(Photo Courtesy of 2K Games)The "Borderlands" series has always had one unifying mantra: shoot and loot. Shoot bandits, robots and monsters and procure loot from either aforementioned baddies or by other means. The game offers the option to play as four different “heroes,” a.k.a. Vault Hunters, each with their own abilities and skills to upgrade as you play along. This was the series that created the first-person-shooter/role-playing-game genre.
The first "Borderlands" game was … quiet. Seriously. Despite some memorable characters and plenty of great shootouts, you never quite knew much about the characters you were playing as (they didn’t talk much), and the world didn’t have much to offer in terms of secrets or interests to share.
"Borderlands 2" fixed that by injecting some much needed personality into the series with an intriguing story, a lovable yet insane bad guy and some depth to the game’s world of Pandora and its inhabitants. Add humor and general insanity to the mix, and it became an improvement all around. It was my favorite game of 2012.
Now we’ve come to "Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel." And, well, have you ever heard the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don't fix it”?
Taking place between games one and two (hence the name), "Pre-Sequel" follows four new Vault Hunters: Nisha, Athena, Wilhelm and Claptrap, as they’re hired by Jack, a middle-management worker for the Hyperion Corporation, to open a vault on the Pandoran moon of Elpis. This plan goes south quickly, though, as the station is taken over by the Dahl Corporation’s military.
After escaping to the moon, the hunters take on the job of stopping Dahl from destroying Elpis with the station — all while shooting nearly everything that gets in the way.
Fans of the previous Borderlands games should find a lot to love with the story. The cast rounds out an interesting tale that sees Jack begin his decent into the Handsome Jack villain of "Borderlands 2." It’s entertaining to hear each individual hunter’s reactions to his orders as his moral stability slowly declines.
What is awkward is how the story is told, however — the game is narrated by Athena no matter who you play as. While that doesn’t sound like much of a big deal, she speaks mostly in the first-person, making it a little strange to hear her take on a situation when you’re playing as someone else.
As mentioned earlier, each Vault Hunter has a unique ability to use in a fight. I ran through the game initially as Nisha, whose Showdown skill can deal out tons of damage and can auto-aim at enemies no matter where they are. It’s damn strong, as I could down groups of baddies in seconds. That said, she’s a glass cannon. There wasn’t much that could keep her alive during one of the many frustrating fights I led her into.
I also spent time with the Gladiator Athena, who’s less glass cannon and more defensive. Her Kinetic Aspis skill brings up a shield that absorbs damage, which she then tosses "Captain America"-style to nail a baddie within range. It’s consistently satisfying to see it fly into the distance, hit for a kill, then come back to recharge.
Since the game mostly takes place on the moon, oxygen kits have been introduced to keep you breathing, and add a creative aerial approach to combat. Aside from making sure you don’t die in the vacuum, they can be used to double jump and glide through the sky or, ahem, butt-slam into bad guys (something the game likes to make a point of). Once I got the hang of it, I was having a blast flanking, slamming, rinse and repeat-ing enemies, all while I was shooting or reloading.
Speaking of guns, new to the ranks are lasers and cryogenic weapons (or some combination of the two). Laser guns are split into either a continuous beam, a shotgun-style splitter, or railgun that shoots one at a time with some kick behind each shot. Cryo guns will freeze enemies if they get the chance, shattering creatures if they’re near death.
I spent the majority of the game using just lasers, particularly because they were so damn fun to use. Sure the splitters and railguns act like shotguns or rifles, but I kept hearkening back to the days of old where beam weapons were those one-time power-ups. I nearly went broke buying ammo for it because I couldn’t drop the thing, until I nabbed a better one later on.
Besides the fun though, the "Pre-Sequel" has quite a few flaws, some more baffling than others. The game was developed by 2K Australia this time around instead of Gearbox Studios, and it shows. Citizens on Elpis speak with Australian accents, which is a nice break from the hick-styled voices that populated Pandora in previous games. That said, there are a lot of cultural jokes and references that could be lost on those outside the loop, and while it’s not a huge mark against the game, it is a smidge frustrating sometimes not understanding just what the hell someone is talking about.
While pretty, Elpis is just about the equivalent of Pandora’s deserts – a large map with industrial buildings dropped here and there, with a nest of creatures popping up every once in a while. Not to mention that said map is massive, with areas perfect for vehicles to traverse (a quick aside: I have to applaud 2K Australia and Gearbox on keeping their last-generation word to PC as well — the game ran like butter on my old G74sx ASUS).
The sad part is, vehicle spawn points are spread incredibly far apart from one another, in contrast to number 2 having at least one near a major entrance of an area. This makes walking your main form of movement, and while you’ll likely come across something to kill to keep you entertained, you’ll probably can’t help but think that you could do that in a moon buggy with lasers attached to it.
Then there are the enemies who, for the most part, just feel like reskins of past iterations. The new Scavs act the same as their Bandit counterparts from "Borderlands" one and two, kraggons act like the skags of yore, and the rathyds of today play the same as the rakk of yesterday. There are some big variances between them of course, but I couldn’t shake the feeling of déjà vu each time I fought.
Overall, "Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel," while immensely fun, can’t shake the shadow of its past to come out as something on its own — and I get the feeling that it doesn’t want to. Even with new weapons, abilities and an engaging story, the structure of previous iterations still looms over the works here which makes the game play out like an expansion more than a full release. Hell, the heads-up-displays and menus are exactly the same as "Borderlands 2."
With the inevitable "Borderlands 3" coming in the future, I’m hoping that the series gets a revamp with how it does the shoot and loot, and I say that as a fan. While I’ll still have fun leveling a new set of hunters to their peaks in "The Pre-Sequel," I don’t see myself putting in the same long hours I put into "Borderlands 2."
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is out now for Xbox 360. PlayStation 3, and PC. MSRP: $59.99.
Reach the reporter at Damion.Julien-Rohman@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @legendpenguin
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