Borderlands Excitement!

After several years of waiting (4?), it appears that we will finally be getting a new Borderlands game!  This week two new trailers were released--a theatrical trailer announcing the game and a gameplay trailer.  I was very excited to view the theatrical trailer and see which direction the new game is taking.  It appears that we will get a proper sequel to Borderlands 2 as opposed to a spinoff like The Pre-Sequel.  Here is the trailer--give it a gander:

I was a bit surprised to read somewhat mixed assessments of the trailer.  Fans of the series (like me) reacted with joy, but I did see at least one news outlet that panned it as appearing to be "more of the same" and needing something fresh.  I can't fully disagree with that viewpoint--I think the series could use some improvement--but I saw plenty in the trailer to be excited about.

One of my first impressions was joy at seeing the old crew from Borderlands 2 and several other familiar faces.  For me, the highlight of the series has always been the whacky characters and learning about the various vault hunters.  From the trailer, it looks like Lillith, Brick, and Mordecai will be back (to me, it looks like they will most likely be NPC's who are tied in with the story). 

We also get a glimpse at the characters who I am assuming will be our future set of playable vault hunters.  On that front, I do see some similarities to the character classes of the past--there appears to be a siren (a very ripped siren!) who possibly has some melee abilities (six arms for massive punching!); a character with summonable abilities--it looks like he can summon a wide variety of robotic turrets, suits, etc.; there's a character who gives me a very Zer0 feeling--like he's an alien in a suit; and of course, there seems to be a traditional, soldier-like character.

The highlight of the trailer for me, is the premise that the game will stretch over many different worlds.  Tales From the Borderlands revealed a universe wide system of vaults, which is the perfect setup for creating a massive, open world full of new environments.  My major hope is that a big part of the story will be locating vaults and raiding them.  The vault aspect of the game has always been one of its bigger disappointments.

The video also introduces us to two characters who appear to be the new villains of the game--a scarred, floppy-haired guy and a white-haired, evil looking lady.  They look like quite the duo.  I hope they can measure up to the maniacal evil of Handsome Jack.  The video also boasts of new enemies to slay and there looks to be several varieties.

I am also excited to see several notable side characters make an appearance in the video.  We get a brief glimpse of a building that says "Ellie's Scrapyard" and there is a shot of Tiny Tina (only she's not so tiny anymore!).  There's even a shot of Rhys from Tales From the Borderlands!  It's going to be very cool to see what role they play in the new game (and maybe Fiona and Sasha too--I can hope).

And, of course, there's the mention of OVER A BILLION different guns!  What's not to like about that?  And really, why aren't there more guns with legs?  C'mon!

Overall, I'm feeling excited at the prospect of a new game even though I've always had some mixed feelings about Borderlands.  I love the series for its quirky characters and macabre, bizarre sense of humor, but the gameplay can get a bit dull.  Maybe the critics are right to be a bit underwhelmed at the new trailer--it does appear that there are a lot of very familiar aspects--or maybe the critics are just being overly critical?  It remains to be seen.  One of my major fears for the series is that the obsession with making everything "BATTLE ROYALE!!!!" will spill over into the new game.

Another piece of exciting news accompanied the trailer--owners of the previous games will be getting a free, remastered version of all three!  The remaster will add in improved graphics for all three games, but will see the most changes coming to the original Borderlands.  The first game will get some of the better features of the later games--swappable character heads and skins, a better inventory system (with easy flagging for selling items and favorites), a minimap, and golden key chests.  These new features should make playing the first game, which is the weakest, more enjoyable.

The remastered games release on Steam on April 3rd, so mark your calendars and get ready for some lootin' shootin' fun!

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.

Underrated Episodic Fun

I am not really sure where episodic story games fall in the world of gaming.  Are they too casual for those who consider themselves to be more "hardcore?"  Or too simplistic?  It just doesn't really feel like they get much attention.  This is unfortunate because I've had a lot of fun and had to really think through some difficult choices in several of them.  I recently decided to revisit (and finally review) one of my favorite episodic story games, Tales from the Borderlands.

Tales from the Borderlands follows the TellTale pattern of taking a pre-existing fandom and spinning off a choice based series of stories set in a specific universe.  The Borderlands games are a whacky combination of FPS mixed with RPG and a wicked sense of strange humor.  Taking those genres and throwing them together into an episodic story game seemed like a misstep, but somehow it works.  It more than just works though, it's one of the best TellTale games.

The story is centered around two very different characters--Rhys, who is your typical Hyperion corporate climber, but who harbors a not-so-secret vein of admiration for Handsome Jack--and Fiona, part of a sisterly duo of Pandoran con-artists who are out to land a big score.  You begin the game playing as Rhys, who has recently found out that he is up for a promotion, and who is heading to the office of his boss to receive the good news.  Once there, he discovers that his boss has been replaced by an arrogant, jackass named Vasquez.  Rather than receive his promotion, Rhys instead finds himself demoted to "head janitor" and is looking for a way to get back at Vasquez.  He overhears a conversation about a possible deal to buy a vault key and decides that stealing the key would be the perfect opportunity to get revenge.  Rhys teams up with his accounting buddy, Vaughn, and his requisitions pal Yvette, to steal $10 million from Hyperion to land on Pandora and buy the key out from under Vasquez.  What could possibly go wrong?

It turns out that everything could go wrong.  The entire idea of two mid-level corporate idiots navigating the dangerous world of Pandora, even for a short trip, is laughable.  Things go bad from the start--Rhys and Vaughn get lost and end up getting attacked by the locals (bandits...of course) and barely manage to make it out of that scrape.  They finally make it to the deal and have to try to negotiate a deal with August (a Pandoran gangster/pierced scumbag) and Sasha (Fion's con-artist sister).  The deal seems to be progressing well when Sasha starts acting weird and decides she doesn't want to sell the key.  It looks like the deal has gone south, so Rhys has to come up with some way to salvage it...

