2K Games and Gearbox Software Announce Borderlands 2 Release Date

Online, January 23, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Following the surprise success of their 2009 release, Borderlands, the developers (2K Games and Gearbox Software) have set a tentative Borderlands 2 release date of somewhere between mid to late 2012.

The first game, a genre defining Role Playing Shooter, became a runaway success with over 4. 5 million copies sold to date and the early mail on the next installment points towards another grand success.

From the limited information currently available, it appears that all of the facets that made Borderlands such a hit will be brought back but with a swag of new content to ensure that it will be a fresh gaming experience.

The cell shaded graphics will be back to add a unique visual experience to the game which will be played via four all new characters, only two of which have yet been released. Salvador the Gunzerker is in a similar style to Brick from the first game but with an ability to wield dual weapons while Maya the Siren is of the same fraternity as Lilith, without the Phasewalk ability.

Other aspects new to the game will be the enemy NPCs (with updated AI), four person vehicles, complete access to all areas that are able to be seen, even more guns and shields than the first, greater weapon enhancements, entirely new skill trees and upgrade paths, all new areas (including frozen tundra and the corrosive caverns), new artifacts and of course, a new storyline.

The story is once again set on the surface of Pandora and takes place five years after the opening of the alien vault at the end of Borderlands. The new main bad guy is Handsome Jack who has claimed the credit for opening the vault and also all of its riches. This newly found wealth and power has permitted him to take control of Hyperion Corporation which he uses for his campaign of planetary industrialization. Your role in this debacle is as a used and thrown aside puppet of Jacks, and now you want revenge.

There were some criticisms of the first game with the rinse and repeat type of quests during the single player missions and the similarities between all of the landscapes being the primary issues. These appear to have been addressed with the developers announcing a greatly increased variety of mission types including consequences for actions which will have an effect on the final result. The variety of landscapes has also increased with the nice touch added that if you can see an area, you can eventually explore that area.

The Borderlands 2 release date sometime between the middle to late part of 2012 should see users of PS3, Xbox 360 and PC's lining up to return to Pandora.