14 DAY TRIAL // Gearbox Software has shared some more details about its upcoming Borderlands 2 role-playing shooter, this time talking about the vehicles in the game and its combat, confirming that players will no longer have to pause the game, go into their inventories and then use health kits.
Borderlands 1 stood out among other post-apocalyptic sci-fi shooters by offering a top-notch cooperative experience and the ability to choose from a huge array of different weapons and items.
With its sequel, developer Gearbox Software wants to improve on a variety of things, while introducing elements like new playable classes, including the Assassin, the Gunzerker, the Commando, or the special Mechromancer that will be released as DLC after the game’s launch.
In order to shed some light on the game’s improvements, producer Matt Charles talked with the PS blog about two special areas, in the form of the vehicles and the healing process.
“We’re introducing a new vehicle, the Technical, which can hold 4 players at once and also has a few weapon configurations to choose from. Some are better than others depending on the types of enemies you’ll face and the environment you’ll be fighting in. On the other hand, Borderlands is mainly a game about weapons and loot so we don’t want to force people to stay in vehicles for too long,” he said.
Healing in Borderlands 1 was problematic, especially on consoles, as players needed to pause the game, go into their inventory, and then scroll through their items before reaching the health kits.
In the new game, however, health kits will automatically kick in during combat and players will be able to use more gadgets to augment their health and shields.
“Pausing wasn’t really fun in combat,” Charles admitted about the first game. “It was a tough decision, but we decided to remove carryable health packs and instead fill that need with new relics and shields that can help keep you out of that emergency state to begin with.”
“The result is a more fluid combat experience since now you’re not worrying about when the best time to pause the game is and you still get that fun sense of preparing for a battle by choosing the right gear. Health Packs will still appear and drop and they will now heal you up in the middle of battle.”
Borderlands 2 is out in September for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 platforms.