Oh Claptrap.
I’ve been playing Borderlands 2 for something like a month now, around my busy social calender and, you know, having a job. It is the gift that keeps on giving, with endless hours of dramatic scenery to blast through with an infinity of guns. However — and you might hate me for this, but I’m going to go out there and do it anyway — I’m going to accuse Borderlands 2 of having too much content.
I never understood why people didn’t like Claptrap. He’s warm and welcoming, a generous soul in a broken world full of murderous lunatics and viciously territorial wildlife.
I haven’t played Borderlands for ages, but I got the itch after crimbo and figured I’d reinstall it and have another go.
Since Torchlight was a stylised hack ‘n’ slash loot-grinder, it reminded me of that other stylised loot-grinder of recent years: Borderlands. I played it once before but my words were rambly and a bit shite, so I won’t bother trying to link-bait you into reading it (savvy users can obviously abuse other functions to find it).
This isn’t “late to the party” because I did actually play Borderlands around when it first came out. This is more like a “revisited”, except instead of being a cheap ass-TV programme where they repeat the entire episode and slam on an extra five minutes, I’ve done everything from scratch. This time there are screenshots, at the very least.
To avoid any confusion, I’m just going to lay my cards on the table before we go any further: I like Claptrap.
I got Borderlands with crimbo money. I bumped into Jack in Waterstone’s, then we picked up the last two copies from the Game in the Buchannan Galleries. For ten pounds apiece less than the Game on Sauchiehall Street, for some reason.
I have to say, it is a thoroughly enjoyable game. It is a breath of fresh air in a world of serious business. It’s so lovable.
I was initially skeptical because of its comedic nature, though. I read a preview that said it was hilarious fun, but only really if you’re playing cooperatively — and that’s quite a serious downer for me, a dedicated loner. Then I discovered it was all very stylised, with huge comic-book black borders around things, and I somewhat switched off (because I do tend to be into the whole serious business jig). Kilbirnie decided to get it, so I waited on his opinion (because we all know how well he can be trusted, right?). He said it was good. People on the internet said it was good. Since at least a few people I knew had it for the PC, that meant that I had good backup for cooperative play as a last resort.
Assuming one of us could get it port forwarded.
Rao Dao Zao 