Borderlands 2

Borderlands 2
Studio	Gearbox Software Iron Galaxy Studio (PS Vita) Aspyr Media (macOS)
Publisher	2K Games Sony Computer Entertainment (PS Vita)
Senior Developer	Paul Hellquist
Erstveröffent- lichung	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Microsoft Windows: September 18, 2012 September 21, 2012 macOS: November 20, 2012 PlayStation Vita: May 13, 2014 May 28, 2014 Linux: September 30, 2014 PlayStation 4, Xbox One: March 24, 2015 March 27, 2015 Nvidia Shield: July 21, 2016 Nintendo Switch: May 29, 2020
platform	Xbox 360 , PlayStation 3 , Windows , PlayStation Vita , macOS , Linux , PlayStation 4 , Xbox One , Android , Nintendo Switch
Game engine	Unreal Engine 3
genre	Ego shooter
Subject	Science fiction , space western
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer
control	Gamepad , keyboard , mouse
system advantages preconditions	2.4 GHz dual-core processor, 2 GB RAM, 256 MB graphics card (from Nvidia 8500 / ATI Radeon HD 2600), 20 GB storage space, DirectX 9.0c, Windows XP (SP3) or newer, Internet connection
medium	DVD , Blu-ray Disc , memory card , download
language	English , French , German , Italian , Spanish , Russian
copy protection	Steamworks
Age rating	USK PEGI

Borderlands 2 is a first-person shooter with a Space Western scenario in cel- shaded graphics and is the successor to Borderlands .

The game was developed by Gearbox Software and published by the publisher 2K Games on September 18, 2012 in America and on September 21, 2012 internationally for Windows , Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 . An offshoot for iOS was released on October 31, 2012. On November 20, 2012, the Mac version of Borderlands 2 was released by the US company Aspyr Media , which specializes in porting PC games to Mac, on November 30 , 2012 . September 2014 the Linux version followed on Steam. In contrast to the first part, Borderlands 2 came completely uncut in Germany on the market. However, it became known that due to the partially censored versions, as in Germany, the game received a generally lower level of violence. There is now a petition from the players to patch the game worldwide to the level of violence of the first part.

Like the first part, it is based on Unreal Engine 3 .

Game world

→ Main article : Borderlands

Borderlands is characterized by a dark and dirty cel-shading style, which gives the graphic style a certain surreality thanks to strong contrasts and many effects . Pandora is a largely desolate planet with cynical inhabitants who eke out their existence in the midst of deserts, destruction, monsters and mountains of rubbish. The game world and the characters living in it are deliberately exaggerated and depicted as clichéd; black and crude humor are predominant.

action

In the intro you learn that by opening the chamber, which was believed to be empty in the first part, a rare and valuable raw material called eridium was released. Pandora is ruled by the wealthy boss of the weapons manufacturer Hyperion , Handsome Jack . He is after the eridium on the planet in order to secure control of the planet with its help. He also wants to "civilize" the planet according to his own ideas and has parked a huge space station in front of one of the moons. From there, reinforcements are often sent out later in the game. The four newly arrived exterminators want to prevent this. Right at the beginning you come across a steward bot called CL4P-TP or also called Claptrap , the last model of its kind that helps you to get in touch with resistance fighters. Claptrap has severe attention deficits and, due to a bug in his circuitry, has to say out loud everything he thinks that can drive people present crazy. Later in the story you meet again some characters from the first part, including the four protagonists who have become the leaders of the resistance movement called "Crimson Raiders". With their help one tries to put Handsome Jack down.

At the end, the chamber key creates an overview of many planets, which are also provided with a chamber symbol, which suggests that the work is far from done. At this point the main mission ends, you can now go to Sanctuary, listen to the final talk from Lilith, Brick and Mordecai and do other tasks.

Game mechanics

Borderlands 2 is a first-person shooter that was provided with elements that are rather untypical for the genre, such as different classes and a skill and level system. Skills can be improved in the skill tree after each level up. At the beginning of the game you choose between four (with DLC six) different classes or characters. This allows the player to specialize in various areas of how he would like to defeat the opponents in the course of the game. The course of action and the personality of the characters themselves, on the other hand, are strictly specified and cannot be influenced by the players, for example through dialogues or decisions. Borderlands 2 should not be confused with a role -playing game or an action role-playing game , as the gaming experience is limited to fighting numerous opponents and finding better weapons. Rather, it is a loot shooter , which is about the capture of better equipment.

