Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Reviews
Though low gravity makes combat more interesting, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's missions and story feel like straight-up filler. This Pre-Sequel is strictly for devoted Vault Hunters.
The essential gameplay can be reduced to a series of shoot-'em-up fetch quests through hazardous landscapes, but even veterans will have to adapt their FPS techniques to make it through.
While I admit I had many reservations about Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, I'm very, very pleased with the end result. While there are still some glitches — we had a boss get stuck in the open, unmoving and invulnerable to attack, and some odd interactions with plot NPCs holding quest items out into walls and Fast Travel stations, for instance — it's well-polished, and the errors don't crop up enough to really be a bother.
For the most part, though, crazy-fun skill trees, generous loot, solid gameplay and excellent graphics on previous-gen consoles make the game quite entertaining. If you thoroughly enjoyed Borderlands 2 and it left you clamoring for more, you'll want to give Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel a shot, jack.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a solid addition to the Borderlands franchise that brings refreshing gameplay and new characters to the table. While not reinventing the wheel, it still manages to keep you entertained for hours on end—an experience that is all the more enjoyable when played in co-op mode.
So what kind of a game is the Pre-Sequel then? If you said 'more Borderlands', you wouldn't be far off. But it is a Borderlands game that feels revitalised thanks to the new gameplay mechanics, enemies, humour and weapons. It plays out like a massive expansion pack, one filled to the brim with more secrets, ideas and a familiar gear-grind for better loot. And more Borderlands is actually a fun idea after all.
The more we played The Pre-Sequel, the more dubious we became as to whether it warranted a standalone release. Oxygen consumption and verticality were the only fresh elements in the level designs. The new weapons classes—cryo and laser weapons—felt like additions to our arsenal that we could take or leave. The writing was full of references to the previous two games.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel leaves us wanting, due to its overt familiarity. It's a decent game overall, but fails in its attempt at being something great.
Borderlands the Pre-Sequel is everything you should expect from a Borderlands game. While the gameplay additions mix it up slightly, it often feels like a huge expansion rather than a stand-alone release. The quality is fantastic, the comedy is hilarious. There's more loot than you can wave a Dahl shotgun at, plus all the pulse-pounding bullet-spewing carnage you could hope for, but 2K Australia pulls back at the precipice of brilliance.
Worth playing for Borderlands fans and newbies alike.
Though opinions varied, we all agreed that while this is a good Borderlands game, it lacks the polish and innovation to stand on its own legs. While it probably should've been DLC, it's still more Borderlands fun for anyone starving for more Vault hunting action.
A trip to the moon offers some decent new ideas, but also is clearly a stop-gap release.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a funny cartoon shooter that compels you to keep playing and score more guns. Just like the last two. Laser weapons and moon bouncing add a little extra flavor, but if you don't like Borderlands by now, this won't change things.
In many ways, the pre-sequel feels like a pleasant place-holder.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel refreshes gameplay through some new mechanics and a whole new story, including a cast of familiar characters and brand new characters, while diving into the events that lead up to Borderlands 2. Fans of the series can look forward to plenty of new content and locations to explore, all while acquiring plenty of guns and equipment throughout, including a new weapon type and new equipment type. The game can feel focused on multiplayer at times, however the game is still a fun and enjoyable experience regardless, and will definitely give people the best bang for their buck, especially those who wish to know more about the Borderlands universe.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a great addition to the series but it does feels more like a very big DLC game because it doesn’t bring in anything substantially new. Where it does pay off however is the humour in the writing and the story arc for the main antagonist – it is amazingly fleshed out to where you see this interesting character transition throughout the course of the game. But in the end there’s loads of content packed in and you’ll have a lot of fun smashing your way through the missions while we all wait for the next act in the Borderlands series to make an appearance.
More of the same? Probably but Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is still a rollicking good time of murder, loot and moon-hopping.
Ultimately, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel stands as a last hurrah for Gearbox's RPG shooter in the form that we currently know it. With improvements that feel more incremental than innovative, 2K Australia have stepped up and provided a solid and long-lasting if technically safe entry in the Borderlands series and yet, it's one which stands out almost singularly on the merit of it's breathlessly entertaining cast and rowdy narrative.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a worthwhile entry in the series that will provide more of what fans expect while fleshing out some of the narrative gaps between the first two titles. And while the addition of low gravity and a few new guns might not change things forever, their presence is far from a hindrance and fits into the Borderlands formula fine, although unremarkably.