At this point the perspective changes to that of Fiona.  It turns out that the vault key was a fake all along and that Fiona and Sasha, with the help of their master con-artist adopted father, Felix, have set up this entire elaborate scheme.  You play as Fiona and get to see the work to set up the deal as it plays out.  Fiona enters the scene as Rhys is trying his absolute best to save the deal--she knows that Rhys can use his echo eye to scan the vault key and that he will know it's a fake.  She has to slip an electronic device onto the case that will scramble the signal from his echo eye.  With some crafty help from Sasha, Fiona manages to get the device onto the case.  The deal seems like it's actually going to go through, Rhys opens the case and is awed by the key and Vaughn offers to pony up the cash.  Disaster strikes when the vault key is accidentally dropped and broken, revealing that it is a fake, and the party is massively crashed by Zero (a vault hunter from Borderlands 2) and a large contingent of angry bandits.  In the chaos the money is stolen and Rhys and Vaughn decide to team up with Fiona and Sasha in an effort to get it back.

The rest of the story follows this unlikely team as they try to recover their stolen money, then stumble onto a horde of Atlas technology that promises to lead them to an actual vault.  The journey is filled with action packed moments, a boatload of choices, and a wide range of emotions--from laughs, to being grossed out, to being sad.

Pros:

--Borderlands characters and related humor.  If you're at all familiar with any of the Borderlands games you will enjoy the zany humor infused throughout the game.  It's dark, it's violent, and it's hilarious.  Bandits entertain you with their typical mix of strange talk--meat bicycles, face pizzas...that kind of thing.  Some of your favorite vault hunters make an appearance or play a big role in the story--Zero, Athena, Brick, and Mordecai all pop up at some point.  Other characters from the series also play a large role--Handsome Jack, Scooter, Janey Springs, and even Loader Bot.  Thankfully, there's no Claptrap.

--Storyline that follows two characters.  Switching back between Rhys and Fiona provides the opportunity to make choices and mold those characters into who you want them to be.  It also is a fun way to provide background on both characters and give them more of their own story.  I cannot remember if I've played any other TellTale games that have used this character switching approach.

--Same graphical/art style as the Borderlands games.  Having 2K work hand in hand with TellTale helped make the game feel like another piece of the Borderlands series.  Pandora and Helios felt like the same places, but that we got to experience them as different characters.

--Amazing soundtrack and opening sequences.  I really enjoyed the music that they sprinkled throughout the game and loved the credit sequences at the beginning of each game.  There are some cool songs as well as some music from Borderlands throughout the series.  (I wrote about this here).

--LoaderBot.  They managed to take one of the most annoying foes from Borderlands and turn it into a lovable, loyal, robot buddy.

--Choices that feel meaningful.  Yes, I know that it's the illusion of choice, but dammit if those choices aren't tough!  In a few seconds you have to decide whether or not to trust the AI version of Handsome Jack (don't do ti!  Or do...it's up to you...which is my point).  TellTale are the masters of this particular illusion.

--A fun story.  It zigs and zags all over the place and you have no idea how things are going to end up, but the journey is an absolute blast.  Sprinkled throughout are tons of moments where you will be laughing (or possibly crying).

--Weirdly gross moments that add to the flavor of the story.  They involve an eyeball and a face.  That's all I'm going to say.

Cons:
--QTE sequences that feel weird on a PC.  I kind of like them, but I know that some people loathe them.  They're super easy with a keyboard.

That's really my only con...I have genuinely enjoyed this series both of the times I have played through all five parts.

If you're a fan of the Borderlands series, someone who wants to play a less serious (but still fun!) TellTale game, or just someone who's looking for something new you really should check out Tales from the Borderlands.  It's by far one of my favorite TellTale series and one that didn't get the attention and love that it really deserved.  I think I actually liked it better than Borderlands:  The Pre-Sequel. 

Favorite Villains #3--Handsome Jack

Generally when I think of villains I think of a malformed, ugly, monstrosity who epitomizes evil.  But what happens when the villain is actually a good-looking and hilarious narcissist?

Favorite Villain #3--Handsome Jack

Borderlands 2 features one of my favorite villains, Handsome Jack.  Jack is the president of the ultra-evil Hyperion Corporation.  Hyperion has become a powerful organization thanks to the discovery of eridium, an alien mineral found on Pandora, that can be used in a variety of power augmenting ways.  Players first become acquainted with Jack in the very first scene.  Jack has been luring vault hunters to Pandora only to sabotage their trains and kill them off.  Your chosen character manages to survive but has to wade through the corpses of all the other vault hunters that Jack has killed.

As you follow Claptrap throughout Pandora, Jack periodically calls in to torment you.  In one series of recordings you listen as he insults Helena Pierce, a character from the original  Borderlands, and then murders her. But he doesn't simply murder her, he laughs about it.  It's easy to hate Jack from that point on.  He holds his own daughter prisoner to use her powers for his own means!  The rest of the game is composed of Jack sending his lackeys (innumerable bots) to kill you until you finally confront him in another hidden vault.

A unique part of Jack's villainy is his narcissism.  At one point in Borderlands 2 you visit the Hyperion city known as opportunity.  The city is filled with statues of Jack, cardboard cutouts of Jack, and propaganda that promotes him as a conquering hero on Pandora.  He's known as "handsome" because of the mask that he wears that makes his features perfect.  The reason for the mask is never explained in the game.  Did he suffer some sort of plastic surgery accident?  Was he deformed in a freak chemical spell?  It's not really explained.