Reviewed On: Xbox 360

  Available For: PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

  Publisher: 2K Games

  Developer: Gearbox

  Genre: First-Person Shooter Role-Playing Game

  Age: 18 (BBFC)

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HOW do you improve upon perfection? How does 2K take a game like Borderlands and make it better? More guns? More enemies? More ridiculously off-the-wall humour?

Borderlands 2 has all of these, and more.

The much loved Pandora is plagued by a war between the Hyperion and a rebel group rising against them and all the hideous nastiness they stand for. The superslick and sickly-slimy Handsome Jack is the face of the Hyperion and the driving force behind the culling of all non-Hyperion. The original four from the first Borderlands games are the leaders of the rebellion – the side you’ll be fighting for to wipe the smug grin of Handsome Jack’s face.

Exploring huge maps on massive open-ended missions is what it’s all about. Clusters of battles litter the pathways and provide a great chance to shoot and loot. From the fiendishly freaky and hideously hicky weirdos who make perfect fodder on the plains and wastelands, through to the brutish behemoths who present colossal challenges as boss battles - there’s always a fight to be had somewhere.

Gameplay itself has barely changed, but then again, with the rock solid mechanics it has, why would it? It’s still the much loved formula from before with the constant cycle of munitions; you’ll find a gun, fall in love with it, sell your old one, find a new one, and fall in love with it. Find, love, sell – It’s the never ending cycle of gun swapping fun that makes Borderlands so special.

Character customisation now plays a bigger role, with physical alterations going beyond that of being able to just alter a simple colour scheme. Now faces and outfits can be tweaked to create your personal vault hunter.

It’s not just the look of the characters that can now be changed radically, as attributes can be tweaked in a much more in depth way. As well as the fully loaded skill tree, completing challenges rewards players with an increase in their ‘Badass rank.’ The higher the rank, the more bonuses can be applied to attributes. Players can upgrade all the way to level 50, although that’s bound to change with future updates.

Of course the multiplayer is back, allowing four hardcore vault hunters the opportunity to club together and lay the smack down in the badlands of Pandora. There are very few co-op games more fun than this – if any.

Although the visuals follow the same cel-shaded look throughout, each vicinity of the glorious but bleak and apocalyptic Pandora varies in its general aesthetic. Some parts are garishly bright and camp, while others are sparse, rugged and brutal. Borderlands famous colour palate shifting is just as prominent as before and is still a major star of the show.

In general, Borderlands 2 is more of the same. There are new bells and whistles which expand and improve the game dramatically, but the basic mechanics and general feel are exactly the same. And that’s how 2K have improved upon perfection.

SCORE: 9 / 10

PROS: Same fantastic mechanics we've come to know and love from Borderlands, but with loads more of everything.

CONS: Sometimes the waypoints can be a little unclear, but it's infrequent enough to not matter hugely.