Welcome Back to Pandora: Borderlands 2 Preview

The first Borderlands is one of my favorite games this generation. It blends together features and concepts I love to see implemented into games, and it did them right. Borderlands wasn’t a perfect game however, and it leave a lot of room for improvement on the technical side of things.

That’s enough about Borderlands. I had the pleasure of watching a demo of Borderlands 2 at PAX Prime 2011 and left a very, very happy camper.

The demo starts with our new character, Salvador the Gunzerker on an icy tundra. Gearbox discovered the colors blue and green in developing Borderlands 2, and decided to give us a break from brown for a bit. Just like any wilderness trek, you have to watch out for wildlife wanting to have you for dinner and a new creature called the Bullymong decided it wanted to say hi. The Bullymong is a very agile four armed beast that won’t stand still even for a minute as it bears down on you. Pandora is home to some pretty intimidating critters, and the Bullymong is no exception.

Taking care of the Bullymong threat introduced us to a new weapon created by Tediores. They specialize in disposable weapons and reloading consists of throwing the gun as a grenade while another one teleports inside you hand. Quite useful if you ask me.

Next up we took a ride in a new jeep type vehicle to get to the next objective. One thing crossed my mind many times while driving in the original Borderlands; why can’t all my friends ride in one vehicle? Gearbox has us covered in and Borderlands 2 will feature vehicles that hold all four players. The driving mechanics have been changed and improved, so no more acting like a teen taking their first driving test. Borderlands 2 will also have a nifty mini-map so exploring Pandora has become much easier.

Borderlands wouldn’t be the same without bandits, and when we arrived at an outpost they seemed to act a little different. Enemy AI is improved to a whole new level. Bandits will do what they can to get to you and even flank you. The Psychos dodge and weave to get up close and personal and won’t line up waiting to die. The Bullymong from the beginning of the demo surprised us all when he threw the vehicle we rode in on right at our faces. The bandits even have their own weapons manufacturer, and their guns are pieced together with a high ammo capacity.

The UI has been overhauled with a new 3D effect and is perfect for split screen play. Now it’s easier to reach your weapons and skills as you fight a more capable opposition on Pandora.

Borderlands has a unique sense of humor and imagination behind the game, and the next enemy we met had me worrying about the mental health of the guys at Gearbox. The Nomad is a boss wearing a large overcoat and sporting a shield with a psycho midget chained to it.  Shooting the chain can release the midget who will try to get his revenge on the Nomad. He wasn’t much help in defeating the boss, but the Gunzerker’s ability to dual-wield any weapon in the game sure was.

Our journey takes us to mountain peaks on our way to a dam to rescue an old friend. Pandora is a more living, breathing planet as other parts of the environment can be seen at certain vantage points. The landscape was amazing and so was the futuristic Hyperion City in the distance. Gearbox informed us that in Borderlands 2 if you can see it you can get to it, which hopefully means the sequel will contain different ways of traveling in Pandora.

Five years after the events of Borderlands a man called Handsome Jack takes over the Hyperion Corporation with plans of controlling Pandora. Borderlands 2 promises to be more story oriented than its predecessor, and will contain less fetch quests. We were introduced to a new Siren named Maya who looks sleeker and sexier than Lilith from the original Borderlands.

The original vault hunters now NPC’s and play a very important role in the overall story.  We found Roland shackled in blue chains on top of a hovering machine that moved around the level. He is captured by Bandits but the Hyperion Corporation wants him too. Needless to say, we were caught in the middle of a chaotic 3-way battle.

The Hyperion Corporation will prove to be worthy enemies in Borderlands 2 with new robots called Loaders. They know no pain or fear and are very aggressive and you can even shot their legs and arms off to slow them down. Just like other enemies, they come in different types so watch out for the EXP Loaders which will do kamikaze runs at you and explode.

Badasses are back too, and what surprised me is how enemies react to each other and the tactics they use during a battle. The Loaders when damaged will have a wrench icon hovering over their heads and can call in floating robots called Surveyors which will repair the damage they take. The Hyperion Corporation even had the nerve to build a base on the moon resembling the Deathstar, and we could watch reinforcements leaving the base and land on our position. The demo ended with me wanting to see more, and I’m sure Borderlands 2 has plenty of surprises waiting for players.

Gearbox did a great job of listening to the fans and has truly made a sequel that raises the bar in all aspects from environments to gameplay.

I honestly can’t wait to go to Pandora again…