Borderlands 2 was one of the most anticipated gaming titles released in 2012. Voted by many reviewers as one of the best, if not the best game of 2012, the road to level 50 is not easy. Filled with equal parts fear and uncertainty, players who finish the game in Normal Mode are only in their mid 30′s as far as experience and weaponry is concerned. After Normal Mode is the True Vault Hunter Mode and this mode scales everything up to become much more Super Badass.

In True Vault Hunter Mode, players restart the game with all their previous weapons and stats intact but the enemies have gotten consequently tougher. Now enemies have tougher armor, are more resilient against your weapons elemental affects and deal more damage to you. Any gamer who is expecting an easy time, just because they have great weapons and shields from Normal Mode, is in for a rude awakening, as they spend hundreds of thousands of dollars dying over and over again.

True Vault Hunter Mode just plain hurts for those that are unprepared. Going into this mode below level 34 is likely an impossible feat, given how fast a player will die, regardless of weaponry. To combat this, loot chests are scaled up to give better weapons as well since players will need them to survive. Bosses are likewise harder and thankfully give more experience. While the dynamic of fighting a bad guy does not change much from Normal Mode, just surviving is a problem for those, who get lazy when fighting the new Armored Maniac. As the name implies, hard to kill is an understatement upon first meeting.

Besides the change in difficulty, there are other aspects of Borderlands 2 that change once you hit the big leagues. By this point, most players will have expanded their backpack and ammunition space to their maximum range using Eridium. What this means is that Eridium, the purple rock of awesomeness, will be relegated to use only when used to summon the four Invincible series raid bosses. Money too, takes on different meaning since having a million dollars has limited use; it only helps you come back from the dead and to buy ammo.

The real value is in ammunition. Players who have ammo absorbing shields or the right Gunzerker skills will be able to regenerate ammo on command but for the rest of us, ammo becomes a problem. While each class has advantages to conserving ammo, even the greatest amount of ammo will not save you from a fiery gruesome death. There are boss battles in True Vault Hunter Mode that drain players of almost all their ammo and at 3,000 dollars a cringe-worthy pop for 24 shotgun rounds, having that cool million will go a long way at level 50.

Loot chests too, are affected since most of the chests give better weapons to players than the vending machines do. Smart players though, will take any weapon they can carry and sell the useless but high value weapons to keep their cash flow north of 500,000 dollars. Similarly, useless class modes and relics are sold off at the earliest convenience to make room for more items to sell later on.

Interestingly enough, relics and class modes have a higher retention rate due to their ability to change the game play. For practical combat applications, players in True Vault Hunter Mode now have bigger incentive to re-spec and experiment with the majority of their skill points. Whereas a level 20 player would only have access to half of one skill tree, upper level players can experience the full range of options by selecting points in all three skill tree for the most customized skill builds.

For many players, reaching level 50 is only half way through the game since players can and should leave the side quests for after finishing True Vault Hunter Mode where all the loot is scaled to level 50. After that, it’s time to fight the four invincible raid bosses, some of which do require the DLC’s to go after the Legendary and Seraph class weapons.

Given all the great weapons, shields, relics and class mods; it’s easy to see why Borderlands 2 is such a phenomenal game. Five characters, 15 different skill trees and True Vault Hunter Mode make Borderlands 2 one of the most robust games of all time. With the ability re-spec after every mission or to create a character and skill tree build tailored to defeating a boss, customization is high no matter the level a player reaches. The best rewards come to those who wait and spending time with Borderlands 2 at Level 50 is well worth the effort.

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New York, U.S.A. — There are more guns, more mayhem and more gamers on Pandora than ever before, and they’ve brought friends. 2K and Gearbox Software announced on November 5 that, to date, more than 5 million units of Borderlands 2 have been sold-in to retailers worldwide, making it one of the most popular video games of the year.

With the recent release of the all-new Mechromancer character class, the Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty add-on campaign, and three new add-on campaigns scheduled to release throughout the coming months, the shooting and looting mayhem continues to gain momentum.

A sequel to the 2009 breakout hit, Borderlands 2 released on September 18  to critical acclaim across the globe and currently has an average Metacritic score of 90 as of October 30, 2012

G4TV scored it a perfect 5 out of 5 and said “This is the grand, loot-filled adventure you’ve been waiting for.” Game Informer and IGNawarded it a 9.75 out of 10 and 9 out of 10 respectively with IGN declaring, “This is an excellent shooter no one even remotely curious should overlook.”

“We’re thrilled with the momentum of Borderlands 2 and it’s really a testament to all the hard work that the team at 2K and Gearbox put in to make this a must play game,” said Christoph Hartmann, president of 2K. “TheBorderlands series has never been more popular, and with continued support through substantial add-on campaigns, Borderlands 2 has cemented itself as one of the industry’s mega franchises.”

A fifth playable character class, Gaige, the Mechromancer, was released earlier this month and is free for members of the Premiere Club who pre-ordered Borderlands 2 from participating retailers. For those who are not members of the Premiere Club, Gaige is available for purchase separately for $9.99 (800 Microsoft points). Captain Scarlett and her Pirate’s Booty, the first add-on campaign content for Borderlands 2, was also released earlier this month and can be downloaded now by anyone who has purchased a Season Pass, or can be purchased individually for $9.99 (800 Microsoft points).

The Borderlands 2 Season Pass includes $39.96 of add-on content and is available for $29.99 (PlayStationNetwork) / 2400 Microsoft Points (Xbox LIVE) / $29.99 (PC). Once purchased, the Borderlands 2 Season Passenables gamers to download all of the announced add-on content campaigns for free as they become commercially available on the PlayStationNetwork, Xbox LIVE and PC. All four add-on content campaigns are scheduled to be available by June 2013.

“The overwhelmingly positive response to Borderlands 2 from our fans has been incredible,” said Randy Pitchford, President of Gearbox Software. “Players have embraced Borderlands 2 as their next hobby with over 50 million interactions with Claptrap in the central town of Sanctuary and 12,000 real world years’ worth of time spent shooting and looting their way through Pandora! We are just getting started and have incredible momentum to improve and add to the game all the way through the holiday season and beyond. We can’t wait to show everyone what more we have in store forBorderlands 2.”

“The Borderlands franchise has redefined cooperative online gaming and the original game’s ability to engage users years after its 2009 launch has been a guiding light for the rest of the industry,” said Jesse Divnich, VP of Insights & Analysis at research firm EEDAR. “Borderlands, has been able to achieve attach rates north of 25% when the industry average is 14% and we anticipate that downloadable expansion packs for Borderlands 2 will generate similar attachment rates.”

Borderlands Legends, a new mobile gaming experience, extends the critically acclaimed and award-winning Borderlands universe and is available via the iTunes App Store for $4.99 on iPhone and iPod touch, and $6.99 on iPad. Borderlands Legends is designed specifically for mobile devices and combines two popular genres, action-RPG and strategy, to create addictive, top down tactical gameplay.

Borderlands 2 is rated M for Mature by the ESRB and is available now on Xbox 360, PS3 and Windows PC. For the latest Borderlands 2 news and information, please visit the game’s official website. Also check out Borderlands 2 on Facebook.

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