Borderlands: The pre-sequel (Review)

Back in 2009 we saw the first Borderlands, which used cell-shading to give the game a unique cartoony feel. At this point in time, there were tons of FPS games being released so it was hard to make yourself distinctive in the FPS crowd. After the release of the first game, a sequel was made - Borderlands 2. The sequel improved on the previous game, adding more depth, better graphics and a new story line.

2 years later-on, Gearbox Software released the next instalment of the franchise entitled; Borderlands: The pre-sequel. In this game the player discovers how Handsome Jack came to power (the baddy in the second game). So kind-of like Borderlands 1.5 with the story placement.



This time we start with 4 new characters; Athena (Gladiator), Wilhelm (Enforcer), Nisha (Lawbringer) and Claptrap (Fragtrap).. yes, Claptrap is a playable character! Each character has their separate skill-tree, allowing you to create different builds for each character. As you level up, you will gain a skill point, and be able to place it in the skill-tree.

The first character, Athena didn't really interest me. So kind-of skipped her.

Next we have Wilhelm, an Enforcer who uses a pair of robots (called Wolf and Saint). These robots are okay but can make you feel that you're just tagging along. They automatically search for enemies, and attack them - you have no direct control on them.

After-which we have the Lawbringer – Nisha. Nisha favours more direct damage; using a pair of pistols and gains kill-streak bonuses. This can make her very over-powered, wiping out badass bosses in mere seconds (with her kill-streak bonuses activated). Her special skill further increases her damage and gives her an auto-aim ability (meaning you don't need to aim any-more). I felt she was simply way over-powered, as no other class can match her damage output (or so I found).




And finally we have Claptrap, who seems to be more of a gimmick rather than anything else. Claptraps special skill picks a random action, some of-which can make him a liability to a party.. for example; one person in the party may be in a down-state (ie. needs help to get back up), so another player runs over to help. However a third player – a Claptrap activates his special-skill and gets rubber-duck mode. Now all players uncontrollably bounce up and down for 10 seconds. So the player in the down-state can't be helped and dies, sometimes this can mean the person who ran over to help also dies. One of the other actions is he just kills himself for no particular reason - which isn't helpful. The only real saving grace of Claptrap is gun-wizard mode, which restocks everyone's ammo. Ammo can be a bit of a problem in this game.

This time the game is set in a low-gravity environment, where O2 (oxygen) can be a problem. I personally didn't like the O2 meter, as it puts you on a timer as such. In the previous titles you could take your time and explore things, no pressure to get to a certain location. Later on O2 becomes rather pointless as you get better O2 masks, and it no longer becomes much of an issue. I found there was one type of O2 mask that did the trick, and higher levels of it didn't really do much else. It's also offered as a reward from one of the side-quests.

One of the big points of Borderlands is finding loot, and that's still the case. This time they have added a grinder that allows you to throw-in 3 of the same type to get another of the same class or better. So you can stick three purples to get either another purple or a legendary. I personally didn't think much of legendary equipment; it was some-what lacking this time. In the previous titles legendary equipment would offer some big unique attributes. It's still good but generally it's a slight stat improvement, like does 10% extra damage which is nowhere near as exciting. Ammo regen is still a problem like the second game. So you're often required to buy lots of ammo from the shops. Rocket launchers quickly become useless due to high ammo cost, which gets insane later on (rockets do not regenerate with ammo gen).



The areas themselves are kind-of small, as you often travel to the next area via a teleport markers, as you go about completing the story missions. Most of the levels aren't big enough to support vehicles, so if you enjoyed that section of the game in previous titles, don't expect much here. The driving itself has remained untouched, and can feel some-what awkward as you drive by the camera. You do get access to a second vehicle but it's only required for a brief section; you can keep using it if you wish to do so but it's not required. Both vehicles are just for getting around the map quicker.

Behind the scene, we have the same engine powering the game. Not to say there is anything wrong with the old engine, just don't expect anything new. The game even reuses some of previous content, as you find a couple of legendaries from the previous title (most of them have been removed). The engine has been designed for the older generation system, so hence the reason why the areas are some-what small.

DLC wise, well I found it rather lacking. This time in the season-pass we get 1 story DLC (Claptrap's New Robot Revolution), 1 small arena and 2 extra playable characters. It's sad how light the DLC content is this time, as in the previous titles the DLCs added a lot of new content. So this time I opted just for the Claptrap DLC, as the arena DLC is very small. I don't really think characters are actual content.

The Claptrap DLC was okay but just okay. It felt a bit strange as you explore Clap-trap's mind. As you can guess his mind is rather fragmented, meaning you are jumping between memory fragments. One of the saving graces of the DLC is the introduction of the pink guns, which have up-to 4 special modes, with various chances to trigger (1 to 4, 4 being highest).



The only other thing to note is the bosses. Some of these can be very tough to beat the first time around, especially on your own. We had a couple of bosses that wiped out all of our money, leaving you with no ability to even buy ammo. At this point it's just a mindless rush to die over and over again, which isnt much fun. When you finally beat it, you can end up with just a few greens and blues (which aren't anything that special). Some bosses also never respawn, so can't be farmed like the previous Borderlands, and the raid boss was a big disappointment.

So all in all, it's not the best Borderlands I've ever played but its okay. The DLC content is rather lacking, and should have been at-least another one, possibility 2 story driven DLCs. If you are into your FPS and/or Borderlands then I would recommend checking it out, especially now when you can get such large discounts on it, however it's not a bad game in any respect just not great.

Summary

The good

• Explains the events leading-up to Jack's empowerment,
• Another sequel to the coop-fps franchise,

The bad

• O2 makes you feel youre on a timer, and becomes mean-less later on,
• Lots of area-switching, so lots of switching between areas,
• The vehicles arent used very often, due to the small areas,
• Lawbringer seriously overpowered and claptrap is too random,
• Legendary equipment can feel rather lack-lusting,
• Kind-of short, missing an area or two,
• Some very frustrating boss fights,
• DLC content is lacking,

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