Borderlands 2

Oz, Why?  Why do you keep playing FPSRPG's if they're the combination of the two genre's you're worst at?

Because they aren't Call of Duty.

Welcome to Pandora.

I'll admit it, I never got around to the first Borderlands.  It looked like a good time but given that it had a huge multiplayer element, the price never went down enough to justify me getting it on Xbox.  But thanks to Steam, when Borderlands 2 dropped, a mac version miraculously appeared out of the haze of indie games.

Usually gaming on a Mac makes you feel like this. The first Bioshock, despite having a Mac version is still 40 dollars.  I can get it for 5 or less on xbox or PC.

I thought I misread it at first.  Can this be?  A big time game with a Mac version?  And it's going on sale for 35 bucks?

Needless to say, I clicked that little buy button pretty damn fast.

There's this trend in the gaming industry lately.  A game of an odd or newish genre has success.  Usually because it's masterfully crafted.  Remember a few simple years ago, Sandbox games weren't a thing.  For awhile almost all action games were sandbox.  Then Halo and Modern Warfare happened and FPS's dominated the scene.  This trend usually continues until the genre turns out hundreds of shitty clones of the successful game and eventually it begins to take itself far too seriously.

Think about the jump from Vice City/San Andreas to GTAIV.  Not that IV was a bad game.  It was fantastic.  But they went for a gritty realistic take on the game that made its name on your ability to beat hookers with a baseball bat.  It just didn't feel the same.

Then Saints Row 3 came out and I remembered what I loved about sandbox games.

Whatever the fuck is going on here is a brief glimpse into the insanity of Saints Row The Third

So, let's see where we stand here.  The FPS genre takes itself too seriously (YOU FUCKIN NOOB, HAVE YOU NEVER PLAYED BEFORE? THE GAMES BEEN OUT SINCE TUESDAY!).  The RPG Genre takes itself too seriously (if you don't have to grind its not a good game!! GIVE ME 500 HOURS OF GRINDING).  There's a third genre Borderlands 2 raises a middle finger to: The dungeon crawler.  Diablo III shows once again, a genre taking itself far too seriously by trying to institute a real life money aspect.  

Borderlands 2 is Gearbox's answer to say "Fuck that shit.  Games are supposed to be fun!"

Is it the best graphics ever?  No but it has a distinct cel-shaded style that looks fantastic even on my old ass computer.

Is it the best shooting mechanics? No but there's enough variety and different type of guns that whatever you're preferred style of mayhem, you'll be happy.

Is it the most revolutionary RPG since Final Fantasy? Christ people, the RPG has barely changed since tabletop days.  Get yourself together.  There's enough customization options and skill trees to make you happy.

Does the humor always hit it out of the park? No, but what humor does nowadays? Even South Park has jokes that miss.

Is it entertaining as hell and fun as shit to play, especially with a couple of buddies, possibly with a few beers? Yes.  For the love of god yes. 

I'm not very far into it (9 hours according to Steam) so I'm not going super in depth.  But if you at all enjoy over the top insanity in an interesting atmosphere with a unique style, you should really check out Borderlands.  Even if you're not that into shooters.

Sweet.

I'm going to end this review with the story of the second I was sold on this game.  I have a couple of buddies who were really into Yu-Gi-Oh for a bit and had a youtube channel.  They played a lot of tournaments locally and made decent money with it.  I never got that into it but I at least know some of the basics or the memes of the sub-culture.  When picking my class for Borderlands, I missed my old rogue from WoW and decided to go Assassin class.  Recently when I've played Halo or CoD melee is the only way I get kills anyway.  After a few levels and lots of dying I get my first class skill extremely similar to "Vanish"from WoW.  If you've got something trying to kill you, pop this, it'll get distracted, and you can sneak up on it or retreat.  The very first time I pop it my badass robot looking character lets this fly.

Fucking Sold Gearbox.

Preferred the name bonerfarts to bullymongs,

-Oz