Grave Gamer News & Views — borderlands 2

Borderlands 2 Has Some Lootastic Collector’s Editions

I’ve always said that a year where a Borderlands comes out is a year worth living, so for only the second occasion in my life, I’m glad to be alive as Gearbox readies a sequel to their lootin’, shootin’ extravaganza.  Now, you can celebrate the game adequately with a standard copy – which is as financially sound as it is mind crushingly boring – or you could do it up the right way with either one of the above two special editions coming out for Borderlands 2.

The Deluxe Vault Hunter’s Collector’s Edition, pricing in at $99.99, is decked with a Marcus Kincaid bobblehead, a behind-the-scenes book, a Pandoran map, in-game content, and additional trinkets.  It’s all nice enough for your casual collector but still too…sensible.  Either you go big or you’re just spitting in Gearbox’s face (metaphorically).

That’s why the Ultimate Loot Chest Limited Edition, belligerently priced at $149.99 to test your fandom mettle, is the only edition grandiose enough to sate true blue Borderlands fans.  Equipped with everything the Vault Hunter’s Edition claims stake to, the Ultimate Edition stocks you up on a steelbook case, a cloth Pandoran map, a ‘Creatures of Pandora’ ID chart, and – here’s where the collection goes into God Mode – a scaled replica of the red loot chest consistently found throughout Borderlands.  That’s all impractical enough to make me need it.

Borderlands 2 drops on our heads September 18th for the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 with a worldwide release following closely after on the 21st.

From the Borderlands 2 promotion that lets fans submit the most badass t-shirt design they can muster before the awesomeness reaches blinding proportions.  Winners get their shirt printed and a signed copy of Gearbox’s bazillion dollar game.

Borderlands 2 (PC/PS3/360 - September 18th)

Pop in your copy of Borderlands (if you forgot yours, ask the person next to you to lend you a copy). Now compare what you see with these screens here. Gearbox has seriously upped on the visual department.  Not just the modeling or textures but the vibrancy of color makes for a refreshing change of scenery.  Definitely a far cry from the monochromatic desert-pocalypse of the original.

What about the gameplay you ask?  That’s something that barely needed refining to begin with.  If Gearbox has somehow improved on the gameplay in any way – and this is highly unlikely; abhorrently unlikely – then my mind will fracture.

Borderlands 2 character concept art.

Borderlands 2 (PC/PS3/Xbox 360)

Check your calendar; September 18th will clearly be marked off as the return of superb FPS co-op.  In the event that your calendar is missing any notation regarding the return of superb FPS co-op, fucking burn said calendar.  Or get a Sharpie.  Don’t quite know why that wasn’t my first piece of advice.

I’ve got better advice: be on the look out for Gearbox’s sequel to the phenomenal Borderlands.  The studio is steadily becoming an industry powerhouse and has a customer service record that matches the legend of Valve.  With this and Aliens: Colonial Marines dropping this year, Gearbox has swiftly robbed me of my dollars and countless hours of 2012 I could’ve spent sourly not enjoying their addictive games.