White Hot Anticipation: Borderlands 2

We here at Opportunity Assassins have mainly focused on Movies, Music, and TV so far. We haven't yet really spent much time on the number one procrastination tool, Video Games, so today we're introducing our new segment called "White Hot Anticipation." The purpose of White Hot Anticipation will be to look forward to games that are coming out soon. These games may be new properties, sequels or otherwise but the one key will be that the games we'll look at are games we'll actually buy new right around release time (like idiots) instead of waiting until the inevitable Game of the Year edition is released (like smart people). The first will look at one of the best games I've played in recent history returning with a vengeance for a second round, Borderlands 2

For those of you out there who are not familiar with Borderlands, the game is a first person shooter based RPG more or less. There are a few key features that made Borderlands stand out: the bazillions of different guns, the hilariously creative characters, the cell shaded art style and the open map all made Borderlands a unique experience. On top of that, the RPG elements weren't too much of a pain in the ass. Of course there were the classic "I need a bunch of this shit, so go get it for me" type quests, but if you stuck with it the whole way through, you didn't need to go "grind" it out (just killing a bunch of random monsters to level up) in order to take down the next boss. Rather than telling you all about the kinds of humor and animation found in the game, why don't I just show you one of the "Making Of" clips starring the best character in the game, Claptrap.



This character is so beloved by fans of the game that the great folks over at Gearbox have provided videos for marriage proposals and even a heartfelt memorial to a big Borderlands Fan. See them both in order below.



She said yes, by the way (watch it here).



In addition to the Eulogy, Gearbox has promised to add a new NPC in Borderlands 2 called "Mamaril" in honor of Michael. I've never seen such commitment from a developer to their fans and they are, indeed, a class act over at Gearbox.

This brings us to Borderlands 2, the extremely ambitious sequel to an already ambitious initial offering of Borderlands. No doubt, if you were watching the NFL on FOX during week 1 you saw a live action commercial promoting Borderlands 2 plus a little thing with Claptrap and the FOX NFL robot Cleatus. What has me really excited for Borderlands 2, though, are all the new character classes they're bringing. For the first time in these types of games, I actually want to play all of the different character classes: the dual wielding Gunzerker named Salvador, stealth killer Assassin named Zero, magic wielding Siren named Maya and gun turret champion Commando named Axton. Not only those four, but Gearbox is adding a fifth character class, whose "pets" are big robots , the Mechromancer named Gaige. The mechromancer class will be available on October 10 for $10 or is free to those who preorder. Each character is insanely unique and with the new level up system Gearbox added to Borderlands 2, it'll be worth playing through with each character.

In addition to the new character classes, Gearbox has upgraded pretty much everything about the game. They've added more possible weapon combinations, including the grenades, and more variety of enemies. In Borderlands, the landscapes weren't all that varying so it's awesome to see that they've added some additional awesome locals. And, of course, Claptrap is back in the sequel. What I'm looking forward to the most is the story and how the Gearbox team will bring the humor and feeling of the first iteration back to the sequel. Everything I've seen so far points to it being as good as, if not better than, the original Borderlands. But that's enough jabbering from me. Why don't I just let Sir Hammerlock tell you all about the wonderful world of Borderlands 2.



Borderlands 2 comes out on Tuesday, September 18. You can find me in then out in Pandora under PSN ID: VladDracul1431.