Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Windows, OS X, Linux, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3,
Developer: Gearbox Software, 2K Australia
Background
After two adventures touring the wild, unforgiving landscapes of Pandora, 2K Australia and Gearbox Software’s Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel takes the adventure to the unfamiliar craters of the Elpis, Pandora’s moon. Take control on of 6 characters who seek to help Jack take over Hyperion and watch as he rises and becomes the same Handsome Jack that seeks to rule Pandora in Borderlands 2. Originally released on October 14th, 2014, it was later remastered and re-released on March 24th, 2015, as part of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection, which features the latest two titles in the series as they tell the story of Handsome Jack’s power hungry life.
Story
Take a look at the rise of Handsome Jack through this widely anticipated game. Choose from any of the games 6 characters, Claptrap the Fragtrap, Wilhelm the Enforcer, Nisha the Lawbringer, Athena the Gladiator, Jack the Doppelgänger and Lady Hammerlock the Baroness (With Lady Hammerlock and Jack being DLC exclusive). They each have their own motivations for helping Jack as seen through the story.
The game starts with the vault hunters interrogating the former Atlas employee Athena, attempting to find out how and why Jack rose to power. Athena then tells them the whole story of how she and the rest of the vault-hunters helped Jack take back control of the Hyperion base known as Helios space station, from a group called the Lost Legion, a group of soldiers from the Dahl corporation, led by Colonel Zarpedon. What ensues is another outing of a group of vault-hunters, killing and exploding their way towards a payday. Along the way you will meet a very different cast of characters than previous games such as Janey Springs and Pickles. These new characters posses just as much quirkiness as anyone from previous games but their on the moon this time. This story while fun and insightful, doesn’t quite have the same punch or weight as they previous two entries, despite the interesting part of seeing Jack working with the original vault-hunters to see Jack’s plan through.
Gameplay
This installment retains most of the same gameplay elements as the previous entries with a few additional mechanics. With the location of the game being on a moon instead of a planet, naturally the gravity is less intense and allows the player to jump higher than in previous games. Naturally with the characters needing oxygen, you must wear an oxygen mask, that operates like other pieces of equipment that must be equipped. You can find them all over Elpis just as you can with shields and other mods. Then of course you have the new laser class of weapon as well as new cryogenic elemental weapons. For those of you who enjoy the driving, there are two new vehicles to stride across Elpis’ craters. Drive the Moon Buggy and plow through enemy cars, or choose the Stingray and patrol around in a single seat bike with either homing cryo-rockets, or flak cannons. Another great change of pace is
Filling the Shoes
This installment follows the previous two highly well-received installments Borderlands and Borderlands 2, both of which take place on the planet of Pandora, where violence and anarchy reign supreme. This game had huge shoes to fill with the bar for action, character and humor set very high, unfortunately, this outing took us to a very different locale in the form of Pandora’s moon, Elpis, and it didn’t really serve to excite. While the game’s main concern was to provide answers for how Borderlands 2’s main antagonist, Handsome Jack, rose to power, the story was very lackluster and due to the monotony of a rather empty feeling planetary-environment outside of the city of Concordia, which serves as this games version of a hub town, like Borderlands’ New Haven, or Borderlands 2’s Sanctuary, and a very few NPC’s residing out in the wilds of Elpis. The Pre-Sequel does introduce some much needed new weapons types in the form of laser and cryogenic weapons which help to shake up the standard list of elemental weapons. Basically the game’s story and location and overall lack of hospitable life make for a rather monotonous game that players will find falls short of the Borderlands legacy.
Verdict: 7/10
With thought put into this installments overall gameplay, mechanics, story, location and it’s comparison to the previous installments, I find this adventure to be lacking in terms of an interesting story that pulls the player in. It is not bad but also not terrible. It falls in a rather gray zone that leaves room for each player to either enjoy or dislike the story on their own. I love the new mechanics added such as low-gravity and laser weapons. This game’s punchline delivery falls just short as it doesn’t quite have the same heart as the previous entries. The games narrative has big promises and shines light to aspects that plague players of previous games, but it doesn’t do much to draw players who haven’t played both Borderlands and Borderlands 2 previously. On its own it falters on its narrative direction and is fun due to its gameplay and its challenging enemies.
