Definitely a solid, balanced review of the game, Nick. While I'm loving Borderlands 2, the game has seen far too many perfect scores as though it's above criticism, despite carrying several flaws that need to be noted to create an honest reflection of the game.
Also, Nick totally dies about every 10 seconds or so when in combat. Had to respec as medic Maya to have a chance to keep the guy alive. SERPENTINE!
I definitely agree with your assessment. Having reviewed a few games that fit that "Not really AAA, but have a lot of fun potential," it's good to see other people can really recognize them, as well. There are quite a few flaws and issues with Borderlands (and now, Borderlands 2,) but they're sort of a guilty pleasure I've enjoyed.
And seriously, I don't understand why they made the last boss look like he did. There was another boss earlier in the game who had what essentially looked like a vagina for a mouth, as well. Very weird and very odd.
Oh, it's worth noting that I really wish more games had cross-platform online play. If I were Microsoft, I'd definitely encourage some way to allow XBL Gold accounts to play with Steam and other online platforms, akin to what happened with Portal 2, Steam, and the PS3. That would be wonderful!
There's more of that in the second!
And I'll have a more extensive post in time.
I think I'll participate in this. I'm not sure what game I'll play, though.
Nick and Chessa have since beaten Xenoblade, but I still haven't heard anything about Borderlands 2 from them...
Fun fact: Looks like they're already sold out of the inventory of 3DS XLs they received. That was quick.
I'm legitimately shocked. We just talked about this while recording PixlTalk, and I told Nick I didn't see Amazon and Nintendo ending this feud soon, considering it lasted through the 3DS XL launch and had been going on so long. We don't know any of the details about it, but I really believed there was some serious falling out.
So, I suppose that's good news for all those people who have extra Amazon credit and such lying around, or who prefer this retailer to other online (or even offline) retailers.
I should note that since recording this, it's been confirmed that the Wii U Pro controller does have a rechargeable battery, so at least it has that. I wonder if I can get 10% back in points from buying that sucker.
Really, though, I think it'll probably see a bundle of some sort pretty quickly, so I'll likely wait for that.
Unlike those guys up there, I'm very happy with the memory decision. The console is made to work with an HDD, Nintendo seems ready to embrace the idea of consumers using virtually any HDD, and so space issues shouldn't be a problem. It beats limited space and SD cards only, beats the 16 GB limit for USB drives on the 360, and beats proprietary memory, like the 360 HDD or the Vita's cards. The PS3 is arguably similar to the Wii U in this manner, but regardless, this is definitely a memory I can get behind. I'll be strapping a 2 or 3 TB HDD to my Wii U once it gets near filling up the 32 GB. Having a 10% rebate to downloads will be icing on the cake. Unless there's a sale, I honestly don't believe I'll be buying too many games at retail, at least, not early on.
Also, I was surprised by the Monster Hunter 3 announcement. Seems akin to the Vita's crossplay, though fortunately, the 3DS finally has some original titles on it. I'll probably skip out on this one, unless there's some sort of deal to purchase both games, making it much more akin to the Vita's crossplay.
