Why Borderlands 2 Is The Best Game to Have Ever Been Released

Borderlands 2 is the best game to ever be released. Period. No question. End of blog.

-Big Lex

Okay, in all seriousness, Borderlands 2 was an incredible game. Best game to ever be released? Probably not, but it could actually be argued. Borderlands isn’t a new game, and there isn’t a sequel coming out in the near future (please gearbox, please), but for some reason I still get the itch to put hours into this game. If for some insane fucking reason you haven’t played Borderlands 2, bookmark this shit, play it, and come back for your own good.

Borderlands 2 was an impeccable game that did so many things right. At the time it was one of the first grind and loot based games, but it featured an incredibly hilarious and motivating storyline, phenomenal gun play, great character RPG elements and a high amount of replay value.  The depth of the game was unmatched to its competitors at the time, and 7 years later, it does better than current games in the genre.

What separates Borderlands 2 from similar games, even in present time, was the story. It was an interesting story, with an antagonist you loved to hate, and packed with NPCs you can’t help but love (my favorite being an insane child with an obsession for explosives). The missions were varied enough, and the NPCs you met along the way made the story something you couldn’t help but smile through  as you absolutely obliterated your enemies each increasingly more difficult playthrough.

I’ve played the story mode close to a dozen times, and still laugh at some of the shit you come across, or the witty comments your mechanical companion Claptrap says. What made it even better was the fact you could play said campaign with friends. Quite frankly, it became infinitely times better when you did. Being able to team up with an array of characters, and use their abilities in unison made gun fights and boss battles so much more rich. And if you had different squads to play with, the gameplay was going to be different dependent on how they had their respective characters skill tree set up.

The RPG-esque skill trees in the game seriously supplemented the games replay value. Each character had three separate trees that you could upgrade. The catch, however, was that you couldn’t fully max out any characters skills. This led to four separate characters with thousands of skill tree combinations to mess around with and tweak to perfection. My main character, Axton, was a shooter whose skills revolved around his sentry gun. There hasn’t been a single play through where I’ve set up his skills the same way. It was a beautiful feature to have the ability to tweak the same character in so many ways, without making them worse. There were certain upgrades that were better than others, but any combination, worked. And that goes for all four characters.

The best part of the game, IMO, was the loot system. There are so many fucking items in this game to collect. It’s not even possible to collect every single item in the game, let alone the dozens of variants for each item. The thing is, if you set out to grind for an item, you were going to get it. Unlike loot based games in current times, the drop rates in this game we’re reasonable. There were definitely items that were really hard to get, but it was achievable without a disgusting amount of grinding. I’m not throwing Destiny or the Division out there to shit on, because I liked both games a lot, but I feel like it’s fucking impossible to get good loot in them without grinding quests for a ridiculous amount of hours and 99.9% of the time not getting what you’re grinding for. The drop rates of legendary items in Borderlands was actually fair.

Weapons in the game were fun to use, and had so many variants that were worth grinding for. There was a weapon that literally taunted you, screamed when you shot, and had terrible accuracy; but just being able to whip that out while playing with friends was hilarious and worth the grind. There were incredibly OP shields that you were able to grind for that practically made you invincible or gave you ammo when you shot. Items were unique, made sense in regards to the setting, and were fun to use. The game is worth playing so many times due to the fact you could play it one time and have a favorite gun, and never see it drop again the second time you play it (thank god for the vault that let you store items in between play throughs).

Borderlands is a game that transcends any game that also released in that time period. It paved the way for loot based video games such as Destiny, The Division, and many more. It arguably doesn’t it better than these current platforms do (minus the PVE aspect of them). Borderlands 2 was ahead of its time in so many ways, and subsequently makes it a great game to play, even seven years later.

P.S.

Gearbox if you’re reading this, I’d do anything for a solid release date for Borderlands 3.

P.S.S

I would literally do fucking anything.

Forreal this time,

-Big Lex