Normally I am a reasonably intelligent person, but every now and then I do something probably best described as stupid. This last one I did is a playthrough of Borderlands 2, without sleep, and am writing this review also without sleep (though I have updated and edited it since then). Honestly, it seemed like a good idea when I thought of it, and I was not able to come up with a good reason to not do it. So here I am, going on about 39 hours without sleep, and about 29 hours, 40 minutes of that within Borderlands 2. Before actually getting to the review, I want to make something clear. My playthrough was not complete. I did finish the campaign (once, so aside from the After Sleep Updates, everything in this review refers to the Normal Mode playthrough and not True Vault Hunter Mode) but not all of the side missions. Also I did not always clear out areas, opting instead to sprint through them to save time.

Borderlands 2 is the sequel to the Gearbox Software 2009 game, Borderlands 1. The original Borderlands 1 almost defies classification based on common genres as it combines elements of action games, first-person shooters, and role-playing games. The developers combined the ideas of these distinct genres so well that to describe the game with an emphasis on one would be a disservice to the game. Borderlands 2 takes place on the same planet as the original game, Pandora, and includes many of the original characters, but the player plays as one of four (soon to be five) new characters. Many of the characteristics that made Borderlands 1 a success have been carefully brought back in their original form or after some evolution. I am choosing the word 'evolution' here because I do believe that a good way to describe Borderlands 2 is as an evolution of the original game.