Analysis of setting and graphical features of the action role-playing game "Borderlands 2"

Abstract

As a franchise, Borderlands knows that it is a crazy ride through violence central. It is a self-referential cynical tale about misconceptions of heroism in abuse of capitalism, but Borderlands is also a moral tale that is told in a brazenly amoral tone. Analyzing a game like Borderlands is innocence playing with fire. It is a futile effort. This is to say that people get the idea that Borderlands relishes in its abrasiveness. That if it were an anthropomorphized being it would laugh in the face of those who try to psychoanalyze it. Borderlands is a series that satirizes its place in culture. It is a genre in itself. How could people possibly engage in any meaningful analysis of a game that finds itself making silly jokes in between shotgun decapitations? So even with this being said, the franchise deserves recognition for what it has accomplished in terms of story character and theme. As genre is defined by gameplay, skill points and numbers in Borderlands combine these components with that which player might find in a more atmospheric linear story loot-driven game. There is a tremendous amount of humanity written into the Borderlands series. When compared to its genre counterparts, it is absolutely the exception to the rule. Borderlands is an action role-playing game genre defined by numbers, percentages, and experience points. When considering the games that occupy the space like Diablo1, Destiny2, Dark Souls3 people find that the selling point is the gameplay. It is the numbers. The constant dopamine release of findinga new way of making that number bigger. Rest assured that Borderlands has all of that, maybe even it is its priority, but Borderlands has thought that those games do not have a cast of unique clichés defeating characters interacting with each other in meaningful ways. For example, in Diablo or Destiny, the player is going to have different classes of characters. Same thing in Borderlands. The player may play a character that specializes in health regeneration or one that is intended to hit and run certain types of elemental damage. This is the same for all of these games, but it is not the same for the character themselves. This is to say that the warlock titan and hunter all at the same despite their strict gameplay difference. They are all the same vapid vessel. In Borderlands, the classes are the characters, and they are further characterized in the sequels. Of course, the most spectacular and memorable characters in these titles are not even the characters. They are about 87 billion protagonists in this game, and they all carry more character and story than a lot of shooters real corporeal human characters. Borderlands weapons are the real show here, and the marketing knows it. Borderlands is branded as a game with the most amount of weapons, and while that is technically true, it is far from real situation once the player understands what is going on. As a piece of software, Borderlands is an outstanding title when compared to its genre counterparts. As a value proposition, Borderlands is an incredible amount of content. It is no exaggeration. The content proposition available to a person is Tier one in terms of video games if that person likes the games. As a piece of storytelling, Borderlands both succeeds and fail. It is undoubtedly tremendous for its genre but maybe not so in terms of first-person shooters and certainly not so in terms of role-playing games. I believe that, strictly narrative-wise, the series improves with each entry. It is still a game that requires a great deal of trust on the players part.