Rock, Paper, Shotgun

At first glance, you wouldn’t expect a big loud shooty bang bang game such as Borderlands 2 to be the type who wears a pocket protector and hangs around for the after school mathlete competitions, and yet here it is, polishing up its statistics term paper. The Borderlands 2 character class skill tree is available online for your perusal, allowing you first to see exactly which class gets what abilities, and secondly to get down to the all-important task of minmaxing stats and specialisations.

Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve never entirely understood the outrage that Gearbox’s Tarantino-esque shooter Furious 4 was tagged as a splinter cell of their rather more sober World War 2 franchise Brothers In Arms, but perhaps I’m just not in tune with the common upset-on-the-internet man. Regardless, those who decided that F4 was surely a replacement for rather than an off-shot of BIA will doubtless be relieved to hear that its contentious prefix has been removed. This ultra-violent, parodical take on World War 2 will no longer be deemed a Brothers In Arms game. To further sweeten this new deal, Gearbox have been hinting that news on a new BIA game proper is inbound.
Read the rest of this entry »

I have fond memories of Aliens vs Predator 2 multiplayer, in which I most often played the part of a terrified marine, a coward really who should never have signed up, abandoning my team and shooting wildly at shadows whenever anything resembling an alien jittered across the screen. Shown at PAX Prime, Colonial Marines is bolstering its multiplayer offering with a mode which is inspired by Left 4 Dead. Four marines must escape, booking it through a level while player-controlled aliens, some with special abilities, attempt to eviscerate them. A trailer skitters in the darkness below.

Read the rest of this entry »

Borderlands 2 looks as barking mad as Cujo strapped to a chainsaw-juggling Salvador Dali in zero gravity and the latest video, a seven minute introduction to the game narrated by machinated manly man Sir Hammerlock, is quite deranged. Through all the mischief and mayhem there’s a remarkably decent outline of the game’s actual features, which is actually more surprising than the gun that further weaponises itself by blowing up whenever somebody reloads it. If all game trailers could be this entertaining and informative, I’d be much more inclined to say, ‘oh, look at this’. And that’s precisely what I’m saying right now. Oh, look at this!

Read the rest of this entry »

Yes, the 2D demake thing has been done many, many times before, and yeah, retro-nostalgia-mania is currently sweeping the planet so thoroughly that the Louvre has recently undertaken a project to update all its most priceless pieces of artwork with Instagram filters, but damn it, I sort of like this silly little 2D version of Borderlands 2. I mean, it’s called “The Border Lands.” That alone is weirdly brilliant. Also, in spite of being extremely limited and simple, it’s actually sort of fun.

Read the rest of this entry »

Borderlands 2 will have guns. Of all the things in the entire universe I’d be absolutely, un-hesitantly comfortable staking my life on, that’d rank only behind “Texas is warm” and “Borderlands 2 will have lands.” Gearbox, though, wants to set its more-than-87-bazillion guns apart from the rest of the industry’s comparatively tasteful collection of 63 trillion, so it’s attempting to infuse real personality into brands this time around. If you delve into the vault beyond the break, you won’t find some bizarro squid god, but you will come away with three very silly gun “commercials” and (bonus!) an impressive showcase of BL2′s PC-only PhysX features.

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s been some recent awkwardness out of the Borderlands 2 camp, but the game proper is still looking quite handsome. You will not, however, see it getting all high and mighty about its rugged Wild Wild Space West charms – largely because it is an inanimate object only capable of communicating through Wimowehs and dubstep. Its main villain, on the other hand, puts the word “handsome” right in his name, because he’s a bit full of himself thanks to that whole “tyrannically ruling an entire planet with a legion of 87 bazillion robots and a weaponized moon” thing. See just what you’re up against after the break.

Read the rest of this entry »

I have to admit, I do default to somewhat ignoring Aliens-based games these days. So many ploppy ones in a row hasn’t done the license any favours. But of course Aliens: Colonial Marines is Gearbox, and if we just rather quietly forget about Duke, they make splendid action games. I should probably catch up a little. A good way to do that is via their first edition of a rather overblown developer diary, that along with high-def shots of developers adjusting their glasses as a computer readout from 1989 scans them, shows some in-game footage. Also, they were going to make a Bladerunner game?! I WANT THAT ONE!

Read the rest of this entry »