And We're Back!

I just got back from my trip to California, where we went so the kids could visit my wife's dad and grandma. They seemed to have fun, but it was an almost 12 hour car trip from my parents' house (which is a 3 hour drive from ours).  I'm just glad I'm back and nothing bad happened on our trip.  Well, except hanging out with my in-laws. ZING!  I'm just kidding.

That's the short version of why there wasn't a review up last week.  Hopefully the Tiny Tina one was good enough.  Speaking of which, I was glad to come back and see all of the other Borderlands 2 DLC on sale, so I picked up what I was missing: Scarlet, Hammerlock, the Ultimate Vault Hunter pack and the Psycho.  I can't wait to try the psycho out, since he sounds really fun.  Though first the wife and I will go through the other two DLCs and finish off any quests in Torgue, since we can get experience again.

I also picked up the Divinity 2: The Dragon Knight Saga Game on Demand.  I already have Eco Draconis, but I have been eyeing the re-release since it added the DLC, which is not on the XBL marketplace.  $5 for it is a great price.  Now I just have to find the time to go through the game again, and the HD space to actually download it.

I have just started Time and Eternity, so I will have a review of that up as soon as possible.  Also I'm hopefully going to get up a few more videos on my youtube page.  Busy, busy, busy!

BL2: Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep DLC (360) Review

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is the latest piece of DLC for Borderlands 2.  Taking a break from fighting Hyperion, Lilith, Brick and Mordecai are playing a Dungeons and Dragons-style RPG called "Bunkers and Badasses" with Tina as the dungeon master, with your Vault Hunters being the player characters.

The game within the game takes place in a fantasy setting very different from the normal wastelands of Pandora.  It all starts out as a bright and sunny place with butterflies and rainbows until Tina is reminded it was supposed to be bleak.  Then it becomes a dark, spooky place, resembling the dark woods from several fairy tales.  Throughout the DLC, you will be travelling from a shore, through the woods and to the tall tower of Dragon Keep.  The settings are cool, and thankfully will change to their cheerier counterparts once you beat the main campaign.  Each area is pretty big.  You have plenty of room to explore and various places to go for the many quests contained within.

To go along with the new setting, there are plenty of new enemies that fit the fantasy theme.  There are skeletons, knights, orcs, golems and treants to name a few.  Some behave similarly to enemies found in the base game, there are Suicide Skeletons and the golems are similar to the Goliaths.  Even so, there are lots of new things, like sorcerers that summon things like fire birds, skeletons that have a sword that must be removed to kill them, and floating skeleton heads.  For some reason, I really like the treants.  Maybe it's just because I haven't played a game that lets me shoot them, but the little ones have some great animation.  Not only do some of them have axes stuck in their heads, but when they die, they sink into the ground and grow a small patch of mushrooms.  It's a cool little touch that I enjoy.  The most annoying enemies are the Orcs warlords that level up similar to the Goliaths.  They can quickly become five levels over you, making them ridiculously hard to kill and are best avoided at that point.

The story of Assault on Dragon Keep is actually really good.  Without giving away many spoilers, it primarily deals with Tina dealing with the events that take place near the end of the main game.  It's funny and even sad at some points.  Being a game within a game, it is very self aware.  I like that it breaks the fourth wall without actually breaking it.  It stays true to the world of Borderlands while still cramming in lots of references, winks and nods to fantasy and sci-fi.  In a lot of ways it's a love letter to the "nerdier" side of life (yay!), and I definitely approve.  Plus, it even has my new favorite character, Mister Torgue.  I'm glad they found a way to stick him in there because my wife and I loved listening to him talk in the Torgue DLC, and I'm happy to hear him yell again.  Although the best lines, to me, are when Tina is voicing Roland.  Hearing the strange way she talks but in Roland's voice is just funny.

Being a game all about loot, you will be happy to know there are several pieces of unique loot in Assault on Dragon Keep.  The best ones I've come across so far are the "fireball" and "magic missile" grenades, and of course, the "Swordsplosion" gun.  Yes, it is a gun that shoots swords.  However, Mister Torgue makes it better by demanding the sword explodes, and then throws out more swords that also explode.  Even if I don't use it much, I have to keep that gun.  It's probably the coolest weapon in the game (thanks, Torgue!)

At this point you are likely wondering how long the DLC is.  The main campaign itself is about 5 hours.  A chunk of this will be spent on the boss fights, since they last a long time.  There's three main ones, and each one took my wife and I about 20 minutes.  We were both level 50 and playing on True Vault Hunter mode if you want a frame of reference.  The boss fights were probably the least fun part of the whole campaign.  They were fine fights but just took too long.  Besides the main campaign, there are numerous side quests to do.  Many of these poke fun at MMOs or are references to other game and the like.  They are enjoyable, and there are at least 2-3 in each zone.

Unlike the previous DLCs, which had three achievements each, Dragon Keep has ten.  You get a few through normal progression and doing the missions, but a few require extra effort, like feeding the queen, attacking the darkness (snicker) and getting the amulet.  The hardest would be defeating the Raid boss, which will likely require a full party, same as the other raid bosses.

I enjoyed Assault on Dragon Keep.  The main campaign and side quests are both more enjoyable than Campaign of Carnage, although I didn't find it quite as funny.  However, it is very well written and humorous.  There's plenty of references to sci-fi and fantasy properties while still remaining true to the Borderlands universe.  It has enough hours of playtime to be worth the $10.  If you enjoyed playing Borderlands, Assault on Dragon Keep should be on your list of DLCs to buy BECAUSE... REASONS!

Rental Review: Borderlands 2

Thanks to a promo from Redbox, I was able to snag Borderlands 2 for just over a day.  When she wasn't working, I went co-op with my wife for half of that time.  She suggested that I should write up small review for it.  So even though I have yet to get a review copy, I can still give a quick review.

Graphically, it looks very similar to the first.  If you didn't like it before, you mind isn't going to change.  One thing I liked was the setting.  Instead of the deserts of Pandora, you are in the tundra of Pandora.  I hope the whole  game doesn't take place there.

The gameplay is very similar to the first as well.  The controls didn't change much, which is good.  They were fine last time.  The skill trees for each character are vastly improved, however.  A lot of the high-tier skills actually change how a special move works.  For example, Axton (the Commando) can get 2 barrels on his turret, have 2 turrets, have the turrets stick to walls and ceilings, and even have an aoe nuke when he summons it.  Also, the Siren plays much differently than the first game.  I still say they should have just picked another name for the class, regardless of the 6 sirens in the galaxy crap (even though everyone can make as many as they want...).

The sound is still good.  Fitting music, and the voices are great....well, except for Scooter.  I'm sure it's not the same VA as last time, which is a shame.  The character is still awesome, but I miss the old voice.

Overall, the game is still fun.  Co-op was a blast, even with the scunched screen.  Thankfully the bank is build into the main game and not part of one of the worst DLCs in history.  Also, a small bank that is cross-character.  Yes!  One complaint I have is all the returning characters.  Granted, I wanted the last game's players back in, that's fine.  But they reuse Ned, Marcus, Tannis, Crazy Earl and probably others.  I felt they had enough time in the first game that I would be ok if they didn't really show up.  Especially Crazy Earl.  Why the hell would all these characters just happen to move to the same area that you explore?  It feels forced.  Overall though, great game that I look forward to getting.  Eventually.  When I can afford it.  Which will be when it's like $20.  Ugh.