Call of Duty is to first person shooters what Apple is to phones. It’s hard to stand out in the oversaturated FPS world. Multi-million dollar development budgets and prime time TV commercial slots aren’t a guarantee for success in videogames’ cash cow genre. Borderlands 2  is on a different tangent, a FPS with RPG and adventure game elements.

You play as one of four equally odd-looking bounty hunters, fixated on the eventual takedown of Pandora’s smug dictator Handsome Jack. A wise-cracking, whiney robot follows you on your looting and shooting adventures, his name is Claptrap. He is your friend. Unfortunately, like a friend, at times he can get super annoying too. That said, generally Borderlands’ narrative humor is sharp, witty, well-timed and PG-13+ like.

With a really enjoyable shooting engine, exploring the varied sandbox world of Pandora is quite a visual treat. Spraying foes with bullets is particularly gratifying, hit points flood the screen in the form of flashing digits. It reminded me of how cool performing an Omnislash with your trusty Ragnarok in Final Fantasy was. Guns are plentiful and varied, weapon customisation possibilities are seemingly endless too. The cell-shaded graphical style gives Pandora a Valkyria Chronicles meets One Piece kinda look.

You can lose a lot of time in Borderlands 2, the journey is jam-packed with side quests and optional missions to undertake. One minute you’ll be organizing Claptrap’s birthday party, the next you’ll be ambushed by hordes of unforgiving furry monsters with vicious melee attacks. You can also join friends’ campaigns and work co-operatively in Multiplayer mode. This game is super solid but if you are looking for a run and gun, Hollywood-style, sub 10 hour romp, wait for Black Ops 2.

Best Bits… Story
Worst Bits… Claptrap’s voice
You’ll like it if you liked… Bioshock 2
Hermit factor… Strong
Star Rating…. 4 out of 5