Video Game Review: Borderlands 2 (by Gearbox Software / 2K Games)

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Leonard Wilson

2K Games and Gearbox Software have finally unleashed the sequel to it’s successful IP, Borderlands on game consoles, and wow, it’s wonderful to return to this universe. Some of my friends on Xbox Live introduced me to the original game and we had quite a bit of fun making our way through it. It was easy to have the sequel on our must play lists.

Here’s what you need to know about Borderlands. The game exists within a barren wasteland known as Pandora. In this place, we have The Vault. If found and opened, it will yield an unimaginable treasure, and as a result, Vault Hunters come from far and wide to seek it out. Along the way, you end meeting some strange characters and fighting against weirder ones. What set Borderlands apart was that it was something of a shooter / Role Playing Game and that it also contained a massive amount of weaponry. Working off of an XP system, you can upgrade your character by killing any enemies you find on the landscape, which is normal for any RPG, but the amount of different weapons in the game was massive.

It was rare to run into the same gun twice.

Borderlands 2 basically picks up where the last game left off in terms of development. Gearbox has introduced four new types of characters to work with, new landscapes and guns. Since the graphics engine is more akin to games like XIII and maybe even The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the game moves very fast and there’s little lag online when playing with 3 other players in a Co-Op battle.

The guns in the game all have attributes of their own, such a reload factors, damage strength and scope strength (if they have them). Some guns can be used as grenades when they use up a clip. Others have Elemental qualities (which I love), in that they can set enemies on fire, shock them with lightning or shoot corrosive acid. As you level up in the game, so the available weapons, so you’ll find yourself selling or discarding the ones you’ve carried along for more powerful upgrades – unless of course you happen to own one revolver or two that you just can’t part with. Trust me, that happens.

The four characters in Borderlands 2 are the Siren (my personal favorite), who has a focus on Elemental Ability and healing factors on the battlefield. The Gunzerker is pure brute force, can duel wield weapons and can beat an animal senseless with his melee tactics. The Commando can send out a sentry turret as a backup in battle. The Assassin, new to Borderlands, has tactics similar to Ghost Recon: Future Soldier, where he can blend in with the background and send out a decoy to confuse the enemy. His sword allows for massive melee damage when he’s out of ammo.

The skill tree system in Borderlands 2 has been upgraded from the first game as well. There are upgrade paths for every character with a limited amount of points to use, which help ensure that once you fully fill a skill tree – say one that allows you to cause elemental damage to everyone in the environment when using a Siren’s Phaselock ability – you’ll want to play the game over again to work on another path. It helps to shape just how you want your character to go, and is really fun when working in a team environment. One character can focus on healing the team, while another can be pure attack. If you have communication between your players, there’s no limit to how well you can do in a battle.

If Borderlands has any limitations, it’s that you can’t benefit from having your Single Player character work in a Co-Op environment. For example, if you have a level 20 Gunzerker, he can jump into a friend’s game who is only at the start and be a major effect on the battlefield, but it gives that high level character next to nothing in XP as they’re only fighting characters that are far weaker than them. Additionally, the high level character won’t benefit from any of the missions in the game (after all, they’ve already gone through them in their own game) In a way, it’s very smart, because it helps newer players level up, but the best way to go through a Co-Op game is to start from the very beginning together. This way, you all can level up around the same time and move forward as a group.

Overall, Borderlands 2 is a fantastic game to play if you have a team to work with, moves very quick and has no shortage of ammo or enemies to blast away to your heart’s content.

E3 2011: BioShock Infinite Gameplay Trailer

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Arleigh

Ken Levine, head of 2K Games’ Irrational Games development studio, was on-stage during Sony’s E3 Press Conference to hype up his latest title to the acclaimed BioShock franchise. The third game in the series looks to take the series from it’s failed undersea utopian city of Rapture and into the skies. Like Rapture, BioShock Infinite will have a setting that will be a full-blown city but floating skyward attached to giant balloons and zeppelin-like structures with rails that act almost like rollercoaster tracks for players to move from place to place.

The trailer Levine showed at the Sony Presser looks to be one using all gameplay footage which is always a welcome sight since in year’s past too many games promised too much based on cinematic, pre-rendered trailers. I’m all for CG-animated trailers, but it’s always how the gameplay looks and plays that counts in the end.

One thing that was also announced by Levine during this press conference was how the Sony version of BioShock Infinite will have the option for players to use the Playstation Move motion controller to play through the game.

BioShock Infinite only has an approximate release date around 2012.

Review: Civilization V

Posted on December 25, 2010 by Semtex Skittle

The Bottom Line

A worthy successor to Civilization IV, but far from a bold step forward for a classic game franchise.

