14 DAY TRIAL // 
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel can deliver great moments of first-person shooter action, especially if the player is controlling Claptrap the Fragtrap and uses his randomly-generated special abilities, while also deploying the new weapons and the jump attack introduced in the new title.
But it’s pretty clear that Gearbox is mainly focused on other projects and core developer 2K Australia has a little too much respect for the core elements of the franchise and only delivers new content on the margins of its core features.
The new Borderlands has plenty to offer to long-term fans of the franchise, but it’s probably best to give newcomers a run through the second game in the franchise before asking them to buy this installment.
Story
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a game which occupies the space between the two main titles launched in the franchise so far, with one Vault open and a number of hunters now ready to head to the moon of the planet in search for more.
Jack, the villain of the second title, is the low level Hyperion employee who is hiring the player to try and find a new cache of riches, and the events of the game are designed to slowly transform him into the character that fans already know.
The new characters are Athena, a gladiator, Nisha, focused on guns, Wilhelm, who is handy when it comes to robots, and fan favorite Claptrap.
Each of them is interesting to use in combat and has cool ways of interacting with the world and with Jack himself, with a lot of dialogue to get through and some comical moments that match those of the first two titles in the series.
A majority of the fans will probably go with Claptrap for their first playthrough of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, and the choice is entirely correct as the robot does have a pretty impressive selection of potential skills and does talk with the other characters in very interesting ways.
The core story, as with the other titles in the franchise, does not have too much depth and the side quests are often even more disappointing, but the biggest problem is that the developers have not managed to find the right tone for most of the dialogue and the humor is subdued.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel offers a good expansion to the universe, but it lacks a huge hook for long-term fans, other than the presence of the playable character Claptrap.
Gameplay
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a first-person shooter that has all the core mechanics of the series and makes some innovations, although most of them feel like evolutions rather than revolutions.
The lack of gravity changes how characters move around, and the lack of oxygen means that gamers will need to pay attention to their levels at all times and make sure that they find a vent to resupply or take out enough enemies to get access to their resources.
There is enough change introduced to make fans feel like they are discovering a new game, but also enough familiarity to make it easy to adapt, and when it comes to weaponry, The Pre-Sequel introduces two new types: lasers and cryo.
Neither of them is transformative but they are cool to use, with freezing best used to control mobs of enemies while finding out which one needs to be taken out first, while the lasers can be used to deliver pinpoint shots that mess with the oxygen of enemies.
The combat is up to the quality that Borderlands has delivered before as a series, with gamers required to pay attention to the enemies they are facing and the weapons they have in their inventory, and use the right tool for the job.
There’s a lot of loot to go through in The Pre-Sequel, but it feels like the number of actually useful guns and O2 kits is lower than in the other two titles, and I found myself sticking with some particularly powerful weapons for extended periods of time.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel also uses the new environment and the oxygen mini-game to make movement more important and the environments engaging to explore.
Basically, players can jump and then use their limited reserves in order to increase their height or to simply change direction, finding new areas that they can explore, often filled with a wide variety of rewards ranging from lore to new weapons.
The slam that can deliver a large area of effect attack on the way down is also classic Borderlands, a little funny, a little irreverent while also mechanically solid, and I used it often.
The biggest problem with the shooting is that the bosses tend to be high-level spikes when compared to the zones around them and there’s often a feeling that you need to go back and farm for a better shield or weapon before taking them out.
There are also some glitches, with character and enemies moving through the scenery and some moments when environmental effects seem to have no impact on the combat.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a good shooter most of the time
Graphics and audio
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel manages to keep the overall style of the series intact while making the moon of Elpis a character in itself, bathed most of the time in weird light and filled with a range of well-designed enemies and weapons.
The development team understands how to use color and visual cues in order to make it easy for gamers to see where they need to move and what their overall objective is, and there are plenty of moments when I wished for a mode that would simply allow me to fly over all the environments in order to just take photos.
Sometimes, the cell shaded style makes it a little hard to see details and movement clearly, but it’s at the moment so linked to the series that it would be impossible to drop by any studio.
The PC version of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel has great textures and smooth animations, although early on, some gamers might find it hard to get accustomed to the way the characters move across the moon areas, while the Helios areas sometimes feel a little limited in scope.
The voice work and the soundtrack are fine, although the predominance of Australian accents can get a little tiring at times.
Multiplayer
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a game which is best played with friends, both because of the way the four characters interact with each other and increase the effectiveness of their skills in a firefight and because of the way a good team can get across the levels without getting bored.
The game includes quite a bit of backtracking and on foot movement, which can be boring, with minutes where there’s nothing to shoot at or loot, and in these situations, companionship is great.
At the same time, there are some boss battles that seem to be designed for at least two-player teams and might be frustrating when tackled solo.
The Good
- Combat mechanics
- Claptrap as a playable character
The Bad
- Limited story appeal
- Plenty of useless loot
Conclusion
Nonetheless, this is not the video game to buy for a gamer who is interested in seeing what the series can offer without having had any contact with it before, because it simply does not have any big innovative feature to stand out.
The shooting is fun, the low gravity and oxygen ideas are nice, the story still does not impress in many ways, but overall the experience is engaging and a good way to get the adrenaline flowing.
It’s unclear whether Gearbox is working on Borderlands 3 at the moment or whether the company is focused on creating an entirely new franchise, but The Pre-Sequel shows that the universe it has created can still offer solid experiences even if it can no longer surprise.