Classes

• Commando (Axton) - a fighter with the ability to temporarily set up a portable turret
• Siren (Maya) - a female character with the ability to hold enemies in a force field or heal allies in various ways
• Gunzerker (Salvador) - a very offensive class; Salvador can temporarily fire two weapons at the same time and thereby "regenerate" ammunition. It can also be designed defensively as a tank / damage plug.
• Assassin (Zer0) - is especially good at hand-to-hand combat and handling sniper rifles . Can also create a hologram of himself while he is temporarily invisible.
• Mechromancer (Gaige) - Gaige was added to the game through the first DLC. Gaige herself is a little girl and can temporarily let a robot called "Deathtrap" fight for her.
• Psycho (War) - War came into play on May 14, 2013 with the Psycho Pack. War's ability is the buzz ax rampage, with which he can heal himself for a short time, cause strong melee damage and also throw his weapon. In addition, the Psycho has an increased "gravity binding", which is why he cannot jump as high and far as all other characters.

Game system

This article or section needs to be revised: Remove redundant information about Borderlands if there is already a link to it. Also z. B. the copied "17.8 million different weapons" simply no longer.
Please help to improve it , and then remove this flag.

→ Main article : "Game mechanics" in the article Borderlands

By defeating opponents and completing missions, the player receives new items, money and experience points , as in similar games (e.g. Diablo) . The latter lead to automatic level climbing. From level 5 the player receives one skill point per level, which enables him to acquire new skills and improve existing skills. At the beginning of the game, the player can distribute two weapons on so-called quick selection slots. This enables the desired weapon to be selected directly at the touch of a button. The control pad is used for selection in the console sockets. In the further course, the player receives two additional slots.

To improve resistance, the characters have a variety of energy shields at their disposal, which in addition to the actual protective function have various additional attributes (e.g. resistance to fire damage). In addition to the usable weapons ( shotguns , revolvers , machine guns , pistols , submachine guns , sniper rifles and rocket launchers from various fictional manufacturers), grenades can also be used. Equipped modifications can add elemental damage and changed explosion properties (e.g. contact explosion, division into several small grenades).

There are also artifacts and class modifications. An artifact brings an improvement of a certain value with it, for example an increased magazine size of pistols or increased resistance to elemental damage. Class modifications bring improvements in values ​​and skills. A class mod of the siren can give five more skill points to the “Destruction” skill, so that it does not have five out of five possible points, but ten out of five possible points. In the game, this causes a higher rate of fire and increased gun damage when the siren holds an enemy trapped in its force field.

One of the main attractions of the game is the so-called collecting spiral. The player tries to continuously improve his character by constantly collecting experience points, money and weapons or equipment. Following the story or individual mission descriptions take a back seat.

By a random generator, as it is for. As used in Diablo II , weapons and items are generated from a variety of possible combinations during the game. There are around 17.8 million different weapons available in the game. The weapons differ in the attributes damage, accuracy, magazine size, reload speed and firing frequency . Additional functions such as elemental damage (fire, electrical, acid, slag & explosive damage are possible), telescopic sights (for zoom) and attached blades (higher melee damage) are also available.

Depending on the rarity, the names of the items or weapons are shown in different colors. The following eight color gradations are available (in increasing rarity): white, green, blue, purple, magenta, orange, mother-of-pearl and pink (Seraph weapons). Blue weapons with red text, orange, mother-of-pearl and pink-colored equipment often have hidden additional functions that cannot be found in this form on any other weapon and only come to light when the object is used.

As mentioned earlier, there are several different weapon and equipment manufacturers. These are Hyperion, Tediore, Vladof, Jakobs, Torgue, Maliwan, Bandit, Dahl, Eridian, Anshin and Pangolin. Each company makes weapons with their own effects. A Hyperion pistol receives increased precision through sustained fire, a Vladof assault rifle has a high cadence, Jakobs weapons have a higher basic damage compared to other weapon manufacturers, Tediore weapons are thrown away when reloading and explode like a grenade, Torgue cause explosive damage , Maliwan only makes elemental weapons, bandit weapons have the largest magazines, and Dahl weapons fire bursts in aim mode.

