The Best Borderlands

Borderlands 2 features Handsome Jack, the villainous head of Hyperion
Corporation.  Maya, Salvador, Zer0, and Axton are the vault hunters.

I'm continuing my journey through the bandit infested, whacky world of Borderlands and have made my way into Borderlands 2.  There are a lot of things to love about the second game in the series and it's definitely the best of the three Borderlands games.  Just like with the first game, it has been awhile since I've played and I've been pleasantly surprised with how much I'm enjoying Borderlands 2.

On this playthrough I decided to play as Axton, the commando, since I hadn't played him before.  Axton is basically Roland 2.0 and his action ability is summoning a turret.  The best part about Axton's turret is that through certain talents it can be massively improved.  My Axton is sporting a turret that spews bullets AND rockets.  Plopping down a turret in those moments where you start feeling slightly overwhelmed by a large number of enemies is extremely satisfactory.  One thing I love about the turret ability is that you can pick up your turret if you don't need it and that it will conserve some cooldown time.  While playing the first game I was frequently frustrated at the fact that I would pop the action ability and then have to use the entire duration without the ability to toggle it off.

Pros:
--A nice mix of new enemies and old ones.  You can still shotgun skags and rakks, but now there are also bullymongs, threshers, rats (not rodents...more like bandits), and a vast array of Hyperion robots to slay.

--Elemental powers are much more useful than in the first game.  Slag helps increase the amount of elemental damage you do, and corrosive weapons aren't completely useless since they are excellent against the horde of Hyperion robots that you encounter later in the game.

--New vault hunters that are similar, but just different enough to feel fresh.  Maya's siren powers are different that Lilith's, but function much the same.  Zer0 can be shaped to be either a stealth, melee specialist or a ranged sniper.  It still feels like we are getting the mix of traditional RPG party members, but with a new spin.

--Hilarious new NPC's.  Handsome Jack is the perfect villain that we love to hate, Scooter is a lovable doofus with zero romantic skills, Ellie is big and beautiful, and Tiny Tina is funny crazy...not scary crazy.  There are many more, but these have always been the most memorable for me.

--Entertaining story.  I don't think the story is the focal point, but I like it.  It's fun to see the old crew from the first game working together to take down Handsome Jack.

--Character development.  I liked that you could find the audio logs for each of the main vault hunters and learn more about their backstories.

--Goofy sidequests.  There are tons of sidequests to do and skipping them means you're missing some really funny, weird moments.  My personal favorite has always been Tiny Tina's tea party.  First you have to fetch her party guests, a varkid in a jar (Sir Bartlesby) and a doll (Princess Fluffybutt).  Oh and some crumpets.  Next you have to find the guest of honor, a bandit called Fleshstick, and lure him into Tina's hideout.  The final step is to start the party--your job is to hold off numerous bandits who are trying to crash the party and free Fleshstick.  The party ends when you learn that Fleshstick was responsible for the death of Tina's parents and watch as she electrocutes him to death.  Best tea party ever.

--Shooting enemies feels much more realistic than in the first game.  There's still some room for improvement.

--Player bank to store loot.  There's also a combined bank where you can store a few items that can be accessed by all your characters.  This is a nice addition and allows you to fully utilize those legendary drops.

--DLC's add new zones, stories, and classes to the game.  There's even more to do!  The story-based DLC's are fun and I enjoyed playing as Gaige, the mechromancer.

--Co-op multiplayer.

--Developer still regularly releases codes for free in-game SHIFT keys that can be used to unlock "golden crates."  Yes, you do have to follow them on social media, but it's a nice way to keep people involved with an older title.

Cons:
--Returning to the same areas for quests with slightly different levels has always irritated me.  Less so in this game than in the first one.

That's pretty much it for the negatives.  I've enjoyed Borderlands 2 significantly more than the original game.  You don't necessarily need to have played the first game to enjoy the second one, but the story and characters will make much more sense if you do.  It's also nice that the Borderlands series frequently is featured in sales and that you can get GOTY editions relatively cheaply.