Borderlands 2 - Part 2

Ain't No Rest For The Wicked

The fact that that line was spoken by a character is a brilliant throwback to, quite possibly, the best opening cinematic to any video games ever. I loved Borderlands' intro, and setting it to the Cage The Elephant song set the tone perfectly. Anyway, that was a side note, onward to criticism!

All downhill from here

I always loved how the guns felt in Borderlands. It's probably the only FPS that I feel I could say I'm pretty damn good at. Games like Call of Duty or Halo never seemed to click with me on any substantial level, but Borderlands always seemed to be perfect for me. It was 'arcade' enough for it to remain fast-paced and chaotic, but the bullets had weight and travel to them which made it still a thinking process of how to go about each encounter.

Which leads me to my biggest criticism of the game: it's balanced incredibly poorly. Once I decided to stop doing some of the side-quests in order to speed up my playthrough, I immediately began noticing that enemies were constantly a higher level than me, to an unfair point when it came to the last area. It seems very counter-intuitive for a game (that, for the most part, will slightly adjust an area's enemies to match your own character's level) to have enemies that are four to five levels higher than myself, leading to a frustrating experience and the entire game leaving a sour taste in my mouth.

So she isn't a real person...disappointing!

Another bum note is the story. I'm not exactly coming to Borderlands 2 for a thought-provoking and engaging plot, but the game just kinda ends, with no meaningful ending or conclusion apart from "Hey, you murdered Jack, good job!" That's it, killed him, some very slight set-up for another game and credits. The first game had a similar problem, but set-up a sequel so much better, with the mystery of who, or what, Angel was. The side stories encountered in the side quests were more engaging and more rewarding than anything the main story offered, and that's just down to poor writing.

I'll leave a full break-down of my feelings until after I finish the DLC, since the add-ons for the first game were pretty amazing, so my feelings may change. But at the end of the main game, Borderlands 2 has really let me down in those final five-ten hours, and it's a damn shame that it does so. I leave you with one last thought...

Fuck you, Jack