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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Celebrated as one of the games with the most guns of all time and excellent gameplay, “Borderlands 1″ was a role playing shooter the likes of which gamers had rarely seen before. The skill trees were excellently designed, if poorly presented, to enhance the gun fighting co-op experience while hunting for treasure. Many players could customize and re-customize skill trees to their hearts content, therefore creating one of the most addictive and high replay value experiences in gaming history.

The skill tree and action skills for “Borderlands 2″ are no less exciting. If anything, Borderlands 2 seems poised to kick everything into an even higher gear with an ever evolving class of character changes. While some skills have been removed, a ton of content has been added to incite the player into a riotous frenzy of loot hunting gunfire. Cooperative skills and enemy bosses will encourage a wide array of skills spread across the four and likely fifth character classes to achieve money grubbing bullet riddled victory.

For “Borderlands 1,” the Berserker class was a hands-on knock down drag enemies into a dark alley kind of fighter. He has the ability to put aside his guns, see red like a bull and completely Hulk out on the enemy. Unlucky is the player who challenged him to a duel, as he could often become a steel battering ram of fury when he chose. His upper tier action skills, especially when hosting, allowed him to be a fully effective fighter even when downed.

The people at Gearbox and “Borderlands 2″ have decided that instead of Brick giving you “the ol’ One-Two” his successor Salvador would give you the double barrels of the Gunzerker. One of his most interesting skills is the ability to transfer left over damage to a second enemy like a commercial for roll over minutes. Salvador’s character is all about shooting hot lead long and hard into the night at twice the rate of any other “Borderland 2″ character. Also rumored, the trigger sensitivity for one of his shooting skills directly translates player input to real time firing rates. Dual wielding has never looked so dangerous.

Gone is fan favorite the Hunter Mordecai and his companion Bloodwing. In the original “Borderlands,” his class was the pistol, sniper and melee weapon character along with the use of his bird of prey. Bloodwing came with some specific abilities that, at times, granted the user a slim chance of regaining a second wind. Bloodwing was the only character class with an action skill that was autonomous to a degree and thus could serve as reviving Mordecai from a near death state.

He is replaced by Zero of the Assassin class. Zero is also a sniper and melee character, dual-wielding a sword and gun respectively. Early footage reveals that instead of Bloodwing, Zero has a skill called “Deception,” becoming invisible and using a decoy to draw enemy attention away and go in for the kill. A quick look at the possible skill tree’s floating around the internet for Zero supports the idea that he can melee execute an enemy while being in “Deception” mode, have the timer repeatedly reset so that he can chain assassinate the enemy.

Mention of the Siren class will undoubtedly cause groans from players, male and female alike. In the original “Borderlands,” she hides with Phasewalk, does melee damage and casts a ton of powerful spells. Her entrance and exit out of Phasewalk also includes a powerful shockwave and damage inducing explosion called Phase Blast.

For “Borderlands 2″ they have, in essence, removed the Phasewalk skill from the Siren class and given it to the Assassin. What has been introduced instead is a Phaselock skill. Phaselock cages a foe in a suspended bubble, allowing you and your comrades to gleefully fire at will. Just so players don’t spam this skill, repeated Phaselocks are rumored to diminish in duration. Phaselock seems to be a huge upgrade for the Siren class, adding as yet undisclosed mental manipulation abilities. However, this skill likely has a weakness for combating multiple enemy targets at once. You can reportedly Phaselock your friends and heal them as the main “Borderlands 2″ healer.

Speaking of healing skills, the Soldier class with Roland at the helm was indeed the medic for “Borderlands 1.” His skills allowed him to not only resupply players and use a turret, but heals the team by shooting them with the Cauterize skill. Roland was one of the most valuable members on any Borderlands hunt because he could take a beating, give a beating and save his friends afterwards.

Axton of the Commando class replaces Roland for Borderlands 2, removing the healing skills and adding a whole host of defensive skills to beef up his character stats. Axton’s upper tier skills allow not only deploying his turret on a wall but for Axton to be able to deploy two turrets simultaneously. The turret skills in this game alone, with its ability to generate a protective bubble reminiscent of Halo, will be a great boon to players on their last legs. Deploying this turret may or may not also result in the ignition of a thermo nuclear device in the face of your enemies. Cheers to that!

On the short list of announcements recently is a Mechromancer class, to be debuted as a DLC 2 months after the launch of the main game. The Mechromancer features an action skill similar to Mordecai’s summoning of Bloodwing, but instead summons a giant deadly looking robot called Deathtrap. Additionally, for new players, skills like ricochet help with adjusting to playing a First Person Shooter.

With all these changes and more on the way, “Borderlands 2″ has literally outdone itself with the level of player customization and skill tree options available. The launch of this game is set for September 18, with two separate special editions on sale. Fans worried about a terrible sequel need only look at this list of enhanced upgrades to know that their game is in good hands. With more gameplay footage unveiling as time nears, “Borderlands 2″ will take the gaming world by storm just like its predecessor.

The article Borderlands 2: Character Class and Action Skill Changes appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

September brings summer to an end and is also the beginning lineup for the big winter game releases. Some classic games make a comeback this month as part of anniversary collections and some heavy hitters make it to the lineup as well.

