Smarter enemies, bigger guns...
Borderlands was the sleeper hit of 2009, but faced some criticism for its disjointed missions and story.
Happily, Borderlands 2 writer Anthony Birch revealed in a recent interview that it's been addressed for the sequel.
"We focused on telling a cohesive story that is actually in line with mission objectives, not just relegated to text notes at the beginning and ends of missions," he says.
This is great for Borderlands 2, but the new stuff doesn't stop there - the cel-shaded shooter also gets even more weapon varieties on top of the millions of combos from the original.
"We took our 87 bazillion guns and made them even more diverse in terms of the way they look," says Birch. "You can see all the parts made by different manufacturers - they all fire differently. You have the Vladof minigun that is a slow spin up and then gets really fast.
"We have the TDR that you throw and reload and it turns into a grenade. We took all the existing systems and made them even better." That's a bold claim given the already high standards of Borderlands, but it's backed up by what we've seen of 2.
The enemy AI is much improved - creatures such as the Arctic Bullymong rip up anything around them with their gorilla-like arms to create makeshift weapons. We watched one throw a car, then leap up the side of a mountain to avoid gunfire. Impressive, and very threatening. Looks like you're going to need all those new guns after all.
CVG
