Borderlands 2

"Alright, so Borderlands 2 has some ups and downs, but the bottom line is that the ups far outweigh the downs: an amazing story, diverse skill trees, memorable hilarious characters, and well-written dialogue make this game stand apart from its peers. Add in badass pulse-pounding combat and you've got a recipe for an amazing loot shooter. Yeah, the hit detection could use a little work, and I wouldn't mind some cooler death animations, and maybe a Clapjack courier function, but these are minor details, things to think about for Borderlands 3, because when you come right down to it, this franchise has found its stride and definitely deserves a sequel, or a prequel, or whatever the guys over at Gearbox wanna do. You've got me hooked, and I wanna know what happens next time on Pandora. Borderlands 2 gets a 9/10 and I look forward to what comes next."

- Lasercorn

Borderlands 2 is an action role-playing first-person shooter game in the Borderlands franchise featured in S.A.G.N.U.T., Smosh Games Review, Why We're Single, and Top 5 and played by Sohinki and Lasercorn in Boss Fight of the Week and Dope! or Nope.

Information
Borderlands 2 is a 2012 action first-person shooter role-playing game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. It is the second game in the Borderlands series and the sequel to 2009's Borderlands. As with the first game, Borderlands 2 allows players to complete a campaign consisting of central quests and optional side-missions as one of four treasure seekers (Vault Hunters) on the planet Pandora. Key gameplay features from the original game, such as online collaborative campaign gameplay, randomly generated loot, and character-building elements commonly found in RPGs return in this sequel.

The game received critical acclaim and was a commercial success. The Game of the Year Edition of the game was released in October 2013, including all previous DLC and upgrade packs except for the new campaign. The game has sold over 13 million copies, making it 2K's highest-selling title.

Setting
Five years have passed since the events of Borderlands, when the four Vault Hunters Roland, Mordecai, Lilith, and Brick were guided by a mysterious entity known as The Guardian Angel on the planet of Pandora to the Vault, a mysterious alien structure rumored to hold ancient and exotic technology and riches. Instead, these Vault Hunters were confronted by an alien abomination called The Destroyer inside the Vault. After defeating it, a valuable mineral called Eridium started flourishing through Pandora's crust. Handsome Jack, president of the Hyperion Corporation, secures this new resource and makes use of it to attempt to "bring peace" to the world. Now, Handsome Jack rules over the inhabitants of Pandora with an iron fist from his massive H-shaped satellite, always visible in the sky in front of Pandora's moon. Meanwhile, rumors of an even larger Vault hidden on Pandora spread across the galaxy, drawing a new group of Vault Hunters to the planet in search of it.

Gameplay
Borderlands 2 is an action RPG played from a first-person perspective. The gameplay revolves around the completing missions and collecting randomly generated loot (weapons, shields, skins, etc.) with various rarities, statistics, and elemental effects. Four character classes are available in the base game. Axton, "the Commando", can summon a turret to provide offensive support. Maya, "the Siren", can "phaselock" enemies by trapping them in a sphere of energy for a few seconds. Zer0, "the Assassin", can temporarily become invisible and spawn a hologram decoy to distract enemies; an attack delivered in this state provides bonus damage. Salvador, "the Gunzerker", can use his ability to temporarily dual-wield weapons. Completing the main story campaign unlocks True Vault Hunter Mode, a mode that increases the difficulty, as well as an Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode.

New gameplay elements include a trading system during multiplayer play; slag, a substance that increases damage to targets that are covered in it; new E-Tech weaponry; Eridium bars, a new currency for purchasing storage upgrades and other premium items; the Secret Stash, a small storage area for transferring items between characters; as well as increased character customization options. A major addition is the Badass Rank system; points are awarded for completing challenges, awarding tokens that can be redeemed to increase the player's base stats.