Guns, loot, loot and guns. Borderlands is a series of games known for the huge array of different permutations of guns that are available to fine, along with the cartoon style and humour. It is also, one of my favourite game series of all time. I completely adored the first game when it came out in 2009. It was something completely fresh, and merged my two favourite game genres (FPS & RPG) to create a fantastic experience, and even better it was an experience I could enjoy with my friend through online co-op. Borderlands 2 hit the scene and bettered the first in almost every department, and was kept alive long after release with long lasting well written downloadable content – and a lot of it. I had already moved on to the Xbox One when the Pre-Sequel was released, but now, it has now been repackaged along with Borderlands 2 in the Handsome Collection for the new generation of consoles – and what a package it is.
There has been plenty of coverage of the Borderlands series over the years, so this review isn’t going to be an extensive look at each and every aspect of both games and their DLC. While BL2 was released first, it is worth noting that the events of Pre-Sequel happen before BL2 so it is up to you in which order you play. Both games look at Handsome Jack – the villain of the story. In BL2 he is in power of Hyperion and does everything in his power to thwart your progress on Pandora and gain control of a vault key. The Pre-Sequel looks at how Jack gets to the point he is at in BL2, before he was in charge of the Hyperion organisation.
I love how Borderlands is a game that doesn’t take itself seriously. It’s an over the top universe, with over the top characters and weapons to match. And the comedy – especially in BL2 is top notch (again in a stupid OTT way). Pre-Sequel doesn’t quite hit the heights set by its predecessor, which I think might be down to the Australian branch of the developers, there are still funny ‘hit ‘ moments, but there are more ‘miss’ moments than the previous games. Having said that, if it had come as a game without the legacy to live up to, I’m sure it wouldn’t have been so obvious with the moments that fall a bit flat.
Looking at the above paragraph, it might seem as though this is a game that has little substance. It is however a fantastic action RPG, with plenty of depth - from the main story of both titles to the DLC. Interesting side missions keeps the game going for hours and hours without needing to focus on just going through the story of the game. There are collectable audio logs to also give you a bit more background information on characters and areas. The RGP elements also allow you to carefully choose how you want to play the game. There are skill trees for each character, and each character has 3 ‘disciplines’ you can focus on. So with 6 characters for each game there is plenty of replayability. The variance of guns, and options for shields, class and grenade modifications and relics/Oz kits (BL2/BL:PS) keeps the game giving more and allowing for changes with your character often enough to make everything feel new.
Let’s not forget, all of this is also available to play on co-op (even local co-op!!). Now, I’ve been mostly playing single player, and it is fantastic. However Borderlands has always come into its own in co-op. Everything gets cranked up a few notches, be it with 2, 3 or 4 people, with friends or random people. And the loot collection becomes a frantic competition for the best items – which will either to into a friendly trade between party members, or cursing the guy who you were fighting alongside 30 seconds previously because they’ve found an ultra rare sniper rifle that makes your arsenal look like water pistols. It really is great fun.
Of the two games, BL2 is the stronger, however BL:PS is very much worth your time, even if you just want to see what happens to make Jack the man he is. The Pre Sequel does feel like more of the same, but because of the great achievement of Borderlands 2 it really isn’t a bad thing at all. This whole package gets you 2 full games and all of their DLC released to date. It is an incredible amount of content for less money that you’d pay for one game. If you’ve never played these games before, you really must, and even if you have, this is worth picking up to go back to what is genuinely one of the best games ever.
**Thank you to XCN for the opportunity to review this game**