Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!

So I think at this point most people who are looking into buying this game knows what the Borderlands games are, so I'm not going to explain all the little details about the game as a whole if you are looking to get into the Borderlands game series I'd say start with Borderlands 2 or 3 but if you are already a fan of the games and are wondering if this one is worth it then I think I can help with that!

Starting off with the story, while the Borderlands games aren't really known for good writing I think Pre-Sequel can stand on its own pretty well and does get a few laughs out of me every now and again but it's not a cinematic masterpiece by any means. It's great to hear more from Jack as Dameon Clarke did a great job voicing him, as he did in 2, and the banter from the vault hunters and other NPCs' is fairly charming and quite funny at times, The motive and descent into madness are fine but not overly focused on with is a bit of a shame as the whole point of this game is to be a Pre-Sequel to Borderlands 2, with Jacks descent into insanity feeling somewhat forced at times, but overall I can still say I somewhat like the story, though I guess as long as it's somewhat amusing I don't really mind the holes in it.

The gameplay is fairly good, Heck I even think it's a step above 2 at times! The Vault Hunters have more to their skill trees and more interesting abilities to boot with the DLC Characters in mind you have a diverse cast of characters to choose from, Athena the Gladiator a tanky and melee focused Character, Nisha the Lawbringer a high damage gunslinger, Wilhelm the Enforcer an allrounder Summoner type, and...Fragtrap, And the two DLC Characters are, Jack the Doppelganger a different flavor of Summoner that's made to look and sound like Jack And Aurelia the Baroness a cold-hearted hunter that does high damage at far ranges, with an ensemble like this it makes replaying the game a lot of fun and its even more fun with friends. The quest design however can be a bit lacking as most side quests lack diversity and while the main quests are fun the bosses leave something to be desired. The biggest disappointment was with legendary weapons, legendary weapons make up a huge part of what makes the Borderlands games so fun, and in this game, there is just a lack of spawn locations which makes the whole game feel a bit hollow as instead of killing a boss and getting some sweet loot you mostly just get Moonstone and some nothing weapons. The late game as a whole is lacking for the former reason and there's just not any real endgame content outside of New Game Plus which I'm not counting here while it's a big part of the Borderlands games it would be nice to have something else to do post ending besides killing one raid boss and finishing up all the side quests you missed.

The Graphics are pretty good, and a lot of the areas are well-lit with funky colors which makes them pop out more, everything has that signature cell-shaded look which helps it still look good 9 years later, and the general art direction is fairly decent, the weapons look great, even though the iron sights suck, the environment is often times gorgeous with some of my favorite areas being the nice reds and light blues of the early game, the fake industrial lighting of the Hyperion space station and the deep purple of the later game areas, really I think they knocked it out of the park on the visual design!

The music is kind of forgettable...that is all, hell as I was writing this I had to go back and write that the music exists I guess, nothing groundbreaking.

And Finally the DLC, ill keep it short. I've already talked about the DLC characters and I do really like them, it is just the other three that I think are...subpar. I won't add to the negative reviews on The Holodome Onslaught as I think it's fineish just a waste of money to buy it really as it doesn't add much and the 10 extra levels are incidental at best, I haven't and won't get the Shock Drop Slaughter Pit...I just won't. Finally, the Claptastic Voyage is fine, not great, and not terrible, if you can get it on sale then I'd say do so as the environments are still really cool, the ending is cathartic and the glitched weapons are pretty neat but that's about it really as the story is pretty bland overall the Claptrap is well... Claptrap so I guess buy at your own risk.

My closing thoughts even though my review isn't the most positive in the world is still one of my favorites Borderlands games as I think what it brings to the table is fairly unique looking at the franchise as a whole however I do understand why some people do not like or even hate this game as its nothing outstanding and it came after that titan that is Borderlands 2. Overall I can recommend this game but if you are still a bit iffy about it then I'd say if you want to play it wait on a sale first and get some friends together, just make sure to bully whoever plays Claptrap.

