Just what is Borderlands?

I first heard about the game Borderlands about a year before it was released. At that point I didn’t play games very often, except for the occasional Xbox Live deathmatch on Call of Duty, but my friend was so excited about the release that it rubbed off on me. So, when Borderlands was released in October 2009 I couldn’t resist picking it up.

Gearbox and 2K games recently announced that the sequel, “Borderlands 2”, should hopefully be released sometime during 2012! So, why do I love the original? Let me tell you. What first caught my attention was the fact that it not only had 2 player co-op for local play, but also 4 player co-op online. This makes it a lot of fun to play with friends and work together towards the same goal. The Random Weapon generator that Gearbox developed also added a lot to the game. Throughout the campaign you will run across hundreds of guns, and no matter how many times you play you will no doubt find a great new weapon, if not many! To encourage co-op play the enemies become tougher or easier depending on the number of people participating, and the tougher the enemy, the better weapons and loot they drop!


I’ve already heard a few things that are rumored to be in the new game, like dual weapons and unique styles for gun brands, and more news is being released periodically. I’ve been thinking about what I would want to see done in the new release and something that I would love is more than just color customization on your characters clothing. For instance, if I put skill points into a grenade skill my character could obtain a bandoleer with more slots for grenades, or if I put some points into a melee damage skill they would adorn some brass knuckles or a new type of melee weapon. It would make for a more customized look and add uniqueness to online play.

I asked my brother what he wants to see in the next installment and his only comment was that they would make the game more simplified. He said he’s noticed a trend among sequels where they take something that wasn’t hard to begin with and try to make it more “user-friendly”. I too have this fear, but from what I’ve read it sounds like Gearbox has carried all the equipment over and added new guns and vehicles! In my opinion, the equipment (i.e. class mods and guns) are what keep the game interesting. Class Mods, which you can find after your character has reached level 15, are all slightly different and each of the 4 Characters gets their own set specifically geared to boost their specialized set of abilities. Team players can equip a mod that increases their teams max health by a certain percentage or if they want to go solo they can buy a mod that will give them a higher percentage of corrosive damage when corrosive weapons or artifacts are used. There are endless possibilities!

During GamesCom this next week on August 19, 2K Games has announced that they will be presenting a demonstration of Borderlands 2 by Gearbox Software and answering questions for their fans! The Demo will be streamed live from 2K’s uStream channel at http://www.ustream.tv/2kgameslive at 8:00 PT (17:00 CET, 16:00 BST) For 2K Games official announcement, just follow this link! If you’re as excited as I am be sure to check it out! In the meantime we want to know, what do you want to see in Borderlands 2?


The following links are articles and videos that I came across on Gameinformer’s website. So if you’re geeking out as much as I am about Borderlands 2, I highly recommend you check these out and, of course, come back and tell us what you think!

How Borderlands Began: A Developer Roundtable
A fun 20 minute video discussion about the beginnings of Borderlands

Randy Pitchford Talks Borderlands 2
A 17 minute long video of an interview with Gearbox CEO and President, Randy Pitchford

The Gun Peddlers Of Pandora
Just a fun article

I hope you’ve got your fill here at Gaming Cuisine! Until next time, Good Gaming!

-Hornflake