Jeremy Gallen's Game Reviews

The Moon Spinners

The year 2009 saw the release of the Gearbox Software-developed and 2K Games-published Borderlands, which caused quite a stir given its hybrid shooter and RPG mechanics, and its success would lead to its transformation into a franchise that would see several rereleases and remasters, as had been the trend for videogame developers seeking to fill their wallets through nostalgic appeal. Among the later entries of the franchise would be an interquel between the first and second number titles, titled Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!. I’ve played several iterations of the game, first on PlayStation 4, then on Nintendo Switch, and most recently, on Steam, the last version my review covers.

Upon starting a new game, the player can choose among several characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Gameplay largely resembles that from the first chronological Borderlands game, with the player’s character initially able to wield two equippable firearms, although this ultimately expands to four, and the chosen protagonist can also wear a shield, grenade modifier, class modifier, and, given the game’s outer space setting, and oxygen modifier. The Pre-Sequel’s oxygen gauge one could consider the equivalent of classic Western RPG systems such as the food mechanic in the early Ultima titles, and it luckily doesn’t hamper the game.

The chosen protagonist’s oxygen modifier also allows him or her to get a boost in the air and slam below to deal damage to surrounding adversaries, which can really come in handy in oxygenated areas (since using said slam or boosting costs some of their oxygen) against multiple ground foes. Of course, as in the other games, the player can shoot their guns at antagonists to get experience and occasional drops such as new weapons, money, ammunition, and health recovery vials. As in The Pre-Sequel’s brethren, moreover, damage from enemies initially goes to the player’s shield before damaging their health, with death coming whenever HP reaches zero.

Fortunately, like other Borderlands titles, the game is nice to players when they die, allowing them a window of opportunity to kill an enemy near death to revive with some shield capacity and health, and one strategy I really found handy was keeping a bazooka on hand, given their high damage capability, to kill foes more easily when close to demise. Should the gauge that appears during death expire, the player’s character revives at the last checkpoint, with some of their money lost (less than ten percent), a fair penalty, especially compared to the harshness of death in many Japanese RPGs. One character ultimately gets an alternate death mode with a better opportunity to kill foes and revive.

Even the title screen hints at the game's beauty.

As in other entries of the franchise, each character has a unique combat skill that lasts for a minute or two and takes some time to restore, with Wilhelm, for instance, able to summon two drones, one which gradually heals him and the other which attacks the enemy. Leveling fully restores the player’s shields, health, and action command cooldown (although gaining levels happens more slowly compared to many other RPGs), and gives the player a skill point they can invest into one of three skill trees, more powerful skills accessed as they invest points into lower-level skills. Class modifiers can give bonus points to these skills, some actually being fairly useful and critical to completing the game.

Other notable features of the game mechanics include the grinder, where the player can combine three firearms or other equipment (though these have certain limits depending upon the rarity rank) into another of the same type, sometimes with bonuses (and using moonstone, a material also occasionally gained from killing enemies, can increase the chance of a rank up), which definitely helps ease the stress of inventory management, since the number of items the player can carry and store in a facility in Concordia (one of the only towns players encounter in the game) is finite, albeit increasable, along with ammunition capacity.

The mechanics definitely work well, with the difficulty being relatively above average but certainly manageable, especially with the right equipment and abilities, although there are a few occasions, such as one boss towards the end, that drove me to seek help from the internet. Another thing to keep in mind is that certain foes are weak to the different elements that weapons can inflict: shock, freeze, burn, and corrosion. Those unskilled with first-person shooters will also need a steady trigger finger to appreciate the game fully, and there is some repetition should the player die and fail to revive. Despite these issues, the battle system very much serves The Pre-Sequel well.

Control does have its positives, although to a lesser extent. While the boosting and slamming system via the oxygen modifiers can be fun to mess around with, they account for some horrid level design, and while there are in-game maps, The Pre-Sequel doesn’t have separate ones for different floors of areas; a few sidequests, thus, can be hard without a guide. A suspend same would also have been nice, since saving and quitting the game doesn’t preserve the player’s current location. Glitches aplenty also arise occasionally, at least in my experience playing the latest version via my Steam Deck. Juggling inventory space can also be problematic, though players can increase limits on holdable items and storage in Concordia, and players can mess around with the Grinder there, as well. There are a few other bright spots, however, such as the clear direction on how to advance the central plotline and most sidequests, fast travel, and easy menus, though things could have certainly been better.

The narrative, however, very much serves The Pre-Sequel well, although, despite its setting mostly between the first and second numbered titles, some players may be lost in terms of continuity, and a refresher on events from the first game would have been nice. There are plenty of colorful characters, and the sidequests add decently to the plotline, with a few aspects paying homage to the Star Wars franchise. The script is also reasonably mature, and the clear direction mentioned is a definite plus to the story. However, it does feel somewhat forced down the player’s throat, given the unskippable voiced dialogue, but is otherwise good.

Oxygen tends not to be an issue throughout the game.

There are a few good tracks in The Pre-Sequel’s soundtrack, such as the track in the opening level and others that very much fit the game’s lunar setting, not to mention the ending theme, and the sound effects very well aid the outer space atmosphere of the storyline, with breathing and laser effects, among other things. The voice acting is also well above average, with a few characters having Australian dialects, although more memorable music would have definitely been welcome. Regardless, the aurals very much help the game more than hurt.

The same goes for the graphics, with a cel-shaded style similar to other Borderlands entries and character models that are both anatomically-correct and look well-designed. The colors are bright and vibrant, and the environments, except for some occasional dithering and blurry, pixilated textures, are more than believable, very well conveying an outer-space atmosphere. The enemy designs are nice as well, as is the overall art direction, although there’s also some choppiness and dithering at times. However, there is a graphics enhancement patch for the Steam version that really makes the game look like a million bucks. Ultimately, The Pre-Sequel is a definite visual treat.

Finally, one can finish the game in somewhere from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, although there’s plentiful lasting appeal in the different characters, side missions, the Steam achievements, the Badass Rewards gained from achieving certain conditions such as killing a certain number of enemies with specific kinds of firearms, and Vault Hunter mode accessed post-game, although the game’s glitchy nature may deter players from wishing to go through again.

All in all, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! is a solid interquel with many things going for it such as solid shooter-looter mechanics, the entertaining storyline and dialogue, the good voice acting, and pretty visuals. However, it does have issues of which mainstream players need to be aware such as the need for a steady trigger-finger, the frequent glichiness, the general lack of memorable music, and the fact that the story might not seem well-enough connected to the game’s chronological precursor. Regardless, I very much enjoyed what time I spent with the interquel Borderlands game, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, especially to fans of first-person shooters.

This review is based on two playthroughs, one of the digitally-downloaded version through the code included with the Borderlands Legendary Collection first as Wilhelm, and another as the Doppelganger with the Steam version as played on a Steam Deck, mostly on television but sometimes portably.