User Score
8.0 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1196 Ratings

User score distribution:

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  1. Sep 20, 2012
    4
    I tried to love this game, I really did. Being a huge fan of Borderlands 1 when it first released, I had no choice but to purchase the sequel. I put about 12 -15 hours into the game so far...and I cannot help but feel bored. I feel like I've already done all of this before..three years ago. Yes the graphics are better and color schemes have vastly improved..but I cannot give this game any higher than a 2/5 at this point. I know many players right now are enjoying the hell out of this game. I truly envy all of them. Expand
  2. Sep 19, 2012
    4
    The game has quite a few redeeming qualities, good graphics, it's fun with co-op... but it's just borderlands 1 redux. I felt like I got ripped off.
  3. Sep 19, 2012
    3
    If I had to sum up Borderlands 2 in one word, it would probably be "mediocre". "Repetitive" might be another good word to use though. If all you're looking for is a bit of new content from Borderlands 1 then I guess this game could be for you. They are almost exactly the same, and after an hour or two just as boring. Originally I wasn't even going to buy the game but it was gifted to me by a friend. After playing for a couple of hours I gave him the money he spent back on my copy that way I didn't feel like I had to play this boring game anymore. That's right, I spent $60 to NOT play the game. Also, apparently there is day 1 DLC? I'm very disappointed and was hoping from something new from gearbox on this release. Just a big disappointment. Their "new" menu/inventory system is a lot more annoying than the last as well. Looks nicer but I'd much rather have the old one back. The game ran well, and the fact they added more options in this one that you had to tweak manually before via the config files (ie: FOV), was a nice change. The commentary from the NPC's/characters in this game however are definitely hilarious and made the boring gameplay a bit more enjoyable. Expand
  4. Sep 19, 2012
    4
    I played the first game about halfway through until the constant respawning of enemies really killed the fun for me. I was hoping they'd at least make it optional to not have everything respawn behind your back (like, only respawn on new games) but no, the second installment is exactly the same in that regard. Maybe some people like this, I find it highly frustrating! The game is pretty but apart from a clearly upgraded Borderlands 1 in some ways, it's quite literally the same game and plays just like it. I give the game a 4 because it's a good game in many ways, but for me the constant enemy respawn is such a game breaking feature that I cannot get in to it. Pity. Expand
  5. Sep 20, 2012
    0
    A really bland lifeless shooter with horrible bullet sponge enemies, unfunny humor, poor artstyle and graphics as well as "Billions" of weapons which are just a few weapons with different stats on each one which makes everything a poorly made FPS version of Diablo just like the first and 2K paying off reviewers doesnt help the game either.

    What happened to the old Gearbox?
  6. Nov 5, 2012
    1
    I started off liking this game a lot. Borderlands 2 has the same fundamental issue as BL 1 for me. Namely, it is a console port. Generally, you can forget that on BL2 because it is extremely well put together but it has the cardinal sin of all console games which for me rules consoles out entirely. The extremely narrow field of view makes me extremely ill. I have seen masses of threads on this as statistically a significant number of people. The result is that until the hack or crack comes out I cannot play for long before feeling very ill. I have had BL 2 since launch and have played less than 2 hours because of this. Catastrophic failure to address one of the same issues people complained like hell about last time. Nothing says console port issues like playing while looking through a mailbox. Waiting for a mod to fix it. Expand
  7. Sep 19, 2012
    0
    Borderlands 2 is a game where you shoot guns at stuff till it dies. This is enjoyable and a fun way to blow off steam. It has a co-op mode so you can play with your buddies or with people on the internet. Borderlands 2 is mostly made to be played with your friends and have a great time. Its a great concept except the online features work about 50-50 for players. Some get to play the game online and others don't. The only real way to find out if the online is going to work for you is to gamble $60. Gearbox made a game that looks fun to play but it doesn't work. Expand
  8. Sep 20, 2012
    3
    Same tediously boring game as the first. Nothing mind-blowing or inovative here. I guess I would say a more polished version of the original Borderlands. If you like games with a REPETITIVE loot-based grind, with more BAD drops than not, well good for you. Me, I'm not buying into the hype for these types of games anymore. And a hefty $60 price to boot, no thanks. It's all been done before...
  9. Sep 29, 2012
    0
    Being a Borderlands 1 veteran with over 200 hours (stopped counting), I expected a little bit more. The humour has become more awkward rather than cynical as in the previous game. I didn't get the point of the character called Tiny Tina at all. "Deadliest 13 year-old." Seriously Gearbox, did you completely sell-out to appeal to kids? The lowest form of humour in the game is pandering internet memes like "got an arrow to the knee". That train has already departed, it's not funny any more if it ever was. I gave this game a 10 before finishing it, today I've finished it and came back to adjust my rating to a rock solid 7 only to see my previous spoiler free and completely positive comment to be deleted. Way to deal with customers. I don't care if this was done on the action of 2K or Gearbox, I'm done. If you enjoy item hoarding games with a mediocre coop go buy it. If you want a quality single-player rather get Fallout if you want multiplayer get Left 4 Dead 2. I don't care about random stats items anymore. Expand
  10. Sep 20, 2012
    0
    Borderlands 1 was a blast, although i only enjoyed Mordecai (weak active skill) and Lilith (super OP active skill), now that Borderlands 2 is out I have to sadly say i am disappointed, sure graphics are a bit bettter, but there are no more revolvers, they are now merged together with automatic pistols, they way their shoot animation looks is terrible. Weapons are somewhat boring/useless most of the time, humor is somewhat forced, the game overall fells kinda meh, and the characters are absolutely boring, useless, there is basically no diversity... Expand
  11. Sep 20, 2012
    3
    im aboot 15 hours in and i muust say it's pretty boring, repetetive quests and bad voice actooors and uuumm yeah donno what to say, fine pc options a++ **** dlc pratices, what the hell 2k or gearbox whatever 30 dollar dlc pass before release really? wow i played as salvador and his dual weilderas gun skill is pretty cool feels like a dlc to borderlands 1 to be honest yeah also feels like they used up all the great envirorments in the first game
    too easy **** man

