Borderlands 2, released in September 2012, is by far one of the best shooters out there, not because of amazing graphics or PvP, but purely because of what it gives you to do. It’s a first person shooter RPG. You play a Vault Hunter, and at purchase you are given four classes: The Commando, with this Sabre Turret that can be spawned and will attack any and all enemies; the Siren, who can use Phaselock that traps a target in a purple bubble leaving it vulnerable to attack; the Gunzerker, who can dual wield any weapon; and finally the Assassin, who can use stealth and disappear from the battle allowing for sneak attacks racking up massive damage. Each class can be built the way you want, each gets three Skill trees to choose from and can mix and match skills. More skill points are gained by levelling up means of killing monsters and doing quests.
The storyline is simple. Handsome Jack, the president of Hyperion, looks to bring order to the land (by killing everyone who doesn’t agree with him) using his vast wealth and robotic arsenal. He is the villain. And he is an amazing villain. Constantly taunting you throughout the game, You love to hate him and the man who voiced him has done an amazing job. Your task, once you make a character, is to kill Jack and save everyone from his murderous crusade. You are joined by the Vault Hunters from the first game, but they are only in an NPC capacity, giving you quests and other things to do. The reason you are on Pandora (the planet you’re on) is because you came in search of treasure and fame because of the alien vault that’s opened up there, only to be dragged into a war against Hyperion. The game is loads of fun, with several pop culture references subtly thrown in, which make you laugh at some of the things that are said by enemies or at things that happen, the NPCs and their quirks, and some of the tasks they give you to do are hilarious.
And most important, GUNS. There are, as the game itself claims, billions, each different with its own perks, abilities. Want to shoot a fire round? Sure! Shoot acid, not a problem! Sniper rifles, pistols, shotguns, rocket launchers, grenades, sub machine guns! There are millions of guns in each of those categories. You can do an entire play through and find guns you hadn’t seen in the next play through. Possibilities, though numbered, are endless. The writing in the game is top notch, I mean borderline brilliant. Each character is written and voiced well, you care about the NPCs who help you, and you just love to hate Jack. With online connectivity you can have up to four players playing at the same time on the same map; enemies get harder, but the loot you acquire gets better.
For the not so great parts: Levelling up is harder than it looks, and can take hours. Between quests you are often hard pressed to find enemies who can help you level up so you can attempt the quests themselves, so there is an amount of time-consuming grinding that needs to be done. While your abilities are great, they can’t be constantly used, so your levelling up, more than quests, is to reach the gun you really want to wield. I have often ended up in situations where the gun I have is very low level, and I’m just not killing enemies fast enough.
That said, I’ve been playing the game for a year-and-a-half, and I’m still playing. Because as the year went on, Gearbox Software kept bringing out DLCs that give you more stuff to do, not to mention even more guns! Buy the game, you will spend hours just exploring Pandora and seeing all its wonders!!