Borderlands 2 - Completion

Danger! Excitement! Mustaches!

There have been some pretty massive swings in my mood while playing these last two add-ons, and it makes writing up my feelings of Borderlands 2 overall much more difficult. On one hand, the game is brilliant in what it sets out to achieve and be: an FPS-action RPG. On the other hand, there are some glaring flaws that are made much more apparent while playing through the DLC. But let's talk about the final two add-ons first!

All style, no substance

Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt brought to the forefront a problem that is hard to notice in the main game: when there are no good characters driving the narrative, Borderlands becomes a very bog-standard shooter that can border on kind of terrible. The reason this became so apparent was because, other than Hammerlock, a feeble excuse for a villain  and a small cameo from Claptrap, there are no other characters relative to the story. Hammerlock isn't bad, but not well written enough to be the core focus of a plot.

It became so bad that after the first set of side missions, I just tore through the main plot line and let the rest of the content alone. The only one positive I can draw the experience is the location is really nice, and looks really refreshing compared to the rest of the main game. Other than that, there is no reason to play Big Game Hunt, unless you hate yourself.

Now we're talking!

Tiny Tina's Assault On Dragon Keep is one of the most imaginative pieces of DLC I've seen for any game. In an era where DLC is usually just a bunch of reused assets from the main game, it's nice to see a developer basically design an entirely new style of game and give it out as DLC. It's been done before with Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, and I hope it's a trend that continues in the future. Placing the Borderlands character's in a Dungeons & Dragons setting works surprisingly well and breaths new life into the game.

The humour hits, the new enemies are genuinely unique, and the area is nice and suits the setting. Making the entire game take place in Tiny Tina's head is pretty smart as well, as it allows the game to change on a whim, such as the first first encounter changing when Lilith complains about the difficulty. However, it all kind of falls apart...

Best gatekeeper ever!!

It becomes really clear in most of the boss fights are balanced with co-op play in mind, and I don't blame because that's what makes Borderlands much more fun and enjoyable, but it ruins it for people like me who are playing by themselves. Bosses that have a near-one hit kills, leaving the player with nothing to kill in order to revive themselves are a recurring problem and makes the game much more frustrating.

If I had to rank them, I'd say that Mr.Torgue's Campaign Of Carnage is easily the best DLC if you just want pure, unadulterated mayhem and fun, with Assault On Dragon Keep coming second. Pirate Booty and Big Game Hunt aren't worth looking at unless you really enjoy the combat, or are playing it with a group of friends.

A diamond pony...as a queen

All in all, I still liked Borderlands 2 after playing 65 hours of it, but not as much as the first one. It has it's flaws, there is no doubt about that, but it still manages to have a lot of charm and laughs along that way that make it easier to look past the flaws and just enjoy yourself. A lot of my problems probably could have been lessened if I had a group to play with, but then that raises the bigger question of why should a game be unbalanced for solo play. The characters are still great, the gunplay is still fun and the stories told can be nonsensical in their own, awesome way. It's just such a shame that so many flaws stop this from being a much better game than the original, but I look forward to seeing what comes out next, especially if they finally take the MMO-route with the franchise.

To the future...

Next up...The Bureau: XCOM Declassified!