A surprise hit upon its 2009 debut, Borderlands combined frantic first-person shooter action with an RPG-like loot system to fantastic effect.

Along with a fun levelling system, ridiculous sense of humour and millions of guns (literally, according to developer Gearbox), the new IP was a smash hit, selling millions of copies.

Now, Gearbox Software hopes to repeat the success of the original with Borderlands 2 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Evolution everywhere

The first game saw players step into the shoes of one of four vault-hunters, uncovering a treasure trove on the planet of Pandora. The sequel however, sees you playing as one of four new vault hunters, left for dead by arch-villain Handsome Jack in the freezing snow.

Of course, one of the series' now-infamous Claptrap robots helps you out of your predicament, and you're off once again.

Much like the first title, you'll need to familiarise yourself with the game mechanics first, ranging from basic shooting action to the levelling system. 

Players will take on a variety of nasties in Borderlands 2, with enemies both old (bandits, skags and pterodactyl-like Rakks) and new (rock-hurling monsters, robots and gyrocopter aircraft) to be had. 

However, you'll have plenty of tools at your disposal to deal with them, starting off with the impressive list of weapons.

Whether it's your standard shotguns, sniper rifles, light machine guns and rocket launchers, or plasma cutters, laser guns and more, there are literally millions of weapons to choose from.

It's all thanks to the procedural generation system used in the Borderlands franchise, which allows for the developers to include many weapons with minimal effort needed on their part.

According to Gearbox, there are over 17 million guns in the first game, and more in the sequel, but of course, we can't go counting them. 

Still, I never encountered the same weapon twice in my travels, with cosmetic and attribute changes all had. Taking a page out of Perfect Dark's playbook, there's also a range of guns that explode when thrown.

However, in a change from the first game (at least the vanilla title without downloadable content), you now have a locker to store any extra weapons you find. It's a practical feature and one that means you don't have to throw away that special rifle to make space for another.

Each character class also has a unique ability at their disposal, such as Maya's phaselock perk, which sees enemies immobilised in mid-air, and Axton's turret deployment skill. 

The levelling system has a huge part to play in Borderlands 2 as well, with each new level-up giving you a skill point. These points are spent on expanding your skill tree - whether it means upgrading your character-specific skill or gaining a new one, it's up to you.

In a great twist, you can also reset your skill points at select booths around Pandora, giving you the opportunity to gain new skills if your existing choices aren't for you.

The levelling system also applies to guns, with some weapons only useable at a certain level, throwing a bit of strategy into proceedings. So you'll need to decide whether to keep that sniper rifle that you're two levels away from using or toss it for something that can be used right now. 

New to Borderlands 2 is the Badass Token system, which sees you gaining, well... Badass... Tokens... upon completing in-game challenges, such as killing a set amount of enemies. 

These tokens can be used to give your character a small percentage boost in a few key areas, such as maximum health, weapon damage, grenade damage and more. It's a quick and easy way to boost your character, giving you another avenue to beef up your player.

Then of course, you have a shield and class mod options too, with plenty to be found and bought across Pandora. 

Page two: A formidable challenge...