When I heard Borderlands 2 was coming out I didn’t pay any attention to it at all. I never played the first one and the game never really appealed to me with its cartoony graphics and mass open world campaign it just seemed like a massive task for me to take on that I wouldn’t have the time or commitment to really get into. I used to see loads of my friends playing it and they raved about it, saying it was pure class. So I decided to give the second one a bit of a go and so far I’ve been pleasantly surprised.

For what I remember seeing in the original Borderlands, 2K and Gearbox software have really stuck to a similar model for the second title and so they should seeing as people loved the first one so all they needed to do was impress the core fans and the rest would jump on to. The story is set 5 years after the original title and rumours of a massive secret vault in Pandora are echoed across the galaxy which draws new vault hunters to the planet in search of its treasures. The story begins with the 4 new vault hunters on a train that Handsome Jack lured them on, he is now ruler of Pandora and its inhabitants, the fault hunters are ambushed by Hyperion robots and the train gets destroyed leaving all vault hunters for dead in a frozen wasteland. You are then woken to the familiar and annoyingly distinctive voice of claptrap and this is where your story starts to take off and you head into the open world full of peculiar beasts and weird (but humours) inhabitants.

The game has retained its humorous aspect that made it so distinctive from most first person shooters on the shelf. The level up tree is fantastic on the game as it gives the player the ability to choose what particular skill they want to upgrade with added bonuses able to be unlocked to improve weapon accuracy, health, shield regeneration speed etc. When you spend your badass tokens. The game also appears to have a never ending amount of quests and tasks for you to partake in, whether they are story mission quests or side quests some of them are just totally ridiculous and are only there for the amusement of the player.

I’m quite early into the game but I’ve of some friends of mine who have completed it that the game has 2 playthroughs only the second time is obviously much harder than the original. It’s very easy to get out manned in the game when playing solo so the game is really set out to be a fun experience for you and a few friends to play at the same time and assist each other in battle. The game definitely requires a lot of commitment and dedication if you plan on completely everything which will also be very difficult if you try and take the challenge on by yourself. I really need to invest more time into this game to really experience its full potential. People who have played the original will love it, it’s practically the same game with a new coat of paint. The only problem I’ve found at the moment is the time to play it, if you already have a lot of games you’re trying to get through then this could end up sitting on your shelf awhile before you get to the end and if you are unfamiliar with the Borderlands way of life like myself then getting your head around everything and managing your items can take a bit of time to come to grips with. However, I am confident that I will unearth a fantastic game eventually and get as hooked on as many of its hardcore fans do.

Borderlands 2 is available now for Play Station 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Review in association with Duracell Gaming Accessories, which are available from Amazon, Play.com and Zavvi.com Review by Thomas Thompsett, White Room Games.