Borderlands 2

Overview

Borderlands 2 is a 2012 action role-playing first-person shooter developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K. It takes place five years after the first Borderlands, again on the planet Pandora. The new Vault Hunters team up with the Crimson Raiders, a resistance made up of civilian survivors and fighters, to stop the tyrant Handsome Jack before he can open a new Vault.

You explore, take main missions and optional side quests, and play alone, in offline split-screen or in online co-op. Like the first game, loot is procedurally generated and can come out in a huge number of combinations. The PS3 version supports four player online co-op.

With the first game doing better than anyone expected, Gearbox got a budget of 30 to 35 million dollars. The art style stayed the comic look of the original, built on photorealistic and comic book visuals. Anthony Burch wrote a script seven times longer than the first game's, and Handsome Jack was written as a charismatic jerk who mirrors Burch's own personality. Jesper Kyd, Sascha Dikiciyan and Cris Velasco wrote the soundtrack, and development wrapped on August 20, 2012.

It came out in North America on September 18, 2012 and internationally a few days later. Pre-orders got access to the Premier Club, which gave extra gear and access to the fifth character. There were two special editions, the Deluxe Hunter's Collector's Edition with an art book, stickers, a map of Pandora, a Marcus Kincaid bobblehead and in-game DLC, and the Ultimate Loot Chest Limited Edition, which adds a scale replica of the red loot chests, a steel case and numbered extras. A Game of the Year Edition followed in October 2013 with the season pass content and two extra characters.

A lot of add-on content followed: Gaige the Mechromancer, four story campaigns (Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty, Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage, Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt and Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep), the Psycho Pack with Krieg, and the Ultimate Vault Hunter upgrade packs that lift the level cap. A Vita version with cross-save with the PS3 followed in 2014.

Reviews were generally positive and the PS3 version holds 91 out of 100. Critics liked the gunplay, the variety of guns, the writing and the online co-op, and they marked down the mission design. It was the best-selling retail game in the UK in its launch week and the most pre-ordered game in 2K's history. Take-Two shipped 5 million copies by November 2012, 8.5 million by February 2014, and over 20 million by 2019.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action role-playing, First-person shooter

