Review Score // ★★★★★
By // Olivia
System // 2013 PC/Steam (also available on Xbox 360, PS3)
A Game By // Gearbox
I’ve played a handful of cel-shaded games in my day, & adult themes coupled to abundant gratuitous violence easily made the first Borderlands my favorite... until now. Borderlands 2, the sequel to the 2009 Gearbox original, has seen great improvement in overall graphic quality & managed to preserve everything that gives the series its memorable visual aesthetic. The game’s art keeps from crossing the line into cartoon-y, & the many texture layers on the models & environments make for a unique, comic-book feel that continues to set BL apart from other similar games. It consistently manages to be gritty & colorful, & some of the vistas you get to see will make you forget you’re not looking at a realistic rendering of the planet. The designs for the world itself are befitting of a futuristic alien wasteland preyed upon by mining corporations, topped with the thematic overtone of a bizarre space-western. Since I played BL2 on a PC through Steam (with a Galaxy GTX660Ti) with nearly all settings at max & only lost frame-rate during intense combat that involved lots of explosions, I’m pretty sure I experienced the visuals in the best possible way.
