Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Tomorrow will see the release of another Borderlands 2 playable character, this time hailing from the howling cast of its deranged bandit antagonists. Krieg The Psycho – whose scenery-gnawing behaviours can be seen below in a video I borrowed from VG247 – is a character who is supposed to emulate all of the absurdly dangerous attack actions the bandits perform in Borderlands 2. So expect to run screaming toward your enemy with a big rusty sharp thing, while on fire. Being on fire, of course, is central to his skill tree. Not sure if that will be worth $10, but I will probably take a look tomorrow and see.
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IGN carry the news that Gearbox are raising the level cap in Borderlands 2, and adding a new difficulty mode and item tier. There is also a short video showing the latest Vault Hunter murdering bandits – he’s a psycho by the name of Krieg. The level cap will be raised to 61, the new mode scales monsters to the highest level in your party and the item tier provides ultra-rare pearlescent gear. That all makes sense, but the prices and distribution are slightly more confusing. The new difficulty mode is free to all but the level cap rise costs $4.99, unless you’re a season pass holder in which case it’s free. Kriege isn’t included in the season pass though and will cost around $10. You can see him below.

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The gaming guide is something of a lost art form. Back in the day, they were the only way to find out how to get past that bloody goat in Broken Sword, aside from phoning Uncle Charles and asking him on his goat hotline. Now it’s all Google, Youtube, wikis, or skywriters. You can’t look at a sunset without the best StarCraft 2 build orders getting in the way. Valve are as angry as I am at those damn pilots, and have just un-betafied their newest Steam Community creation: Steam Guides.
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Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt is the next wedge of DLC for Borderlands 2. A big game hunt could be a sort of man-shooter shooter, but spiffy old Hammerlock is more concerned with blowing the pelts off the hordes of beasties that populate Pandora. The new post-campaign story content will introduce a new villain and, most exciting, a new continent that is covered in jungles and swamps. Although any ‘Sir’ worthy of the title is sure to doff a cap occasionally, the DLC won’t be raising the cap. The level cap that is. In an interview with IGN, 2K did suggest that the level cap will increase in the first quarter of 2013, possibly in a second season of new content. A video-trailer follows, as is customary.

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BORDERLANDS 2 TORGUE DLC TORGUE EXPLOSION TORGUE BADASS CRATER TORGUE OUT NOW YEAH. I apologize for the all-caps barrage, but Borderlands 2′s new DLC is very loud, and I felt that my words would be woefully unable to capture its essence in a minuscule, easily-stepped-on state. So right then, TORGUE TORGUE TORGUE TRAILER BOOM POCKET ROCKET DRAGON CAR GIRAFFE RAINBOW WAFFLE.

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I appreciate a winding narrative arc that twists and turns and writhes and eventually chokes down its own tail in an Ouroboros-like fashion as much as anyone, but every once in a while, direct is best. On those occasions, I want to get right to the point. No muss. No fuss. I guess what I’m saying is, sometimes I just want to shoot a bunch of dudes in a place called the “Badass Crater of Badassitude.” And hey, what do know? That’s exactly what Borderlands 2‘s “Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage” DLC is about. Score one for me. I should idly muse about the fickle whims of my desires more often.

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That’s what it would sound like if Dracula was a fan of Borderlands 2. Imagine that. He wouldn’t be able to say the word ‘Vault’ without everyone imagining he’s actually attempting to say ‘what’. But then ‘Vault’ doesn’t make much sense in that context. That is the tragedy of Dracula. I am not tragic in the slightest, so when I do it is actually a pun. What it means is this post has more than one Borderlands 2 trailer. In fact it has two: one showing off the new campaign being released today, and the other finally explaining what the new class, Gaige The Mechromancer, is capable of. She was released last week, a week before her set release date, and I imagine the video people doggedly finished her trailer as a a form of protest.
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The UK game retail charts are about as relevant to PC gaming – and indeed gaming as a whole – as Mars Bars are to the red planet, knickers are to a fish or kindness is to the Murdoch dynasty. Nonethless, I feel compelled to mention this week’s, purely because they suggest that even the most mainstream field of games isn’t as resistent to new ideas and thoughtfulness as the moneymen who think Call of Honor is the only profitable game in town might believe.

While the deathless Fédération Internationale de Foot-to-ball Association retained the number one spot, Dishonored snuck straight in to 2 and XCOM to 7. Hurrah for new things doing well!
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You can imagine my disappointment when I heard about this. Not the unparalleled mega-classic of science fiction drama Captain Scarlet, featuring the indestructible captain of the near future, but Captain Scarlett (pictured above), featuring some kind of hook-handed lady buccaneer of the wastes. Oh well, it might still be an entertaining expansion, what with it being hi-tech happenings in the Borderlands 2 world and all. The Verge reports that Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty “includes a new sand skiff vehicle”, and presumably a lot of guns, quests, and other B’lands DLC type stuff. It will appear next week for the attractive sum of $10.

Needless to say, I’ve posted the first part an episode of the one true Captain Scarlet below.
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If you like games about shooting and collecting and shooting and collecting and shooting and collecting and being yelled at all the while, you’ll be glad to hear that the first major DLC for Borderlands 2 has been released a week earlier than planned. Gaige The Mechromancer is a new playable class/character for the game, and the one who offers the vaguely notorious newbie player-orientated skill tree. Though that is in addition to abilities that offers precision, brutality, robo-biffing and all that good stuff. You can play with the tech tree to see the various builds here, in fact. Also, she gets a pet robot who has the head of Shockwave from the Transformers.
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I’ve barely begun to scratch the surface of Pandora and I’ll never actually shoot the handsome off Handsome Jack’s face. I like finding weird guns but actually shooting my way through the missions feels like sticking my head into a beehive. BUZZ BUZZ BUZZZZ, go the bees, and even if I manage to eat some honey while my face is being perforated, I’m still going to have a headache afterwards and there are a lot of dead bees piling up around my chin. I certainly don’t feel the need for more Borderlands 2, but for those who do there’s that Season Pass. Four episodes of new content for £19.99. And there will also be new characters and vehicles to buy. Those won’t be included with the pass.

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