    did i mention i hate the voice acting and **** internet jokes memes everywhere
    i used to be a vault hunter like you, but then i took a bullet to the knee, wowww really woow

    buuu
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  12. Sep 21, 2012
    0
    Short and sweet: No improvements over Borderlands 1 (same unreal rendering engine, no dx-11 support), a blatant console port. This should have been a DLC for the original Borderlands game, and not a standalone.

    The fights get repetitive, and all the same negatives that were associated with Borderlands 1 are here again. Less bugs, but that's it.

    No way worth $59 + $29 for the "premium
    " package. Blatant ripoff by 2k games/Gearbox. Expand
  13. Oct 2, 2012
    0
    One word review: BOREDLANDS...
    Oh my god, it IS boring...

    An awful sad, boring to the teeth game. Even worst than the ridiculous first installment, this train wreck of a game is dull, predictable and generic to the extreme. Same old same old mediocre FPS game disguised as a very bad written RPG. Avoid at all costs.
  14. Dec 9, 2012
    1
    Extremely repetitive game. If you have played one quest in this game you have played them all. Go to x get b kill everything. YOu kill the same enemy types the entire game over and over.
  15. Oct 17, 2012
    4
    Finished this game in 8 hours or so. I found it fairly repetitive, and feels just like the sequel. For me, this game lost all of it's redeeming qualities after the first hour, and a tiresome chore after that. No replay value whatsoever, unless you're a perfectionist who wants to collect guns and stuff(I know I don't). Verdict: Rent it, don't buy it. And don't even think about the Season Pass. It's just a waste of money. Expand
  16. Oct 30, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Borderlands 2 is a decent game. Unfortunately it finds itself in the uncomfortable situation of being compared to Borderlands. The world is small, the enemies are repetitive and few in variation. You spend half the time fighting one type of enemy and the other half another type. Every now and then you come across some animals to fight. The weapons and shields were designed so that children would go crazy, because the higher the numbers the better. When an average weapons does 20.000+ damage, things get silly. What's wrong with weapons doing at best around 400 damage? When you create your character you find yourself on a train, that explodes. Apparently some bad guy named Jack blew it up because he don't want vault hunters on the planet. The planet is a in a crisis. A huge crisis. Hyperion is taking over. Apparently Atlas, a company richer than any nation went bankrupt. General Knoxx and the Crimson Lance were defeated in a Borderlands DLC. I've never heard of a nation going bankrupt because they lost a battle. Anyways, Jack is bad and is threatening Pandora. Things are really bad. Where is this feel of a threat? Nowhere. Borderlands 2 tells you how bad things are, but doesn't show it or make you feel it the slightest. The weapons are linear and dull. Everything in Borderlands 2 is dull at best. But they did something right. I honestly don't know what it is. If you consider playing Borderlands 2, make sure you don't play Borderlands first, because Borderlands will completely ruin the Borderlands 2 experience. Expand
  17. Sep 29, 2012
    3
    The game moves very slow. I like to call it "Borederlands 2." This game simply doesn't appeal to me. They needed more time to fix it and fill in empty spaces.
  18. Sep 26, 2012
    0
    Bored after a few days, game play gets super repetitive. Wait 'til next Steam Summer Sale to buy this game. Definitely NOT worth $60. Blah blah blah, my review must be at least 150 characters long but this game does not need that much said about it because there is nothing to say.
  19. Oct 30, 2012
    1
    "Art style and presentation is fantastic. Works very well on PC and, voice acting helps drive the story forward. The decoration of the areas, for want of a better word, is lush and interesting."
    Things like this is why the PC is f****d, 2d games with bad graphics that have a bit of a story & some (term used loosely) fun game play.
    People never learn that bad console ports only harm.
    I'd
    sooner sit on a wasp nest than play this again! Played once, un-installed! Utter tripe!
    It gets "1" for the sound, about all it's worth.
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  20. Nov 12, 2012
    4
    Really mediocre game. I expected a lot more after Borderlands 1, but it couldn't hold up to the name. Repetitive action and bosses along with boring ability trees and average player characters (where is the hunter ?) Scenario is too shallow and everything seemed like .... "been there, done that". Better luck next time !
  21. Feb 17, 2013
    2
    Borderlands was disappointing.Amazing trailers,cool idead,but it ended up being a boring repetitive shooter where guns had no feel whatsoever.Borderlands 2 is the same game.A long boring hallway praised by the critics.
  22. Dec 28, 2012
    0
    This is MMO-lite. You really need to play with friends online. I was interested in this as an offline, single player game and was severely disappointed. There are a lot of fun character builds that interested me and sure anything is "possible" single player, but its just really not fun by yourself. Reviews and feedback from friends were misleading on how online dependent it is and I felt mislead. Between the pacing, repetitive nature, and a number of solo-challenged builds make this game rely on online far too much if you're not expecting it. Expand
  23. Oct 5, 2012
    3
    *pros* *the game runs well* *Graphically they really tried and you can see that over the first game* *some intense moments* *nice range of bosses* *Dlcs to come Cons* *slow moving* *pointless a-b missions to fill plot gap* *tedious to play* *boring after a short while* *bazillion guns? pff there all just a few models with different stats( like the first game)* *the ending seemed better then last game but still dissapointing*
    *some of the characters skills have not been well thought out*
    *item menu, glitchy scroll lock ups are regular* *Conclusion worth £29.99? erm...no.. not to me*
    *seems more like a huge dlc for the first game then a brand new game*
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  24. Feb 3, 2013
    0
    Borderlands 2 is a terrible game design. It’s boring, tedious, repetitive, and it never actually rewards the player. It’s obviously a successful design because people continue to play and enjoy it. But can you really, honestly say that it’s a great video game?
    It’s the same post MMORPG find-and-fetch or kill X number of Y kind of affair. It’s still boring as hell to drive way the hell out
    e hell out to a way-point and trundle around looking for an item you’re supposed to retrieve while shooting a bunch of bad guys that pretty much just run at you.

