With the How Marcus Saved Mercenary Day Headhunter Pack, Gearbox continues its ongoing experiment of adding little morsels of seasonal content to Borderlands 2 for a nominal fee. But while this third pack succeeds where the other two have failed in the humor department, it's still too small of a...

Holiday humor; Sense of place; Fun; familiar gameplay

Performance issues; Lack of challenge

There's good news, kids: Gearbox kept its word and has more than made up for its past transgressions with this awesome sequel, which goes above and beyond what we even thought possible from a franchise like Borderlands.

Amazing PhysX effects; nonstop action; hilarious writing; lots of replayability

Menus still squished; monster rig required for high-res gaming

Gearbox Entertainment and 2K Games take you back to Pandora with Borderlands 2, the sequel to the hit apocalyptic RPG-shooter that isn't Fallout. It's five years later, Pandora has changed, and there are more Vaults to hunt.

Small improvements vastly enhance the game; Great, dark sense of humor.

The combination of RPG and FPS aspects can be tiring when you're plowing through dozens of bandits

It makes me sad to see a game that I love get such a stinker of a DLC, and I'm not sure any of my other characters will be making the trip to Aegrus. Maybe if a patch comes out to fix witch doctors they'll go, but until then Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt is to Borderlands 2 what Mad Moxxi's...

Lots of new enemy types; elemental weapons on the fanboats

Short campaign; witch doctors are terrible; the first playthrough feels like a second

Returning to Pandora feels like visiting a favourite holiday destination. You've enjoyed the scenery, met some of the local inhabitants, made some great new friends, and above all had a great time. The fact that it hasn't changed much since my last visit is fine by me.

Controls and gameplay mechanics have been left largely identical to the original; breeding a sense of familiarity

Inventory management can be a pain; especially before you get used to the gun types

Intangible rewards are all well and good, but a huge part of the Borderlands formula is loot, and Borderlands 2 does not disappoint. Guns, shields, grenade mods, class mods, and relics all offer different ways to enhance your combat effectiveness.

A ton of great mission writing and dialogue; Enticing loot and experience rewards; Intriguing skill trees; Rich; inviting gameworld

Spoken messages sometimes interrupt each other; One character ability is not substantially different from the core gunplay

Gearbox delivers a much improved PC version of Borderlands. Find out how good in our review.

+ Funny dialog and wonderful style; + PC customization options; + Streamlined menus and quests; + Solid shooting; + Great RPG elements; + Fun co-op

Single player can become difficult; Many loot drops are worthless; Texture popin and graphical glitches

I'm feeling a little sad right now as I have had to retire Mordecai the Hunter at level 69 with a bloodwing that has pillaged it's way through many a loot drop, come face to face with the destroyer, made Moxxi moist by playing her bizarre game of Horde, defeated ninja claptraps and with a little...

You may not know this, but Gearbox Software has been quietly outsourcing at least part of the development of their Borderlands 2 DLC packs to various developers. Plano, TX developer Triptych made Captain Scarlett and her Pirate's Booty while California-based The Workshop made my favorite BL2 DLC so...

Assault on Dragon Keep delivers the laughs and gunplay you'd expect, but it also offers a lot of poignancy and a lot of touching moments while borrowing basically no assets from the base game. Despite some annoyances, this is a fantastic close to Borderlands 2, and comes highly recommended.