#1

For some strange reason, Steam will not let me review this game - it says it has not been released yet. Weird. Anyway, since I don't want to have to type all this out again when I finally CAN review it, I thought I may as well sling it up here so I can copy-paste it in at a later date.

Borderlands: The pre-sequel review

This is an extremely difficult review to write, because I am very conflicted over this game. On the one side, it's a *fairly* solid FPS shooter with loot in abundance, some good humour and great co-op gaming. One that I am sure you will enjoy playing with a few friends. On the other hand, it feels like an expensive Borderlands 2 DLC and a blatant cash grab (they will be bringing out MORE DLC for this one too, if you are so inclined).

All the little annoyances and bugs from number 2 got carried over, without so much as a look at getting them fixed or changed. I have already experienced sound randomly disappearing for no reason, only to come back after I die (a bug that plagued the previous game as well). Then there is the horrendous amount of back tracking through the same old levels - surely they could just add more fast travel locations to the game? How about some form of teleport device - since we seem to be able to constantly cheat death and respawn nearby anyway? I have also had an NPC glitch on the tutorial mission, making it impossible to finish without exiting the game and coming back in. The menus are still horrendous to navigate - a remnant of it being a console port, no doubt.

The gameplay is EXACTLY the same as Borderlands 2. The only new mechanic is the low gravity / O2 thing - which, is really just a gimmick and does nothing to improve the game IMO. All it seems to do is make for bunny-hopping gun-fights. The humour and general feel of Borderlands 2 is here - so it is really just more of the same. This however, is its biggest problem. It brings nothing new to the table and looks and feels like you are playing Borderlands 2. The classes are also not that interesting. Claptrap is a completely useless character in single or co-op, Wilhelm is basically Axton from the previous game and the last two characters are nothing special either.

So, to summarise, it's an overpriced cash-grab by lazy developers. If you can see past this and enjoyed Borderlands 2 then that will be of no consequence what-so-ever and you can ignore this review. If you, like me, expected more, then you have come to the wrong place and should wait for Borderlands 3 instead.

Jimbo Rating: 5/10 (if you wanted more from the new Borderlands game than a copy-paste clone - "Not Recommended")
Jimbo Rating: 7/10 (if you wanted more Borderlands 2 and have cash to throw at the lazy devs - "Recommended")

#2

Harsh but true

#3

It is a bit harsh, but I have to admit to wanting (and expecting) a little more. I think I will skip single player and just play co-op with you guys, as that is much more entertaining IMO.

#4

It’s a shame you are not won over by this one chaps. I am still liking it but that is probably because I did play all off the BL2 DLC and enjoyed them and also it is sooooooooooo much better on pc than X-box. It is a joy to actually be able to snipe things properly!

One thing that really is getting on my tits is the Australian accents. I know that it is an Australian made game but the Australian accent with the incessant upwards inflection at the end of every god dam sentence is driving me nuts. Also the Alex Springs character is just a pain in the ass.

#5

As I said, I will still play it co-op with you guys, but I have zero interest in playing single player with this one. Co-op seems to make most games much more fun - and this game is born to be played co-op. It's not a BAD game, but it could have been so much more and I feel like I had hit my limit with tolerance of BL2... this is just BL2 with low gravity.

Boring fetch-this quests, never ending running through areas and backtracking, terrible UI, bugs galore.... I could forgive that in BL2, but 2 years later, to bring out this "expansion pack" and try palming it off as a separate game without addressing any of its predecessors issues is just a bit much.

It IS just a cash grab. The fact that there is a season pass for this game literally makes me sick. Still, this is Gearbox afterall - who gave us Duke Nukem Forever and Colonial Marines. I just thank god I didn't pay £35 for this game. If it had a £15 price tag, it may be forgivable.

P.S. PC's rule! I dread to think how awful this game would be to play on a bloody Xbox!

Last edited 21 Oct 2014 at 08:52.