It’s refreshing to be playing a game that promises tons of varying loot to actually deliver the loot. That’s right, Borderlands is back with Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel — a tale that gives us four new Vault Hunters to play as and a new locale as we learn how Handsome Jack went from a hero wannabe to the villain we loved and hated in Borderlands 2.
If you’re a fan of the Borderlands franchise, have both games and all of the downloadable content, then this is more of the same. There’s a few new gameplay mechanics in The Pre-Sequel, but this is Borderlands to the core; the execution just doesn’t feel the same. When I played other Borderlands games, I learned to rely on the DLC for good story and just use the main game to experience fun gunplay and get awesome loot. The humor, gameplay, world, it all made for a fun package that I could spend tons of time in. I don’t want to say that Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel isn’t fun — because it is — but it just feels tired… like I’ve done this one too many times. It’s both a blessing and a curse that the game feels and plays the same.
Like I said, you spend your time in The Pre-Sequel on the low-gravity surface of Elpis. You’re playing in a flashback, so there’s narration as you progress through the main story. The story and the quests that drive you through it are more of what you’ve done in the other games, and after about eight hours of it, I was bored. Humor is a big component to the game, but it feels more forced this time around. When you’ve dumped 100+ hours into a franchise built on a premise of humor and a punchy, edgy culture, it’s hard to feel quite as impressed with a third installment. 2K Australia relies on typical Borderlands tropes, and it doesn’t have the same effect it used to. That said, there’s still a cast of fun characters and lively bad guys that make it fun. Quests are really repetitive, but that can be said for most games; and each quest is made up of a couple of different parts with lots of travel involved.
To aid you in your navigation is low gravity jumping. The jump button takes you higher now, and you’ll float down when you fall. I like being able to jump super-high and boost to a ledge, but it really doesn’t help in terrain navigation like you think it would. Part of that has to due with the unpredictability of which parts of the terrain you can land on and scale, and which you can’t. Instead of trying to jump up onto a ledge, you’re probably better off going around the long way and finding a path, which is disappointing and feels confining. Bullets shoot slower, as well. It’s a nice change of pace, and it introduces the new O2 and Oz kits. Since there’s no oxygen on the moon, you have to rely on Oz kits that let you breathe. They run out of oxygen over time so you’ll have to keep replenishing it, either by running over an O2 geyser or into an artificial oxygen bubble, or by more oxygen dropping like cash and ammo from an enemy. There’s no shortage of oxygen, is what I’m trying to say. The Oz kit will also let you get a burst that acts as a sort of glide/double-jump in the low gravity environment, and it eats up O2 quicker. It’s more than just a new movement mechanic; it also opens up a new item slot to upgrade your Oz kit, and it brings combat abilities with it. Tapping B from a jump will have you drop to the ground instantly, while holding B will slam you to the ground, damaging enemies in the area. And while I didn’t like having to worry about another meter to monitor anywhere I go on the planet, there’s so many ways to replenish it that it doesn’t bother me anymore.
There are two things about the Oz kit that bother me, though. One is that all enemies use it. I love the gunplay in Borderlands, but with the enemies constantly flying around and slamming down and knocking you away, it feels like more of an annoyance to fight now. In boss fights, it’s even worse. There tons of enemies and a boss jumping around, shooting rockets, throwing grenades and hitting you a never ending wave of bullets. It’s easier to just stand in one spot, take a beating, but keep track of where the enemies are so you can shoot them.
While trying my hand as each of the Vault Hunters, I spent most of my time as Nisha the Lawbringer. If you’re into guns, this is the class to play. While she has a tree that focuses on melee, her Riflewoman tree focuses on buffing the guns you’ll use. Her ability is Showdown, and it auto aims on targets and lets you fire off rounds quickly, with a skill tree devoted to making the ability longer and putting a copy of the gun you’re using in your other hand. Wilhelm the Enforcer uses drones to provide healing, support and damage, and he can also take a beating. Athena the Gladiator is a fancy class that feels unique. She has a shield and sword and feels like Captain America, soaking up damage and then hurling it around to deal damage. And then there’s Claptrap the Fragtrap, who’s easily the most entertaining of the classes. Depending on the enemies you’re facing, Claptrap pulls from a number of abilities when his skill meter is full. He’s fun and odd and you never know what you’re going to get from him.
Even more impressive than the classes are the weapons that you’ll equip them with. Right from the get-go, your weapons look badass and rustic. I feel like there’s even more weapons than in Borderlands 2, and it doesn’t take long to feel as if you have a cool weapon with an elemental effect. There’s a new gun type in The Pre-Sequel — the laser, and when you have it you won’t want to use anything else. Lasers are either a beam-type that shoots at a good rate, and sometimes do more damage the more you fire it, or they come in a shotgun blast type. There’s also a new elemental type of weapon — ice. Ice weapons freeze enemies while you do damage to them, and they may even shatter if you keep attacking them.
Visually, there’s no mistaking this is a Borderland game. It looks like the other ones. Maybe a jump to next-gen consoles would have made a little difference, but it keeps the look and feel and runs well with no graphical hitches for me. The environment looks amazing, but there’s not much in terms of variety. That doesn’t stop it from being pretty though.
Make no mistake, this is more Borderlands. If you’ve been wanting to know how Handsome Jack came to be the way he is, or if you just want more of what you love, The Pre-Sequel is exactly what you’ll want. From a loot and map size perspective, it made me wish Destiny copied what I played here. It’s stylish and fun and I won’t ever deny the appeal. While the low gravity shakes things up a bit, I had mixed feelings on it both in movement and combat. You’ll either enjoy it or it won’t be your thing — and there’s no way around that. I don’t know what the future of Borderlands might hold, but The Pre-Sequel is more of a minor step backward than it is progressing the franchise forward.