Action

9/11 Battlefield 3 Premium Edition (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

9/11 Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)

9/11 Finding Nemo: Escape to the Big Blue (Nintendo DS, 3DS)

9/16 Kirby’s Dream Collector’s Special Edition (Nintendo Wii)

9/18 Hotel Transylvania (Nintendo DS, 3DS)

9/18 NCIS (3DS)

9/18 Street Fighter 25^th Anniversary Collection (PS3, Xbox 360)

9/18 Borderlands 2 (PS3, Xbox 360, PC)

9/18 Kinect Sesame Street TV (Xbox 360 Kinect)

9/18 Kinect Nat Geo TV (Xbox 360 Kinect)

9/25 The Testament of Sherlock Holmes (PS3, Xbox 360)

9/25 Thundercats (Nintendo DS)

9/25 Angry Birds Trilogy (Nindendo 3DS, PS3, Xbox 360)

9/25 Puzzler World 2012 3D (Nintendo 3DS)

9/25 Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse (PS3, Xbox 360)

9/25 Dead or Alive 5 (PS3, Xbox 360)

9/25 LittleBigPlanet (PS Vita)

“Battlefield 3 Premium Edition” is the re-release of “Battlefield 3″ with all the gears and whistles. The Premium Edition includes all past expansions to the game as well as the premium pass, which allows the player to download the future expansions that have been announced for the game.

“Tekken Tag Tournament 2″ is Tekken’s way of making a glorified return. With over 50 playable characters, new customizable characters, dozens of levels, and new gameplay features including pair play, retro-arcade tournament battles, and many online features, “Tekken Tag Tournament 2″ is looking to make a comeback to being one of the top fighting games.

“Kirby’s Dream Collector’s Special Edition” is something Nintendo is coming out with for both old and new Kirby fans. This collector’s edition includes six classic Kirby games (Kirby’s Dream Land, Kirby’s Adventure, Kirby’s Dream Land 2, Kirby Super Star, Kirby’s Dream Land 3, and Kirby 64). The collection also includes new challenge stages as well as a copy of the Kirby 20^th Anniversary Soundtrack CD.

“Street Fighter 25th Anniversary Collection” is a must have for the diehard Street Fighter collector. The collection includes 4 games (Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix, Street Fighter III Third Strike Online Edition, Super Street Fighter IV Arcade Edition and Street Fighter X Tekken), an 8 inch light up Ryu statue, a full-size Ryu martial arts belt, 64 page art book, 11 disk soundtrack collection, and a blu-ray set including a documentary on making the Street Fighter IV, Street Fighter IV and Super Street Fighter IV animated movies, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie, and the entire Street Fighter anime series. Though this massive Street Fighter collection will have an asking price of $150, it is a must have for the Street Fighter Collector.

“Borderlands 2″ is the highly anticipated sequel to the smash hit “Borderlands.” With “Borderlands 2″, the game offers new classes to choose from, new lands to explore, a new weapon system including new types of weapons and defensive tools, and, probably the biggest plug from the game, guns. Tons and tons of guns. The game really wants to get across to its audience the massive amounts of different guns that the player is able to choose from just like in the first game (which holds the Guinness world record for most guns available in one video game.)

“Dead or Alive 5″ returns with the same cast of characters in a whole new setting. In “DOA 5″, they put a lot of details into the setting and background as means to express more of a visual spectacle. Along with detailed backgrounds, they added a new feature in the details of the characters, wet texturing. As the players fight it out, their characters will sweat and may battle in wet and raining environments, which will cause the characters to get damp hair, wet skin, and semi-translucent clothing.

RPG

9/18 End of Nations Collector’s Edition (PC)

9/18 Disney Princess: My Fairytale Adventure (Nintendo Wii, 3DS)

9/25 World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (PC)

“World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria” is the latest expansion to “World of Warcraft”. This expansion increases the level cap to 90, introduces the monk as a playable class, the Pandaren as the new playable race (also the first neutral race), and new areas to explore.

Sports

9/11 NHL 13 (PS3, Xbox 360)

9/11 NBA Baller Beats (Xbox 360 Kinect)

9/18 F1 2012 (PS3, Xbox 360)

9/18 Harley Pasternak’s Hollywood Trainer (Xbox 360 Kinect)

9/18 Kinect Sports Ultimate (Xbox 360 Kinect)

9/25 Wipeout 3 (Nintendo Wii, 3DS, Xbox 360)

9/25 Pro Evolution Soccer (Nintendo Wii, 3DS, PS3, Xbox 360)

9/25 FIFA Soccer 13 (PS3 Xbox 360)

“NHL 13″ is looking to be the most realistic hockey game to date. The game system has gotten a completely new overhaul with game mechanics and AI for the most realistic hockey experience. The game also features the updated GM Connected, which allows players to bring total customization to their team by swapping and trading team players to their specifications, and the game also includes NHL Moments Live, which allows players to relive some of the biggest moments in NHL history.

Simulation

9/4 The Sims 3 Supernatural (PC)

“The Sims 3 Supernatural” is the seventh expansion pack in “The Sims 3″. This expansion includes various features from new costumes, new characters like zombies, witches, werewolves, vampires and other monsters, and new jobs like being a fortune teller. The Limited Edition of the game also includes a Plants Versus Zombies expansion, which allows players to buy peashooters to defend their home against the zombie invasion.

The article September Game Releases for 2012 appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.