Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Review - There’s Life in Space
Borderlands has always been a series that’s been noted for its wit, as well as replayability; a franchise that incorporates not only awesome foes, but ridiculous humor as well. But in so many cases, players have dreaded to play sequels and/or pre-sequels in constant fear of it being a let down. Thankfully, Borderlands 2 was a huge success, but what about Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel? It’s pretty good, I reckon.
Although it is easy to consider Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel a merely rehashed version of Borderlands 2, it still introduces new aspects that breath new life into the gameplay experience. In addition, floating through the zero-gravity atmosphere of Elpis brings about a new take on combat and exploration; while the combat has been enhanced, the game’s four player cooperative doesn’t seem to have changed all that much. Still, you could argue: “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it”, but it would’ve been nice to see some additions specific to coop, given how important it is in in the franchise.
The story of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel follows Jack, a once level-headed Hyperion Corporation employee, and his transformation into the ever-reigning Handsome Jack. As its title suggests, this is a pre-sequel, meaning that it starts off directly after the events of Borderlands 2. Vault Hunters Lilith, Brick, and Mordecai capture Athena with the intention of an interrogation, and at this point Athena flashes back to explain Jack’s fall.
Jack essentially steals the spotlight in this game, and that’s clearly the way it was intended by Gearbox. In Borderlands 2, we saw Jack as a sarcastic, sadistic, awe-inspiring, evil villain. But in The Pre-Sequel, we see Jack in a completely different light - a hero. In some instances, you even get to sympathize with him. Although he’s a much different character, he’s still fundamentally the same narcisistic and funny guy. For people like me, who consider Jack to be one of their favorite villains, the story alone in this game is enough to be hooked.
Although Jack’s character delivers the majority of the laughs with his witty dialogue, there isn’t much more than that. The remaining characters deliver, to be brutally honest, what I found to be boring conversation. Since humor is such a huge aspect of Borderlands, this was a disappointment to find out. Players will see a few doppelganger replacements as well: Tiny Tina seems to be replaced by the Janey Springs, and you’ll find out that Kragoons are just a much more annoying version of Skags (if you can believe it).
But looking past all of this, Borderlands still delivers a fun, engaging experience. Although the four player cooperative hasn’t differentiated from the last game, the characters themselves prove to be interesting. Each playable character is unique in their own way, and have a particular skill tree. Not only do these characters look and feel different from one another, but they also feel unique compared to those featured in previous games.
First, let me introduce Athena. Athena’s gladiator badass-ery has not gone unnoticed, and her action skill (Kinetic Aspis) proves to be quite handy. Once her action skill is activated, a shield comes up in her left arm, deflecting any damage that comes her way. The shield is set on a timer, and once it runs out, Athena pulls a Captain America move and tosses it at her enemies, delivering some extra damage. If players unlock a certain skill, once the shield is thrown it will ricochet off numerous enemies until faded away. In a way, she can also be seen as the main character of the game, because it’s her story that’s being told.
Onto Wilhelm the ‘Enforcer’. We first saw Wilhelm in Borderlands 2 at the End of the Line mission, where he’s shown as half Hyperion Engineer, half Loader. In Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, he is all man, and players find out just how he turned into a Loader/Engineer hybrid. Wilhelm is somewhat similar to Axton in Borderlands 2, seeing that he comes equipped with an attack drone. Players can additionally upgrade different skills which add robotic body parts to Wilhelm.
Nisha the Lawbringer was first seen in the sequel as well, and at one point was Handsome Jack’s bae. She had a part in the taking of cities, and has a constant thirst for blood. Nisha has her enemies whipped, and uses one to do so. Her action skill, Showdown, allows players to automatically aim at her enemies and gain multiple weapon buffs in the process. When Nisha’s accuracy is spot on, the screen fades to a Western color scheme.
My personal favorite, though, is easily Claptrap the Fragtrap. Right off the bat, you’ll notice that Claptrap’s point of view is a lot lower than his other companions, for quite obvious reasons. On top of which, Claptrap isn’t human, which means that Claptrap doesn’t need oxygen. This gives players who choose the robot an advantage-seeing that they don’t have to use it sparingly. Probably the most shocking part of this character is that it can go up stairs, climb ladders, jump, and sprint.
Claptrap’s action skill, vaulthunter.exe, is a program that Claptrap initiates which analyzes the current predicament, and decides which vault hunter would be the best fit for the job. Even though this cute character may seem only like a sidekick in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, the truth is that he can dish out quite a bit of damage as well.