Unfocused Ramblings

Years and years ago, I picked up a copy of Civilization II and convinced my dad that I really needed to own it. I’d heard from my cousin that it was a great game, and that (as a strategy fan) I really needed to give it a whirl. I loved the game. I probably ran a thousand civs to their completion, cheat mode or no, and I became intimately familiar with the inner workings of the game. Oddly, I learned as much about obscure World Wonders from Civilization II as I did from any class I took in secondary education. In perfect honesty, I didn’t enjoy Civilization III nearly as much, and I became somewhat disenfranchised with the whole series after playing it. A few years later, jaded as I was, I saw Civilization IV on the shelves at a local Best Buy and I decided, “Yeah, it’s time.”

Civilization IV brought me back to the series. From the opening screen with the Baba Yetu chant, I fell in love.

Well, Civilization V is missing Leonard Nimoy’s voice in the narration (and this is a brutal loss, but Mr. Nimoy certainly isn’t aging in reverse). But otherwise, it feels to me like a game that understands its audience. It’s like the developers actually played the game and tried different strategies, civilizations, levels of difficulty, and victory conditions, and realized there were areas where the game-play could be tremendously streamlined. Aside from a couple of major pet peeves – don’t worry, I’ll get into them – it feels like a natural evolution from the model of almost-perfection that Civilization IV presented.

Unfortunately, while this latest installment represents a step forward in many areas, it is a step back in several others. Most painful in their absence are any presence of religion. I understand all too well how thorny a topic religion is. How is the developer supposed to handle this? Providing distinct characteristics is inevitably going to draw accusations of religious bias, deserved or no, and is not a realistic option. Making all religions do the same thing is going to draw the same sort of criticism and, from a game-play standpoint, it made Civilization IV too easy – spread your religion, and you ensured victory!

At the same time, religion is a cornerstone of all of human history. To simply excise it is… disappointing, and probably the thing that I liked least about this latest title. Rather than providing total customization in the vein of Civilization IV we are forced to accept certain limitations. Culture points are banked and spent on civics, rather than allowing our level of technology and personal preference determine our government’s style, which creates a much more limited scope for your civilization. It just doesn’t have the epic “evolutionary” feel that I always had when advancing a civilization in Civilization IV.

A part of me regrets that Civilization IV was so good. I want the franchise to continue to grow, and it’s hard for me to admit that we may have just hit a ceiling. In terms of our own personal technology, we can hit strides forward, but there’s very little opportunity to gain a greater understanding of the history of the human race.

The Big Question

Where do we go from here? To be honest, I didn’t see a tremendous potential for expansion from where Civilization IV took us. Are we doomed to just re-live a classic game franchise, or can we re-invigorate it? Are there untapped gems of potential in human development that the developers haven’t considered?

Overall Game-Play: 9.5

Yep, I’m giving it an almost-perfect score. I’ve played a dozen civilizations or more, and I’ve yet to encounter an aspect of game-play that frustrates me, or causes me to stop and wonder why I bother playing. I understand that many people are evaluating games purely on their multi-player merits right now, but this is a game that delivers primarily in the single-player “us against them” mode.

The biggest problems you’ll encounter in the game focus around the A.I.’s style of play – which can make achieving cultural or other “peaceful” victories frustrating – but while I have heard others complain about this, I haven’t found it to be a tremendous stumbling block.

Story N/A

There is no “campaign mode” so we don’t have a true evaluation of story. However, this game does allow you to explore an alternate history of the human race in an infinitely varied way. I’ve given this an N/A, but it probably deserves some honourary points for letting you develop your very own story.

Graphics 7.5

You’re almost certainly not playing this game for its visuals if you are playing it. It is, after all, a strategy game, and a darn fine one. The visuals are beautiful for the most part – certainly not an area of complaint – but they’re hardly a focus of the title, and I’d struggle to recall one particularly stunning sequence. I also don’t think that you will be disappointed by the graphics, however, unless you have other issues with the core game-play.

Sound 7.0

If you’re a Civilization IV die-hard, then you will definitely feel the lack of Leonard Nimoy in this title, and the absence of Christopher Ting’s enchantingly beautiful rendition of Baba Yetu at the title screen. In fact, I found very little that ‘stood out’ to me as far as the audio effects in this title. The score was fine, if forgettable, and I found myself feeling bad for anyone who would be tasked with scoring a Civilization game or voice-acting for it after the release of Civilization IV. All of that negativity having been aired, I will say that while Civilization V‘s score lacks the epic feel of its predecessor, its audio is far from disappointing, and you’re unlikely to be overly disappointed once you get past the absence of Nimoy’s impeccable delivery.

Multiplayer 5.0

Unfortunately, the multi-player mode is still a huge weakness of the series and the genre. In all my years of gaming, I still struggle to name a single turn-based game that has suffered the transition to multi-player well. The genre just doesn’t lend itself to an exceptional multiplayer environment. If you have an insatiable lust to compete against other players – despite streamlining and advances in the multi-player environment – this just may not be the title for you. The experience against the A.I. works at a leisurely pace you may enjoy, and ultimately involves a lot less hassle. That having been said, don’t shy away from challenging your friends to a Civilization match – as long as you have the time! Just be aware that this is no quick feat.