– Weak talent system
– Only one interactive class skill
– Region rather than open-world game world
– Some aesthetic features only available to NVIDIA card owners
+ Almost Unique Graphical Style
+ Fast-paced gameplay
+ Engaging Story
+ Co-op Multiplayer
+ Multiple classes
+ Consistent Character Progression
+ Huge variation in weapons
Cons:
– Weak talent system
– Only one interactive class skill
– Region rather than open-world game world
– Some aesthetic features only available to NVIDIA card owners
