Borderlands 2 announced, details follow [News]

[Fact] - For those of lucky enough to have a subscription to Game Informer (I am not among those ranks), you know a few details about the upcoming Borderlands sequel.  With a release date in 2012 (some speculate as early as April), Borderlands 2 has already had plenty of juicy new details to satiate our curiosity.

One of the first details we got our hands on was the new class.  We quickly learned that the Berserker class from the first game has undergone a huge transformation.  Salvador, the new representative of this new class, is a Gunserker.  The first game allowed a Berserker to get angry, Hulk style, and beat the life out of any baddies you wanted with your bare hands.  Salvador, literally on the other hand, is allowed to dual wield any weapons the player chooses during this time.  The whole idea is that he gets so angry he can hold two rocket launchers and fire them at the same time.  The other revealed character is a siren named Maya.  All four original characters from Borderlands will have cameos as non-playable characters in the sequel, along with Claptrap and the Guardian Angel.

Game Informer has mentioned a few little details to the game, such as upgraded enemy and NPC AI (hopefully the nerdiest tidbit in this article, translated: "bad guy and good guy artificial intelligence").  The skill tree will be back and innovated, and it not only allows more powerful upgrades but plays on the series's sense of humor (i.e. "Out of Bubblegum" and "I'm the Juggernaut").

One of the biggest additions to the game is going to be the playable scenery.  It was all summed up pretty well by the presenter in the leaked video:  "Our artists did a lot of research.  They found out that there's actually some other colors in the palette.  So they discovered the color green."  The new landscapes can be viewed in the 14-minute gameplay leak.  I'm not going to link to the gameplay video because Take 2 is trying their best to take them all down.  And we all know that while they won't succeed in removing all of them, chances are they'd take down the one I link to, and that would be embarrassing and unprofessional.  If you want to watch it, such search for it.

The last little detail we have right now is the introduction of a new element called "Eridium".  This Avatar-like element will be used not only as currency, but also to upgrade weapons and vehicles.  While we're on it, every last weapon from the first Borderlands has been trashed.  That's right, you won't see a Bone Shredder in the sequel.  However, they're "billion-gun" idea is back and better than ever.  Not only will the separate manufacturers be easier to distinguish between, but the guns will range from ones you throw away to ones that take add-ons.

[Opinion] - I am a big fan of the first game.  It's not the earliest "First Person Shooter Role Playing Game", or "Role-playing Shooter" for short, as it claims to be (Bioshock is earlier).  But it is definitely a great formula for mixing the two genres.  I loved the leak video, and it gets me excited for more news, and eventually walking out of a store with it.  If you haven't played the first Borderlands, you're missing out.  But don't worry, you have until at least April of 2012 to beat it and the DLC, because the Game of the Year Edition comes highly recommended.