Developer

Gearbox Software

Publisher

2K

Series

Borderlands

Engine

Unreal Engine 3

Composers

Jesper Kyd, Sascha Dikiciyan, Cris Velasco, Raison Varner

Designers

John Hemingway

Writers

Anthony Burch

Producers

Sean Reardon, Matt Charles

Directors

Paul Hellquist

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

2 players, split-screen

Online multiplayer

4 players

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Subscription history

Trophies

Trophies70

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

5

Silver

15

Bronze

49

Total

70

Points

1935

• Borderland Defender Round Two Unlocked all Borderlands 2 trophies Platinum 5.62% of players
• First One's Free Completed the mission "My First Gun" Bronze 94.02% of players
• Dragon Slayer Completed the mission "Best Minion Ever" Bronze 73.92% of players
• A Road Less Traveled Completed the mission "The Road To Sanctuary" Bronze 69.36% of players
• New In Town Completed the mission "Plan B" Bronze 67.71% of players
• An Old Flame Completed the mission "Hunting The Firehawk" Bronze 63.36% of players
• No Man Left Behind Completed the mission "A Dam Fine Rescue" Bronze 57.54% of players
• Wilhelm Screamed Completed the mission "A Train To Catch" Bronze 53.5% of players
• Sky's The Limit Completed the mission "Rising Action" Bronze 52.96% of players
• Can See My House From Here Completed the mission "Bright Lights, Flying City" Bronze 51.29% of players
• Farewell, Old Girl Completed the mission "Wildlife Preservation" Bronze 46.89% of players
• Got The Band Back Together Completed the mission "The Once and Future Slab" Bronze 45.56% of players
• Identity Theft Completed the mission "The Man Who Would Be Jack" Silver 43.88% of players
• An Angel's Wish Completed the mission "Where Angels Fear To Tread" Silver 42.29% of players
• Bombs Away Completed the mission "Toil And Trouble" Silver 39.73% of players
• Knowing Is Half The Battle Completed the mission "Data Mining" Silver 38.63% of players
• Cool Story, Bro Defeated Jack Gold 37.81% of players
• Challenge Accepted Completed level 1 of all non-level-specific challenges with a single character Gold 6.37% of players
• Goliath, Meet David Allowed a Goliath to level up four times before killing him Bronze 22.88% of players
• Went Five Rounds Completed Round 5 of any Circle of Slaughter Bronze 26.74% of players
• Not Quite Dead Reached level 5 Bronze 81.43% of players
• Better Than You Were Reached level 10 Bronze 67.08% of players
• Always Improving Reached level 25 Silver 44.47% of players
• Capped Out...For Now Reached level 50 Silver 21.84% of players
• Arctic Explorer Discovered all named locations in Three Horns, Tundra Express, and Frostburn Canyon Bronze 13.44% of players
• Urban Explorer Discovered all named locations in Sanctuary, Opportunity, and Lynchwood Bronze 32.38% of players
• Highlands Explorer Discovered all named locations in The Highlands, Thousand Cuts, and Wildlife Exploitation Preserve Bronze 17.18% of players
• Blight Explorer Discovered all named locations in Eridium Blight, Arid Nexus, and Sawtooth Cauldron Bronze 12.15% of players
• World Traveler Discovered all named locations Silver 9.78% of players
• Sugar Daddy Tipped Moxxi $10,000 Bronze 37.71% of players
• Decked Out Had Purple-rated gear or better equipped in every slot Bronze 18.88% of players
• Sabre Rattler Killed 100 enemies with the Sabre turret Bronze 26.81% of players
• Phased and Confused Phaselocked 100 enemies Bronze 21.39% of players
• So Much Blood! Gunzerked continuously for 90 seconds Bronze 9.31% of players
• Cute Loot Killed a Chubby Bronze 34.97% of players
• Tribute To A Vault Hunter Got an item from Michael Mamaril Bronze 27.77% of players
• Definitely An Italian Plumber Killed Donkey Mong Bronze 18.84% of players
• High-Flying Hurler Killed a flying enemy with a thrown Tediore weapon Bronze 28.51% of players
• Token Gesture Redeemed 25 tokens Bronze 56.71% of players
• What does it mean? I can't even capture it on my camera Bronze 19.84% of players
• Unseen Predator Remained in Zero's Deception mode for ten seconds straight Bronze 12.75% of players
• Build Buster Killed a Constructor without it ever building another bot Bronze 54.1% of players
• Well That Was Easy Completed the mission "Shoot This Guy in the Face" Bronze 41.6% of players
• How Do I Look? Unlocked 10 customization items Bronze 56.36% of players
• Thresher Thrashed Defeated Terramorphous the Invincible Silver 19.49% of players
• Friendship Rules Revived someone from "Fight for Your Life!" that is on your friends list Bronze Needs online 41.59% of players
• Better Than Money Purchased 5 items from the black market Bronze 55.69% of players
• Up High, Down Low Gave Claptrap a high five Bronze 38.84% of players
• Bounty Hunter Completed 20 side missions Bronze 52.45% of players
• Did It All Completed all side missions Silver 9.22% of players
• Feels Like The First Time Opened the chest at the bus stop in Fyrestone Bronze 28.2% of players
• Treasure Hunter Completed the mission "X Marks the Spot" Gold 38.72% of players
• Gadabout Discovered all named locations in Oasis and the surrounding Pirate's Booty areas Bronze 39.86% of players
• Completionist Completed all Pirate's Booty side missions Silver 9.87% of players
• Explosive Completed the mission "Long Way To The Top" Bronze 37.49% of players
• Motorhead Completed all Campaign of Carnage side missions Silver 8.7% of players
• Obsessed Collected 10 pictures of Moxxi in Campaign of Carnage Gold 17.99% of players
• Face Off Completed the mission "The Fall of Nakayama" Bronze 31.5% of players
• Done That Completed all Hammerlock's Hunt side missions Gold 9.26% of players
• Been There Discovered all named locations in Hammerlock's Hunt Silver 10.93% of players
• I Totes Planned That Boss Slew Mister Boney Pants Guy Bronze 37.65% of players
• Yaaaaaay Introduced thyself to the White Knight Bronze 34.62% of players
• Shorty, You So Best Completed thy quest by rescuing yonder queen Silver 30.15% of players
• Girl's Gotta Eat Fed thy noble queen 3 times during one visit to her quarters Bronze 23% of players
• It's Like That One Video Showed thine worst enemy, the abomination known as "The Darkness," who is the nerdiest of them all Bronze 20.18% of players
• They Was All "Hey That's Mine" Unsheathed 5 swords from Immortal Skeletaurs without leaving the area Bronze 31.58% of players
• Dang Girl You Ace At This Game Won the most challenging round in Murderlin's Temple Silver 10.35% of players
• Hmmmmm Wielded the Mysterious Amulet Bronze 13.37% of players
• Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin' Demonstrated your skill, or lack thereof, at rolling the magical treasure orb of many sides Bronze 24.13% of players
• Make it Raaaaaid Vanquished the Ancient Dragons of Destruction Silver 16.39% of players

