GeekMom Plays: Borderlands 2 Date Night Episode 1

In the evenings after the kids go to bed, my husband and I have countless options for entertaining ourselves for a couple of hours before hitting the hay. Sometimes we play a game, watch a show, catch up on YouTube, or I stare blankly at the pile of dishes and food prep that needs to be done for the following day while the hubby practices trumpet (he cooks dinner, it’s only fair).

We used to play World of Warcraft. We stood in line the day it came out. We were addicted. Then we had a kid. Let’s just say there were many variables in the equation that equaled us quitting WOW cold-turkey, not the least of which was the fact our newborn daughter would scream the second we were ganked in the game.

We didn’t really play any other computer games together after that. Sure, there were some one-offs: Portal, Half Life, and we enjoyed playing the Diablo series together. But, there was nothing we continually played with the same enthusiasm as WOW back in the day.

Enter Borderlands 2. The last PAX we attended featured longer lines than the tunnels in the mines of Moria to test this first-person-shooter (I say with disdain). I don’t play FPS games. They aren’t for me. Plus, the idea of psychos and hired thugs being the theme of a game seemed less than original for a video game idea. I thought the game screamed pimply-teen-boy gamer geek…

…until my husband suggested we play the game.

“Honey, it’s a cooperative first-person-shooter. I won’t kill you every five seconds. We would work together to complete the story. Doesn’t that sound fun? And look, there is a DLC where a crazy teenage girl who likes blowing stuff up runs a D&D campaign for her friends in the style of the game. Wouldn’t that be awesome?”

“…you lost me at FPS and got me back at D&D. I’ll give it a try.”

“You’ll love it.”

“Yes, dear.”

He was right. I do like it quite a lot. We have been happily blowing the faces off the bad guys for several months. For our anniversary, hubby gave me the Mechromancer character (available in downloadable content) so I could be a crazy teenage robot builder. Though the character class is joked to be “the one to give your girlfriend to get her to play,” it is a more complicated character than the basic four that come with the game.

Playing Borderlands 2 has become our de-stress date time. It’s awesome. On the weekends, hubby will make us drinks and we will sit back and shoot away. So now, we invite you to join us as we travel through the basic story line of Borderlands 2. I will be playing my Mechromancer “Killer Kaylee” while my hubby plays the Gunzerker “El Mariachi.” We hope you enjoy.

Missions this week:

• My First Gun
• Blindsided
• Cleaning Up the Berg

Mentioned: “BOOKER, CATCH!”, a BioShock: Infinite comedy video on the Nerdist Channel.