Here is my next video review. In this video, I give you a quick overview of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, go over the rating and content, and let you know if I think it is good for your gamer.
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Transcript:
Hello, my name is Eric Rogers from parentinggamers.com and this is Parenting Gamers Review of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection. In this video, I am going to give you a quick overview of the game, go over the rating and content, and let you know if I think it is good for your gamer.
So the first question is, what is Borderlands: The Handsome Collection?
Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is a collection of two games, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. In this review, I will be showing you clips from Borderlands 2. The content of the pre-sequel is comparable.
Borderlands 2 is a loot-based, first-person shooter with role-playing game elements. Let’s break these terms down.
First off, a first-person shooter (or FPS) is a game where the player experiences the action from the first person perspective, as if she was actually in the game. You can see what I mean in this clip here.
Next is the term role-playing game, or RPG. An RPG is a game where the player selects a character that performs a specific role. In Borderlands 2, there are 6 different classes the player can select when starting a new character. The one she selects will determine the way she plays the game. For example, Maya, the siren, has a special ability that allows her to control enemies, which makes her play much differently than Salvador, the gunzerker, who’s special ability is to it duel wield weapons and do major damage.
Once the player selects a character, she makes it stronger by defeating enemies and completing quests to gain experience. That experience then translates into a higher level and points she can spend on abilities to tweak her character even more.
Here you see Salvador’s skill trees. The skills I select will affect the way my character plays, allowing me to customize my character to be more in my style of play.
The last term I used is the hook of the Borderlands series. Borderlands 2 is a loot-based game. When an enemy is defeated, it has the chance to drop randomized loot based on that enemies level and strength. This loot includes health, money, guns, and shields.
The hook comes from the random nature of the guns that are dropped. The gun could have a random enchantment, like a fire ability that burns the target for a while after it is hit. So the hook is getting stronger to kill more powerful enemies to get better guns to then kill even more powerful enemies to get even better guns, etc.
The next question is, what about the content?
Borderlands 2 is rated M, which is the equivalent of an R rating in the movies. The rating includes these 5 descriptors:
“Blood and Gore” and “Intense Violence”
“Language”
“Sexual Themes”
and “Use of Alcohol”
One other thing to keep in mind is that Borderlands 2 was designed to be a co-op games. Players can join a game with up to 3 other people to play through the story. The more players in the game, the stronger the enemies and the better loot they drop, which encourages players to play together. You need to be aware of this because you will have no control over who your gamer might play with in a public game.
So what’s the verdict? Is Borderlands 2 something you should allow your gamer to play?
As I gamer, I really enjoy Borderlands 2. It melds two of my favorite genres (first-person shooters and loot-based role-playing games) better than any other game that has tried. And it’s definitely fun to play with friends.
However, as a parent, my recommendation, as it is with most M rated games, is to hold off until your gamer is older. The M rating carries with it a “17 and up” qualifier. Most stores won’t even sell an M rated game to anyone under the age of 17. So I would say, use that as your gage. If you wouldn’t allow your gamer to watch an R rated action movie, you probably shouldn’t allow them to play Borderlands 2.
If you enjoyed this video, please visit me at parentinggamers.com and sign-up for my email list. Signing up with get you notifications when I release new videos and give you a free copy of my e-book, Connecting with Your Teenager Through Video Games. Thanks for watching.