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 5.3 GB

Update patch01.15

These are the patches Sony still hosts for this disc ID. The game's real history can be longer.

DLC

Gaige the Mechromancer, a sixth character, four story campaigns and two level cap packs came out between 2012 and 2013, and the Game of the Year Edition bundles most of it.

Items

Name	Date	Adds
Gaige the Mechromancer	2012-10-16	A fifth playable character, designed with newcomers to shooters in mind.
Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty	2012-10-16	A story campaign about a sand pirate captain, with new raid bosses and the Sandskiff hovering vehicle.
Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage	2012-11-20	A tournament campaign with Torgue vending machines and Torgue Tokens.
Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt	2013-01-15	A hunt for rare Pandoran animals and a fight with Professor Nakayama.
Psycho Pack	2013-05-14	Krieg, a sixth playable character focused on melee. Not part of the season pass.
Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep	2013-06-25	A campaign set inside a tabletop role-playing game run by Tiny Tina.
Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack		Raises the level cap from 50 to 61 and adds Ultimate Vault Hunter Mode.
Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2: Digistruct Peak Challenge	2013-09-03	Raises the level cap from 61 to 72 and adds the Digistruct Peak Challenge map.

Playable today

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	91	100
Metacritic	Xbox 360	89	100
Metacritic	PC	89	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	9	10
Game Informer	9.75	10
GameSpot	8.5	10
Eurogamer	9	10
Destructoid	8.5	10
Polygon	7.5	10
GamesRadar	4	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Creative Director	Paul Hellquist
Writer	Anthony Burch
Art Director	Jeramy Cooke
Designer	John Hemingway
Producer	Sean Reardon
Producer	Matt Charles
Programmer	Steven Jones
Composer	Jesper Kyd
Composer	Sascha Dikiciyan
Composer	Cris Velasco
Composer	Raison Varner

Cast

Character	Actor
Handsome Jack	Dameon Clarke
Tiny Tina	Ashly Burch
Claptrap	Jim Foronda

Notes for collectors

• The trophy list includes all the story add-ons, so the platinum needs the season pass content.
• The trophy Tribute To A Vault Hunter is named for a fan, Michael John Mamaril, who died of cancer. Gearbox added an NPC in his honour.
• The PS3 version has cross-save with the Vita version released in May 2014.
• Players of the first Borderlands could unlock exclusive cosmetic items when they bought Borderlands 2.
• A Dishonored bundle for PS3 and Xbox 360 came out on 2014-02-11.
• The Psycho Pack with Krieg is not included in the season pass.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 30 hours