Borderlands 2 Preview

EL33TONLINE is offering a Borderlands 2 preview based on a playable build that was available at this year’s GamesCom, which showcased the “Robot Slaughter Arena”. Here’s a snippet:

(They’re also throwing grenades at us, we had better dodge them!) my German friend called out. The action in Robot Slaughter Arena was relentless, but my team-mate’s vigour was more than a match for the challenge. (Ooh, there’s something big coming!) he said excitedly. His enthusiasm was infectious and very soon I got caught up in the thrill of battle. As a few gigantic foes rounded the corner, he recommended that (we had better focus on just one enemy.) (Sure, sounds good,) I replied with studied determination.

We caught a lucky break as two of the rattling robotic creatures got stuck on a piece of geometry, severely hampering their movement and stunting their ability to attack. (Are they stuck? Oh well, better exploit it!) We unloaded a salvo of ammunition at the impotent enemies and completed the first wave of Robot Slaughter Arena with aplomb. After a quick trip back up the elevator, over the suspended bridge above and to the ammunition vending machines, we began the second wave with Innuendo Bot’s blessing.

As Zero, my team-mate seemed to be continually running out of ammunition, seeing as how blade-based melee attacks were rather ineffective against robots corrosive type attacks and the new ‘˜Slag’ elemental type (like poison in other games, with extended damage benefits) work best against metallic opponents. (I’m out of ammo. that’s not good,) was a common utterance. We discovered that the only chance to replenish ammunition during an arena battle is to wait for the stuff to drop as loot following an enemy kill. Loot drops that are particularly rare.

This didn’t dampen our spirits, though, and we continued to bring the fight to the bots. (Oh, they’re super fast and they dodge and everything!) my team-mate announced, referring to a group of wily robot engineers. Our team-work grew stronger with every second as we made actions and enemy movements known, formulating strategies on the fly and backing each other up, effectively taking up our roles as nimble assassin and plodding bruiser. Picking each other up when we were down and drawing the ire of enemies was key, too – ‘˜slagging and fragging’ would be a good way to describe our approach to the action erupting on our screens.