Rock, Paper, Shotgun

As we’ve mentioned a number of times previously, Bioshock 2 will feature multiplayer. A new video of that mode has been released unto the internet today, and we’ve posted it below for your delectation. As you might expect, it demonstrates a number of the in-game powers, the barks of your freakish gene-splicing characters, their weapons, and the rather splendid Art Deco environments that all the murderin’ is going to take place in. It’s an odd addition to the game, however, and I can’t help thinking about how hard they’re going to have to try to compete with their contemporaries. Is an old-skool deathmatch add-on really want we demand for 2010?
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UPDATE: Patch ahoy!

Zombies, zombies, zombies. We might as well rename the PC the Personal Zombie Slayer. Borderlands‘ zombie island DLC expansion, The Zombie Island Of Dr Ned, is out on consoles on the 24th of this month, and should be available for PC shortly thereafter. We’re still chasing the exact PC details from 2K. It features some freaky-looking zombies, Borderlands style, as well as “were-skags” (?) and promises to add another “six to ten hours” of game time.
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Eurogamer editor Tom “Tom Bramwell” Bramwell has been delving into Bioshock 2, and – following a trip to 2K Marin – he’s been kind enough to unload some of his head-meat into our blog. Read on for hot diggity.

Hello, Role-Playing Shooters! Remember BioShock? They’re making another one. Seeing as I’m a bit of a regular in Rapture, Jim asked me if I’d be willing to write something about it on my next trip to the surface, and I said I’d be delighted. Either that or I got drunk and offered. I can’t remember, and it doesn’t matter.
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2K Games have released another trailer, via CVG, for Bioshock 2, this time narrated by a lady who is, presumably, the person who appears in a clever twist/cutscene about three-quarters of the way through the game. Or Shodan Under The Sea? Hmm, perhaps, but I guess it’s all a matter of philosophy, as we’ll no doubt find out soon. Anyway, go watch the action – for it is actiony – in the video-bathysphere below.
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We’ve played Gearbox’s fancy-lookin’ “role-playing shooter”, Borderlands, and we’re ready for a verdict. What will we have to say?

Jim: Who wants to try to define the game in a single sentence then, eh?
Kieron: Hellgate in a desert, but not shit.
Alec: There’s some sort definition involving the words “Diablo” and “guns”, but I can’t work out how to stick them together.
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This week we’ve had a chance to play through the beginning of Borderlands, courtesy of 2K Games. What follows are some preview impressions of that co-op experience. We expect to unleash a full RPS Verdict on the game later this month.

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Bah: The PC version of Borderlands has been delayed until October 26th in the US and October 30th in the rest of the world. Why WHY? “Optimization”, that’s why. Perhaps even optimisation. Stupid PCs and their different cogs.

Hurrah: While talking to MTV Gearbox creative director Mikey Neumann said it took him a rather long time to get through the game. “It took me about 100 hours. More the second time, actually, and that was to find every single little mission. I wanted to do everything.” (How long until the 20-minute speedrun, eh?)

We’re probably going to get to play the game before release, and “preview” it. Soon thereafter: judgement.

The latest Borderlands trailer is turgid with game footage: terrain, buildings, vehicles, bad-dudes, ’splosions. It also takes an opportunity to introduce the four characters, with the soldier seemingly being all about guns, the siren doing stealth and area-of-effect stuff (possibly?), the hunter doing headshots, and Brick having some bolt-encrusted fists. Four-player co-op is the new two-player co-op, it seems. And I’m firmly in the pro camp on that art style. I even wrote an article about it.
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Gearbox have released the first in what purports to be a series of making-of clips for Borderlands, starring the comedy robot, Claptrap. In this opening skit it seems that Claptrap might be not-so-gently mocking the ill-tempered Christian Bale, while also revealing that monster stats in Borderlands will be procedurally generated, just like the guns. Go take a look…
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This morning we behold the multiplayer footage of Bioshock 2, in which people are augmented splicers in the submerged environs of Rapture. These splicers get cracking killing each other with physics and deployable turrets, which all looks rather entertaining. But… what’s that? There’s a use for the research camera? And someone gets to be the Big Daddy? A Tank round for genetically-spliced deathmatch? Intriguing. We’ll have more on Bioshock 2 rather soon.
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