We're getting there.
The menu screen is packed with graphics options, including the promised FOV slider.
From what I played, all of the single-player promises have been kept -- at least mostly. The menu screen is packed with graphics options, including the promised FOV slider, remappable keys, mouse smoothing (or lack thereof), v-sync, resolution options, and another screen's worth more. The one place it's falling a little short right now is in the "PC-specific UI." The one I played with looked very much like the Xbox 360 UI, with only a few tweaks here and there. But I could click on all of the controls (which sounds like a given until you play Borderlands) and even drag-and-drop a weapon from one slot to another, so I'll count it.Pandora People
So that's a good start. Following that, I played a little more than an hour's worth of single-player Borderlands 2 with Gearbox Design Producer Randy Varnell by my side giving me tips on how to best use my turret-deploying Commando character. First up was a tour of Sanctuary, a town run by the original crew of Pandora treasure hunters from Borderlands.
Where the original Borderlands has a series of small ghost towns with one or two pathetically lonely NPCs to chat with, Borderland 2's hub city is much larger and livelier. Most of the townsfolk are still rigidly uninterruptible and non-interactive as they trudge through their routines, but a few are at least colorful and dispense sidequests -- like, for example, Dr. Zed and Marcus. During my tour of the firing range (where live captives are tied to the targets), shops and vending machines, and Claptrap's back-alley lair I came across numerous almost Duke Nukem Forever-like interactive items. Among the radios and pianos I found a favorite: slot machines that, for a handful of cash and a little luck, will spit out rare guns and items (instead of stupid useless money.)
The Same, But Bigger
My Commando, Axton, had a lot in common with the Borderlands Soldier, Roland.
Upon leaving town I was reminded that in most ways, Borderlands 2 is simply more Borderlands. It has a very similar look and feel, and though the character classes have been redone from the ground up to allow for some interesting new builds, they're fundamentally pretty similar. My Commando, Axton, had a lot in common with the Borderlands' Soldier, Roland: they're both very fond of deploying turrets. But, through what Varnell calls "game-changer" skill unlocks, Axton's turret becomes almost absurdly powerful around level 20, making Roland's look like a toy.No one can accuse BL2 of being too brown.
Each of the Commando's three skill trees include at least a couple of these. I chose an upgrade that attached a rocket launcher to my turret, turning it into an explosive death-dealer, but also on the table was one that allows you to teleport-deploy the turret to anywhere you can see, or have it double as a shield generator. I also liked how I could pick up a turret before its timer expired in order to speed up the deploy ability's recharge rate.
my turret and I easily bottlenecked waves of attacking raiders -- even the huge Goliaths.
As I embarked on a side quest fetching items for a girl named Tina, introduced as "The world's deadliest 13-year-old" (imagine a young, particularly insane Lori Petty out to avenge her parents) I got a ton of use out of it. Every time I'd get swarmed by bandits in flying Buzzard helicopter-type things I'd drop one and sit back and watch it blast them out of the sky while I handled the guys on the ground with Borderlands' famously huge assortment of guns. And when I retrieved the items and had to guard Tina's cave hideout as she took her revenge, my turret and I easily bottlenecked waves of attacking raiders -- even the huge Goliaths, which got stronger and healed every time they killed something (even lesser bandits). Welcome to Tiny Tina's tea party!
One of the biggest differences in gameplay I noticed is the new lack of portable health kits of any kind. Varnell says that's because Gearbox wants to put a greater emphasis on abilities for healing -- every character's got some way to recover health.
The Diablo Question
Given all the recent controversy over Diablo 3's endgame (or lack thereof) I had to ask: does Borderlands 2 have what it takes to keep players coming back for more? Varnell feels that it does. "We do have two playthroughs. In our second playthrough you have some new enemies that appear. In the main story, it's long -- it's a good length of game -- and there's a big payoff at the end," he said. He wouldn't reveal the level cap, but he did point to the persistent character-buffing Badass Ranks as giving players something to strive for in the long term.
Gearbox still won't let me drive their new cars.
Completing challenges will give you Badass Ranks that can be spent to unlock upgrades.
Like what? Completing challenges (like shooting down a ton of Buzzards) will give you Badass Ranks that can be spent to unlock upgrades like reload speed increases or a reduction in the time it takes your shields to start recharging -- and those (optionally) will carry over to new characters you create.Finally, the big question: since Borderlands 2 is such a loot-driven game, will we see a Real-Money Auction House like Diablo 3's show up in the future? "I would say it would be unlikely," he answered. Whew! "It's certainly something that we're watching with great interest." Uh oh. "I know a lot of people are thinking about it and seeing where it is, but getting good loot from drops and creatures in the game is so important to the growth and the experience, and really the fun. It's what the loot games are really all about, you know?" Whew!