    This game simply sucks... I have nothing more to say.
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  25. Feb 12, 2013
    0
    Borderlands 1 had some charm to it being new and aspiring cross between rpg's and fps's. This helped a lot when over looking its short coming as there was little to compare it to. Borderlands 2 doesn't have this, even if the only game we can compare it to is BL1. Here lies the biggest problem with BL2, it is BL1 but without the charm. It not only has lost the charm of being the new kid on the block but in many ways its actually worse. Now I'm not going to go down that road of supplying fanboi's with technical specifications on how or what is worse in BL2 over BL1 since I know better than that. I know for example that the whole does not equal the sum of its parts. This is especially true with pretty much any creative work. Borderlands 2 lacks the creative element that the first one had, it certainly doesn't feel like you even have a purpose unlike its predecessor. Its meaningless and dead to put it bluntly, it feels empty. Worse than a beta test product, because this is meant to be a sequel to a pretty good game that had a lot going for it. I found it frustratingly underwhelming to the point of wishing for my money back (and I got it for 50% off). Its games like this that leave me seriously wondering what kind of people would honestly encourage their friends to buy this as did mine to a lesser extent.

    How on earth does a game like this get such high ratings? The only answer can be the lack of any substantial good games out there these days. Hence, this game sits on top of the pile. Not a very proud accomplishment in anyone's books. My score 1
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  26. Nov 30, 2012
    0
    I don't usually do this, but Gearbox made a big deal about how much they were going to optimize for the PC, especially with all that special NVidia stuff, and now it's just busted. Installed and re-installed this game twice and all that happens is that it crashes 5 seconds after launch. I have the HD 6670 and FX-4100, and all my drivers are up to date. Paid full price too. Damn shame its near impossible to resell pc games. Thanks Gearbox Expand
  27. Dec 15, 2012
    1
    Very silly game. Really (like, really) enjoyed the first version, this one though, makes being killed multiple times a part of the game. Not much fun really. Obviously, one dies, but here, it seems like it's designed to do that, as opposed to you feeling like you could have actually done it without your character dying.
    Very disappointing, spent $120 on copies for my daughter and I; re
    ally, really wish I'd tested it out from torrent first, as it's just not a very fun game at all, and we totally wasted our money. Expand
  28. Jan 22, 2013
    4
    I am disappointed with Borderlands 2 when playing on a single player game. The unbalanced weapons and the strength of the robot enemies seem to get over whelming at times. Needless to say I had reached endless amounts of boss events and the game glitched out and caused me to restart from the check point. All the new DLC's are based on getting the gamer to spending more money on a game that already isn't worth $59.99. This game is made more for coop then playing solo, thats sad. I really enjoyed the first borderlands but borderlands 2 missed the mark and I will be less interested in a borderlands 3 if such a game is to exist in the future Expand
  29. May 17, 2013
    3
    Sorry to buck the trend, but preferred BL1. The art style here is even further away from what I want and expect. Comics are for looking at and reading, not for playing. Call me old fashioned....
  30. May 18, 2013
    4
    Pretty Meh game.

