The game ran somewhat sluggishly, held back by a subpar framerate, and it even froze in place a couple of times for a second or two...
The game ran somewhat sluggishly, held back by a subpar framerate, and it even froze in place a couple of times for a second or two when there wasn’t even that much action going on on-screen. In this regard, I hope that Borderlands 2 is further refined before it’s released to the general public, because the performance issues are noticeable, and I suspect performance will only degrade further when there’s heated action going on all around you.“
My biggest qualm during my brief time with the game, however, was its control scheme, or at least portions of it. Because of the fact that Vita lacks R2 and L2 functionality, and because its analog sticks aren’t clickable (therefore providing L3 and R3 mapping options), developers have attempted solutions – some more clever than others – that strive to mitigate the loss of four buttons. Some of Borderlands 2’s solutions, unfortunately, don’t seem to be very good ones, even if there’s seemingly no better option available.
Not surprisingly, aiming and shooting are mapped to the Vita’s L and R buttons, respectively, and the face buttons allow you to reload, jump, and do all the rest. But to squeeze in Borderland 2’s robust set of features, four essential actions have been mapped to the touch screen and back touch pad.The left side of the touch screen activates your character’s special skill, while the right side of the touch screen tosses a grenade. These decisions aren’t necessarily questionable – indeed, chucking explosives with the touch screen is borrowed from the failed Vita shooter Resistance: Burning Skies – but when the back touch pad gets involved, things start to fall apart a bit.
There’s simply no good alternative to a good old-fashioned button, whether it’s on the front touch screen or the back touch pad.
On the back touch pad, hitting the left side allows your character to dash around, while the right side lets loose a melee attack. Due to the way most folks hold the Vita, as well as what seems to be incredible sensitivity on the part of the back touch pad itself, this functionality finds itself constantly interfering with the simple act of aiming and shooting. My character was constantly swiping his knife even when I wasn’t implicitly touching the back of the Vita. It interrupted by ability to aim down the sights and shoot, which was disappointing.“
There’s simply no good alternative to a good old-fashioned button, whether it’s on the front touch screen or the back touch pad. Then again, I only spent a few minutes with it; maybe it’ll be easier to play and make more sense when I dig in and play it for hours instead of moments.
Borderlands 2 is scheduled to come to PS Vita this spring alongside an all-new model of PS Vita. For more on both, check back with IGN. Colin Moriarty is IGN’s Senior Editor. You can follow him on Twitter.