opponent

Normal

• Loader - combat robots that can have various equipment. Examples: GUN loader = rifles, EXP loader = self-destruction, BUL loader = with shield, can carry out ramming attacks
• Constructor - Hyperion bot with hail of rockets, can summon Loader
• Hyperion Soldiers - Hyperion combat troops, various specializations. Example: spy = camouflage + sniper
• Hyperion workers - combat engineers and architects
• Stalker - winged reptiles, shoot needles and become invisible
• Crystaliske - Large, heavily armored tripods, the only weak point is the crystal point on their feet.
• Bullymong - A four-armed creature that throws objects at the player
• Thresher - long tentacles that can dig through the earth.
• Skags - Canine, live in caves and tend to travel in groups.
• Rakk - flying creatures that dive to attack
• Spiderants - beetle-like, attack in large groups, usually with large leaders.
• Marauder Bandits - Big bandits, take cover and try to band together.
• Nomads - Slow but strong bandits, weak point is the head
• Goliath - Similar to the nomads, if shot in the head they go into a frenzy and attack everything nearby. Have multiple levels depending on how many enemies they have killed (higher levels usually have better loot).
• Psycho - Small enemies, go into hand-to-hand combat, throw axes
• Copter - bandit flight unit with a crew of up to three
• Rats - nimble humanoids, created after cruel experiments
• Varkids - insects that pupate and usually attack in groups
• Shotgun dwarfs - Small opponents with a shotgun who run steadfastly towards the enemy, pull the trigger and do a somersault backwards with the recoil

Bosses

• Handsome Jack - the boss of Hyperion and the main opponent of the game
• The warrior - ancient chamber creature awakened by Jack
• BNK3R - A boss, flying bunker equipped with missiles, laser projectiles and slag cannon
• Bloodwing - Originally Mordecai's pet, captured by Hyperion and modified with Slag. Changes element, first fire, then shock, then acid and finally explosion
• Willhelm - Hyperion cyborg, spawns bots and has missiles
• Captain Flynt - pirate captain with a burning pickaxe and fire projectiles

Multiplayer

Like the first part, Borderlands 2 also has a co-op mode .

→ Main article : Borderlands

If you are playing online, other players can join your own game at any time. The entering players can use their own character and basically have all the options of the game master. However, the status of the available missions as well as the play area are tied to the host. Everyone involved in the game receives the experience points and money found by each individual player. Weapons and other items are only given to those who pick them up. The level and number of opponents (and thus the amount of experience points gained) and the items found increase with each participant. A maximum of four players (including the host) can take part in a game. The classes or characters can be combined in any way, so that a class can be played by several players in parallel.

Add-ons

The following add-ons have been released for the game:

• Creature Slaughter Dome (September 18, Pre-Order Bonus)
• Mechromancer Gaige (October 9, 2012)
• Captain Scarlett and her pirate treasure (October 16, 2012)
• Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Butchering (November 20, 2012)
• Sir Hammerlock hunting big game (January 15, 2013)
• Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack (April 2, 2013)
• Psychological War (May 14, 2013)
• Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Fortress (June 25, 2013)
• Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2: DigiStruct Challenge (September 3, 2013)
• Headhunter 1: Bloody Harvest (October 22, 2013)
• Headhunter 2: Wattle Gobbler (November 26, 2013)
• Headhunter 3: Mercenary Day (December 17, 2013)
• Headhunter 4: Wedding Day Massacre (February 11, 2014)
• Headhunter 5: Son of Crawmerax (April 15, 2014)
• Commander Lilith & the Battle for Sanctuary (June 9, 2019)

reception

Meta-ratings publication Rating PS3 Windows Xbox 360 Metacritic 91% 89% 89%

On Metacritic , the aggregated average rating for Windows and Xbox 360 versions is 89% and for PS3 version 91%.

Web links

• Borderlands 2 website
• Borderlands 2 at MobyGames (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Borderlands2.com ( September 29, 2015 memento in the Internet Archive )
2. ↑ Tina Amini: That Borderlands iOS Game Is Real. You Can Play It On October 31, For $ 5 .
3. ↑ Borderlands 2: Coming this month for Mac , Next-Gamer.de, November 9, 2012
4. ↑ ^{a b} Borderlands 2 .
5. ↑ Andrew Goldfarb: Borderlands 2: Mechromancer Available Today . October 9, 2012.
6. ↑ Anthony Gallegos: Borderlands 2: Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty Review . October 18, 2012.
7. ↑ Borderlands 2: New DLC is here (November 20, 2012) . on computerbild.de. Retrieved November 20, 2012.
8. ↑ Borderlands 2 - Sir Hammerlock's Game Hunt DLC out and launch trailer published - insidegames .
9. ↑ Borderlands 2: New class "Krieg the Psycho", higher level limit ( Memento from April 30, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ Archive link ( Memento from July 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
11. ↑ Borderlands. Retrieved June 26, 2019 . 
12. ↑ ^{a b} Meta evaluation Borderlands 2 (Windows). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed May 2, 2015 . 
13. ↑ ^{a b} Meta ranking Borderlands 2 (PlayStation 3). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed May 2, 2015 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b} Meta ranking Borderlands 2 (Xbox 360). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed May 2, 2015 .