Reviews

2K Games and Gearbox Software’s Borderlands 2 is by no means new, as it originally released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in September 2012. On the positive side, the game didn’t get stale, thanks to the continued support Gearbox showed its fans via downloadable content. With the release of each piece of DLC, Borderlands 2 grew, giving fans of the series interesting and worthwhile content to experience.

That said, Gearbox and SONY announced that Borderlands 2 would appear on the PlayStation Vita in May 2014 with not only the title’s original storyline and side missions, but also a good portion of DLC previously released on the console and PC. The Vita received both additional characters, the Collector’s Edition and Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade packs, Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage and Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty add-on campaigns. In other words, 2K Games and Gearbox made sure those who picked up the Vita edition will journey through Pandora for a long time.

A full FPS-RPG experience in the palm of your hand

Borderlands 2 is a healthy mix of first-person shooter with role-playing elements that requires players to think on their feet, especially when attacked by several rampaging psychos. As you complete missions and kill enemies, you’ll earn experience that will allow your character to level up, which lets you unlock abilities through character skill trees. The stronger your character becomes, the tougher enemies will be, giving Borderlands 2 a gradual increase in difficulty.

A total of six characters with their own classes are available. Each character has his or her own personality, which will shine as you progress through the game by way of quick one-liners and general comments on what’s going on.

No two weapons are alike

One of the biggest selling points for the Borderlands series is the weapons. Players can carry as many as there backpack allows, starting at around 12, but increasing with backpack upgrades. Players can have 4 equipped to cycle through on the D-Pad in the heat of battle. But the key to Borderlands’ weapons is that no two weapons are the same, Borderlands 2’s Loot System randomly generates the weapons as the weapons appear. You may find a Shotgun that fires in a wave, and one that fires ricocheting rounds, an assault rifle that fires two rounds with every shot and another with a mini-gun barrel attached. Each weapon is unique.

Keeping Control on Vita

Borderlands fans who are concerned with controls on Vita can rest easy knowing that Iron Galaxy, responsible for this piece of Vita magic, have done well moving the controls to the Vita. With no L2 or R2 and no clickable sticks, shooters moving from console or PC sometimes suffer. Run and Melee are found on the Vita TouchPad, where as your skill and grenades are in the lower section of the touchscreen, where their icons are. This works really well but you do have free reign to tweak the controls and move the controls around. Some may find that tweaking the sensitivity of the analogue sticks is required, but players can also use the built in gyros for motion controlled aiming.

If you played Borderlands 2 on consoles or PC, you’ll know how detailed the world and its inhabitants are. The Vita does well to reproduce these visuals, but due to the sheer size of Borderlands the visuals have taken the slightest hit with enemies and some environments not looking as detailed, but this trade off is worth it to fit the massive world of Pandora in to palm of your hand.

Borderlands 2 Powered for Portable

Borderlands 2 on Vita doesn’t have what you’d call faults, it has compromises. These compromises are mainly focused on the visuals but when you consider the size of Borderlands 2 for Vita and that it is providing a thrilling experience full of memorable characters, fast-paced action and a deep loot system that makes each play through feel completely new, these compromises are justified.

GAME's Verdict: 8/10

The Bad

• The entire Borderlands 2 experience on PlayStation Vita
• Loot system rewards players with unique items
• Six pieces of downloadable content

The Good

• First-person shooter controls aren’t as tight as they are on console or PC
• Lacks high amount of graphical detail found in other versions
• Does not include all DLC