    I played for about an hour and unfortunately just couldn't take any more.
    The game feels flat and empty.
    Really weak humour. (I didn't even chuckle, its more annoying than funny)
    Good idea with the graphics but badly executed.
    Not really sure what all the hype was about, its probably the worst FPS I have played in quite a few years.
  31. Mar 15, 2013
    1
    i love this game but it has too much bugs!!!!! I just lost three legendaries that took me forever to farm because of the bugs!!!! fix the bugs!!!!!! and i lost them in home base as well which is incredible. on single player the game works fine, but multiplayer has bugs that will cripple the experience which is incredible. if they fix them bugs then it will be perfect.
  32. Mar 24, 2013
    3
    Not sure how this game got this much hype. The concept of loot is completely ruined since anything you touch will become guaranteed garbage within a level of two, the graphics are poorly textured cartoon lego, scripts are still clumsily executed since it needs to be a limited scenario with four players running around and NPC's now talk 350% more. I guess that's what goes for a "Better" story these days with game designers, Quantity over quality. But the game is by no means bad by todays standard. It's just a very, very, very mediocre experience that got stretched out from the original Borderlands 1 which begs the question: Why should I buy this and not Borderlands 1? It's the same game but instead filled with Internet meme's since the developers ran out of ideas for actual original content. The difficulty curve is still a rollercoaster and seeing so many mistakes be repeated from the first title to this one is the reason why I'm giving this a 3 instead of a 5. For shame, 2K. Expand
  33. Mar 23, 2013
    4
    Extremely buggy. This is my first review at metacritic, why? Because I usually don't bother to quit playing to visit a website and post a review. But I got really sad and angry now, after having to use hacks to get through a door that doesn't open (and was supposed to be open). Then I get to the bad guy at the end of the phase and... great. Instead of dying, the enemy keeps stuck at one place. You can try everything, nothing happens. You check the internet, people have reported this error back in october 2012 and now it's march 2013 and no fix was made.
    Save the game and quit. It locks down your computer. You hard-reboot the computer and turn on the game. Great, now you have to restart the whole phase (about an our gameplay before getting to the same enemy), it locks up again.
    In this same phase, it constantly turns off sound, probably a bad instruction. Only comes back after rebooting the computer.
    I don't know why people sometimes compare this game with Fallout 3 totally different game. Not bad, but seems much better at teaser videos.
    If it wasn't buggy, could get an 8. But it gets 4.
    If I could, I would return the game and get my money back.
    If you didn't buy it yet, look for something else.
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  34. May 17, 2013
    0
    Exactly like Borderlands 1. Also boring and repetitive. I only bought this because it was on sale and I heard they improved a lot. They improved nothing. If you like Diablo 3 you will like this game. It's equally repetitive, mindless, pointless and boring. I tried to like this game, but I kept wanting to quit playing, I forced myself to play some more, hoping that the game woudl start to become fun. It didn't. It sucks, borderlands 2 is a sucky game. The fact that so many people like this kind of game is worrying to me, what are gamers becoming? Expand
Metascore

Generally favorable reviews - based on 38 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 38
  2. Negative: 0 out of 38
  1. 92
    It’s addicting, full of creative gags and amazing battles (especially in co-op mode) and it keeps dangling that loot-carrot in front of your face. Add that crazy humor on top and you have a synonymous for the world ‘entertainment’. [November 2012]
  2. Dec 3, 2012
    90
    If you're looking for something with a ponderous story full of morality and contemplation – one best savored alone – then you'll need to look elsewhere. Borderlands 2 delivers tons of lighthearted, occasionally juvenile fun with immense replayability, and is best approached with a few buddies in tow. It doesn't revolutionize the concept pioneered by its forebear, but it refines it to a razor-sharp edge and offers some of the most fun you can have in a cooperative action RPG this side of Diablo II. And if nothing else, it's got lots of Claptrap.
  3. Oct 30, 2012
    94
    The moment at which my endearingly annoying robot companion Claptrap fashioned himself a Mohawk out of some animal fur I collected he earned a spot on my all-time favorite robot list.