#Borderlands the pre sequel chapters series#

However, my enjoyment was repeatedly stymied by balancing issues. It didn't take me long to get back into the swing of things, and despite the mostly old annoyances, The Pre-Sequel kept me entranced like the first two games. Other additions like laser and cryo weapons are nice, but hardly revolutionary. However, these gameplay tweaks come at the cost of more mobile enemies (who share all your new moves), and targeting foes floating above you is as obnoxious as it's always been in first-person shooters. The best addition is the buttstomp, which rockets you down on top of foes and unleashes an area-of-effect explosion. The O2 system, which requires players to periodically replenish their air supply, is rarely a hindrance, and adds a welcome layer of control while floating through the air. The low gravity makes bounding across environments and vertical exploration easy and fun.

The biggest gameplay changes revolve (or orbit, as the case may be) around Elpis' atmosphere. The Pre-Sequel offers up some new enemy types, but they rarely require different tactics aside from what elemental gun type to use. Comparing item stats and managing your inventory hasn't gotten any easier, and the quick travel system still requires slogging through long stretches of the environment just to get to the appropriate kiosk. You still spend too much time sifting through junk loot, selling off old and unwanted items, and opening countless crates to restore ammo and pick up paltry amounts of cash. However, while other loot-focused action games have made great strides in streamlining the collection process, Borderlands suffers from the same old inadequacies. You still level up your character with a variety of upgrades and skills while collecting, using, and selling an endless selection of guns and equipment.

On the gameplay side of things, 2K Australia hasn't made too many changes to Borderlands' familiar and addictive gameplay loop.

#Borderlands the pre sequel chapters series#

The texture pop-in is especially atrocious the series always struggled to load in hi-res textures fast enough to keep up with the player, but waiting for blobby characters to slowly come into focus is a shortcoming I'll be happy to bury with my last-gen consoles. Borderlands' signature visual style has lost some of its luster over the years, which is exacerbated by Elipis' bland and monotonous landscape. Unfortunately, other aspects of the game don't fare as well. 2K Australia weaves an entertaining narrative around what players already know of the characters and timelines of the previous games, and even though the writing is still more sophomoric and annoying than it is clever, I enjoyed watching Handsome Jack's flaws bubble up and learning more about the manic and humorous universe. The Pre-Sequel takes place before Borderlands 2, and details Handsome Jack's transformation from being a pretentious but well-meaning hero to one gaming's most delightfully detestable villains. Despite featuring four new playable characters and a few novel features here and there, The Pre-Sequel feels like more of the same, which is both good and bad for fans of the series. In the meantime, 2K Australia has stepped in to keep the money train rolling with Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a humorous detour that takes players to Pandora's moon, Elpis. Last generation, Borderlands became Gearbox's prized series, and the developer has been vocal about not tackling Borderlands 3 until it has enough new ideas to do the game justice.