From the sounds of things, Borderlands 2 doesn’t hold any punches, and will contain even more outlandish dialogue than its predecessor did. Then again, what happens in Pandora stays in Pandora.
Earlier today, the fine folks over at VG 24/7 discovered that the game has not only gone gold, but its unintentionally comedic ESRB rating has also been released to the public through the organization’s website. You’ll definitely want to read it for yourself:
“This is a first-person shooter in which players join rebel forces to take down an oppressive corporation on the fictional planet of Pandora. As players explore open-world environments, they complete missions to gain experience and increase their characters’ skills/abilities. Players use machine guns, sniper rifles, flamethrowers, explosives, and weaponized vehicles to kill human-like characters and hostile aliens in frequent combat. Firefights contain realistic gunfire/explosions; injured enemies scream and emit exaggerated splashes of blood.
Various weapons result in dismembered limbs or bloody gibs. Some missions depict intense acts of violence: viewing characters getting electrocuted; shooting a man in the face; killing players’ incinerating a cult member as part of a ritual sacrifice.
The dialogue contains jokes/one-liners that reference sexual material (e.g., “I will hang myself from my own tombstone if in you I can’t put my bone,” “If there’s anything they love more than getting to second base with their sisters, it’s cars,” “Bacon is for sycophants and products of incest.”); during some sequences, players can find and collect adult-themed magazines—though no actual nudity is depicted.
One mission requires players to consume three alcoholic beverages from a bar before they can progress. The words “shit,” “pussies,” and “asshole” can be heard in the dialogue, in addition to language censored by audible bleeps (e.g., “God-[bleep]-ing-dammit”).”
Borderlands 2 will bring us all of the above-mentioned content and much, much more, when it blows up retail store shelves on September 18. And, although you’ve surely guessed it already, the game will bear a big M for Mature rating on its cover.