Scrolled across the front of every one of Marcus’ weapon vendor machines in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is the phrase “Guns – In Space!” These are words that speak volumes. For as much fun as the title pokes at today’s overabundance of sequels crowding the gaming landscape, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel very much feels like it falls under the “not really necessary” category, as it adds little to the gun-collecting, RPG-lite, colorful, nihilistically humorous world that Gearbox created with Borderlands 1 and 2. It’s fun, it’s brash, it’ll be like crack for loot hunters. And no one but the Borderlands faithful need to play it. Those that put time into the first two games will also notice one huge difference — the absence of gravity or oxygen. In the vacuum of space, your jumps now send you climbing to spectacular heights, and you suffer little to no falling damage on the way down. If you slam down the B button (O on PS3), you will perform a ground pound attack that pulverizes your enemies and adds a new dynamic to melee combat. Borderlands 1 and 2 were pretty dry and one-dimensional in the movement department, but navigating Elpis in Pre-Sequel is much more dynamic and three-dimensional. While the limited oxygen tanks made things more tense during firefights as I dashed from cover to grab refills, the flow of exploration was broken when I had to divert course to go grab more air, and became an outright annoyance after hours of play. The story, meant to bridge the gap between Borderlands 1 and 2, tells the tale of how Handsome Jack came to be such a bad guy. It’s definitely better written and thought out than the previous stories. Given how threadbare the narrative has always been in this series, it would be a stretch to say that very many are going to be rushing to buy this game because they want to hear more story. You are here to shoot and loot, and the game does this just as well as the first two while adding some spice. It helps that there are tons of appearances from existing characters such as Mad Moxxi, Crazy Earl, and Roland. Even though their parts are minimal, it was entertaining to see them operating outside of their roles and making references to previous games that series faithfuls will certainly understand and get a kick out of. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
