Diamond Ponies and Double Barrels

Right. Hard talk here for a second.

Tediore is the obvious choice for shotguns on Pandora. The super fast reload, combined with the explosive damage caused when you do, makes them an absolute winner. Hyperion weapons get more accurate over time, which is useless for a gun with only four shots and a spread projectile pattern. Dahl weapons have burst fire, which is moot. Maliwan weapons have the elemental edge but reload pretty slowly. And Torgue weapons make it IMPOSSIBLE to hit anything. So clearly, Tediore. It's the way forward.

Ahh. Good to get that knot of geekery off my chest. On to the game at hand.

You're god damn right it is

Borderlands 2 is very very funny. This is not news, but it's worth saying, because it's fantastic to find a game these days that doesn't take itself too seriously, and yet still delivers a well rounded experience. BLT is always irreverent and witty, but never slips into simple parody. It knows what it is and plays up to that perfectly. The dialogue is brilliant and genuinely laugh out loud funny. I have repeated Handsome Jack's opening broadcast asking how my day has been about three hundred times by now, which must be immensely frustrating for my co-op buddies.

I never played the original Borderlands in co-op. For one, I didn't have Gold when it came out back in '09, but beyond that I never really got around to playing it much. By the time I properly got to grips with it, everyone had moved on to something else.

But this time around, I'm not going it alone. My adventures on Pandora are shared with Harriet Jones, off that Unlimited Hyperbole, and also sometimes Ryan, who is Canadian. Does playing the game in co-op change the experience much? A little, but what I found most interesting was how it made the jokes and the story much more fun. We all shared a laugh when we heard Claptrap dubsteppin' around Sanctuary. We would quote the characters as we raced around the terrain in Bandit Technicals. At one point, I made a brilliant joke about some pictures of Mad Moxxi, but I guess you probably had to be there.

There are only two people out there that will understand this, but it's worth it.
Credit to Harriet Jones

Before I wrap things up, one of my favourite changes in BLT is the clearer differentiation between the weapon manufacturers.. I'm not just talking about the various attributes they all have, although that is still very cool. What I really like is how each manufacturer's weapons has a distinct visual style. So Torgue weapons are covered in hazard lines, or Dahl's guns are usually camouflage print. Hyperion guns have a very technical edge to them, and Maliwan weapons are all very sci-fi, with lots of smooth edges and curves. Tediore weapons are disposable, so look like they're made out of cheap plastics to illustrate the point. When I realised I could identify a gun's manufacturer just by glancing at it on the floor, I knew that Gearbox had done something right.

Gaming, aye? Last week I was talking about the emotional impact of morally grey decisions, and this week I'm talking about the balls to the wall insanity of a FPS about diamond ponies. Go figure.

Next time, handheld gaming! A lot!