The Vault Hunters are back, this time with a whole new adventure set up on Pandora. With new characters, guns, enemies and customizable characters; “Borderlands 2” has finally arrived.

“Borderlands” was released on October 20, 2009, and introduced the planet Pandora and the bounty hunters known as “Vault Hunters” because of the alien vaults they search for. The long awaited sequel, “Borderlands 2,” was released on September 18, 2012. The plot of the game follows four new Vault Hunters, as they try to defeat the CEO of the Hyperion Corporation, Handsome Jack, while keeping him from opening another alien vault, containing a dangerous alien warrior, and free pandora from both of them

The Hyperion Corporation is a mining company that is run for profit. On Pandora the corporation’s main goals are to mine the priceless alien mineral known as Eridium and wipe out the bandits of the borderlands, but this also includes the main characters as well as the bandits that the characters encounter throughout the world.

The introduction to the game does an amazing job of explaining what the characters will be like in the game. Axton, the Commando, can deploy a sabre turret to help himself and or other characters take down enemies. Salvador, the Gunzerker, is able to use the unique power of drawing a second weapon for double the damage output. Maya, the Siren, with her phaselock power, can lock enemies in a different dimension rendering them unable to fight back for a while. Zero, the Assassin, with his deception power, has the ability to turn invisible and strike enemies while hidden.

All of the characters are given their own scene, in the introduction, which they demonstrate their abilities and what types of weapons they use. However, the characters in this game aren’t better with one weapon or another. Since their unlockable perks don’t favor specific weapon types, the player is able to use all weapon types no matter which character they choose and without having one of those guns being more beneficial to the player than the others, which is great because “Borderlands 2” has stayed true to the almost endless varieties of guns and modifications set up for gamers in “Borderlands.”

The characters in the game will, at some point, meet up with the characters from the first “Borderlands.” Roland, the Soldier and leader of the Crimson Raiders, the radical group of warriors that are trying to defeat Handsome Jack. Lilith, a Siren, who keeps the bandits of Pandora busy so Roland can focus on Jack. Mordecai, the Hunter, a spy for the Crimson Raiders, with his pet, Bloodwing, an alien bird that attacks enemies for Mordecai. Brick, the berserker, who is the fierce leader of the gang of bandits called the slabs. All of them help the characters defeat Handsome Jack throughout the game.

“Borderlands 2” still has the Siren class. The Hunter class was replaced by the Assassin class and while still almost the same general character. Zero’s perks and deception ability set him apart from the mainly sniping, hunter Mordecai. Berserker was replaced by Gunzerker, but while Brick was good with fighting with his fists, Salvador the Gunzerker’s unique ability to draw a second gun and continue fighting is very useful during the game. Roland’s soldier class was replaced by the Commando class, however their powers are almost identical. They can both deploy automated guns to attack enemies for them.

The first moments of gameplay are identical no matter which character you are playing with, which means the player needs to figure out what they want to do based on the scenes of the introduction to the game.

The graphics are a major improvement compared to “Borderlands.” Even though the game was designed to have cartoon style features, the game hasn’t sacrificed any details in the weapons, characters, or environment. The colors are bold and have changes in hues and scratches to generate textures.

The game along with all it’s features, storylines and missions runs very smoothly. Missions go in a smooth order with the same main objective always in mind. Destroy Handsome Jack. Also, “Borderlands 2” has the same controls as “Borderlands” which will be very helpful to gamers that played “Borderlands” before “Borderlands 2.”

“Borderlands 2” is an incredible game loaded with new guns, characters, missions and improved quality in graphics. Throughout the game you will encounter strange challenges and shocking turns of events, but will everything work out? Will the Vault Hunters kill handsome Jack? Play the game and find out. It’s very fun and well worth buying.