Borderlands: The Pre Sequel tells the story of what happened between the two previous Borderlands installments (thus both "pre" and "sequel" i guess :)), but this isn't a game you really play for the story. Don't get me wrong, it's filled to the brim with hilarious moments, but after every quick laugh you'll be focusing on two things: shooting and looting. And this does a pretty good at both of them - Shooting is simplistic but fun and there are about a gazillion different guns, shields etc in this game thanks to random generation and mutliple different stats. Mind you it all get's a bit grindy though.

The game is set in space this time and this means you'll spend about half your time in low gravity environments. This is a double edged sword, as it adds the immensely fun "gravity slam" mechanic (which i will really miss in the next Borderlands game if they don't include it), but also makes the game feel a bit more sad and lonely than Borderlands 2.

Fans of the previous two games should definitely pick this up to see how jack and the other vault hunters come to be who they are and - of course - for the mindless fun that is the Borderlands shoot & loot formula :). New players should also join in in said mindless fun, but i'd suggest playing through Borderlands 2 first - you'll enjoy The Pre Sequel a bit more this way.

With the first 2 Borderlands games, I was impressed mostly with the narrative/comedy. With this installment of the franchise, the biggest winning factor for me was the gameplay rather than its narrative. First off; lemme just say playing as Clap-trap was a flippin blast! With his added remarks to the campaign, I think it made this game much more humorous than say you just had Athena commenting about stuff. Another piece of the plot I enjoyed was seeing Handsome Jack again as I thought Borderlands 2 was the last I seen of him. Now regarding the gameplay; really just all around awesome. Of course the low gravity is what makes this game so great. Able to jump over areas, move around more quickly, and even getting a new vehicle called the Stingray makes travel so much fun and fast as you can jump over literal mountains if you get the speed/jump/angle right. I also loved the cryogenic weapons so much better than the slag weapons, so I'm glad they were switched out in this installment.

I loved the setting on being on Pandora's moon Elpis. Don't get me wrong; Pandora is great, but we already have 2 games plus the DLCs that are set on that planet. Being on the moon with low gravity was refreshing, and makes me excited to check out its DLC and the sequel (also Tales from the Borderlands too)

Regarding its dlc, it was awesome! Inside the mind of Claptrap, we get quite a trip of a game, with a really annoying song that stayed stuck inside my head days after beating this. If you like Borderlands, I'd say this is a must-play dlc that gives quite the twist in who Claptrap actually is. Recommended.

This game is a lot of fun and really retains the Borderlands atmostphere. Its two flaws were simply that it followed the very sucessful Borderlands 2 (can't really blame it) which set wildly high (dare i say unrealistic) expectations and the second flaw being it did not really fix any of the few problems of Borderlands 2 gameplay (which Borderlands 3 really did and did a good job of fixing too). I have completed 2 seperate playthroughs of this game and have completed every installment of the Borderlands franchise up to this point (2020). I would gladly play this game again. I would say the dlc locations/missions are very low in quantity. Though i would agrue that the Claptastic Voyage dlc is very good. This game does a great job of what it set out to do which was give you 4 (later 6) vault hunters with their own playstyle and stories and really show the story of Jack's path to who he became in BL2 while staying true to the characters' (already know) origins and futures. A lot was asked of this game and honestly it delivered ecspecially in (dare i say the most critical area which is that of) Handsome's Jack development. This game did backtrack in way of quanity, quality, and some degree of uniqueness as well in the arena of legendary weapons. As with any Borderlands game, its a good game playing by yourself and its fantastic to play with friends. Good luck Vault Hunters.

Borderlands has always had this problem. The planning behind various quest locations is extremely inconvenient for players, with the enemy respawn system it is quite an uncomfortable adventure. Developers, please, either make locations of one quest stay on the same map or disable the enemy respawn system.

In comparison to the second game the gameplay offers better gunplay that reduces the bullet-sponge experience with better abilities and weapons. As for the story, it is much simpler but offers less content quantity. Apart from Jack's backstory the game isn't memorable for anything else.