Gaming Borderlands 2 review

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2012/09/18/borderlands-2-review/1

 

Obligatory FIRST!!!!

More of the same.......if you enjoyed BL1 I guess youd like this, but i think ill pass.

Nice review joe.

 

PS- Not sure how you gave it 85% >.> <.<

 

As I was reading this I kept thinking I might have made a mistake with the pre-order. The review read so negative for me I was kind of dreading seeing the score.

85%

Oh. Er, wasn't expecting that.

 

Can someone explain to me the significance of the Borderlands 2 4-Pack because I don't understand why it's priced at £100? Is it the same game told through four different perspectives, four intertwined games, four separate games or what?

Also, the review reads nothing like one would expect of an 85% score.

The feeling I got from the article was that the gameplay was one-dimensional and didn't really add much over its predecessor. I was expecting 60%-65%. After having read the article, I kept thinking about another article by Bit-Tech, "When did 8/10 become a bad score?". Having observed how certain sites hyperinflate their scores, is this game really worthy of one which indicates that it's verging on excellence?

 

the 4 pack is just 4 copies of the game, so you can buy it and split it between 4 people and it works out slightly cheaper.

 

Thanks. For some reason, I imagined all these complex reasons for a 4 pack when it's simply a money saving technique.

 

Games are a means of escape and enjoyment
It looks colourful, and if its like BL1 it contains oodles of raw humour. What more should be asked for in a game like Borderlands? Turn it on play it for an hour, turn it off.
Its not pretending to be dark mysterious and arty, with clear objectives (save the princess, own a castle, destroy a tank) .. its a cartoon style game, its silly, its fun. It ought to be given merit for what it is, not what it isnt

 

I don't see the problem with the score. The game is shallow but fun. The same could be said of Diablo 3, COD X and Pong. None of this it's mutually exclusive to an 85% score. Many other places seem to agree with this score. Looks like I'll be picking this up on Steam at Xmas, as XCOM is fast approaching.

 

Aaargh! Sorry!

 

Well should have got this on preorder. But i'll get it at Xmas or before if my regular gaming buddies get it. Need more free time. Ruddy work and kids always seem to prevent mindless computer enjoyment. Thoroughly enjoyed the first ones humour and this seems to have just dialled up the humour more so they made the best thing better.

 

Can't wait for Friday - Pre-ordered.

 

A review of no positives given 85%. OK THEN. So I take it the game is good? or possibly bad?

 

85% because like the first game it'll be loads of fun despite the shallow nature of the game. Lets face it. Mindless violence is probably the main reason most of us got into gaming.

 

Well, firstly the score/review takes for granted the fact that the gunplay is good and that I don't need to stress over every point: The machine guns feel nice, the shotguns feel nice, the grenade mods are fun....

As for the score, I felt it was reflective of the quality...but, come on. Scores are nonsense, Bit-tech. You're smart people, you know this. You can't objectively review a subjective product that accurately. The number is an at-a-glance number for the people that want to use that or mainly that.

If you're smart enough to read the review, you should be able to use that and form your own opinions. If you've read what I've put and you say "God, that game sounds rubbish", that'll be the opinion you have. If you disagree and say "Man, it sounds like he's totally missing the point of the game" then you know this is the review that'll be an indicative of your reactions.

Scores are nonsense. I know they're nonsense, you know they're nonsense - but they can be a useful nonsense for some readers and they're a politically useful nonsense elsewhere in the industry. I'm not going to spend ages worrying about getting the score right; I'd rather focus on getting my understanding of games and my level of writing up.

Time spent defining a difference between 82 per cent and 83 per cent is time wasted. The furthest I go down that argument is to say that I use the entire 1-100 score (including 100 per cent) and to say that 50 per cent is considered an average (or 'only functional') game.

/rant

 

First of all - pre-ordered and I can't wait for it to arrive.
Second, Borderlands may be flawed, but it has always been a fun ride and worth the journey. In a world which is filled with serious yet shallow crap which is then foisted on us, why can't we have a game which is simple, witty and fun?
Third, the review was fine, I don't have an issue with it.
Also: Vapid?

1. Lacking liveliness, animation, or interest; dull.
2. Lacking taste, zest, or flavour.

I'm not certain that Borderlands could be described as vapid. Shallow...arguably. Vapid, I don't think so.

The money. Why over analyse it? Why couldn't Pandora have a failing economy that is suffering hyper-inflation and they've had to adopt the far more stable Zimbabwean dollar? That is why there is so much lying around. That is why it buys so little.

 

Vapid also means tedious, and this is a perfect word to describe Borderlans and not in the least bit pejorative - as Joe said in the review, every minute of gameplay is essentially the same thing over and over and over and over (ad infinitum) but it's very cleverly masked with eye candy, humour, and guns... lots of guns.

 

Loved the first game (so much so that I'm still playing it on the 360, PC and PS3).

The review sounded fine to me. Might not be a Day 1 purchase (especially with Christmas only a few months away - need to start saving) but it's definitely at the top of my list of games to pick up.

 

Quick, add me on Steam! I need people to blow the living hell out of Pandora with this weekend!