E3 2012: Borderlands 2

After the incredible success of the original Borderlands, an upcoming sequel had to be a guarantee; now that we are seeing actual gameplay from the second title though, how does the game look in comparison to the first?

Borderlands 2 returns players to the world of Pandora, a land that has changed quite a bit since the original game.  Much of the system remains the same as it had been in the past: lots of shooting, lots of explosions, lots of special abilities, and an absolutely ridiculous number of guns to collect, upgrade, or trash as you see fit.  During E3, we saw a mission in the game that was actually a sidequest, featuring a battle against “Handsome Jack”, a powerful businessman who is the CEO of Hyperion, and who wants to become the emperor of Pandora.  Naturally, players should enjoy blowing up his stuff.

The game ran very smoothly, showing some nicely upgraded graphics that retain the cell-shaded style of the original.  The game sound remains a strong feature, with plenty of the usual clicks and whistles, but the game system is where the real love is seen.  Each character still has three skill trees that have been expanded to allow for greater customization depending on how each player wants to play.  Additionally, the game features even more guns to use than Borderlands had to begin with (the game was recently awarded a Guinness Award for the number of weapons in the first title).

The game still has a ways to go before we see it on the market, but this far we already have a fantastic view of the future of the title.  Keep an eye on this one, it already looks to be one of the best new shooters on the way, both for existing fans and newcomers to the series.