Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel E3 Previews
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We have rounded up a good number of hands-on previews for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, courtesy of the game's E3 showing.
PC Gamer:
The short demo consisted of a huge open area on the surface of the moon. I played through it twice, and while I went through the same battles, enemies, and key locations, each playthrough felt different enough because I took a different approach.
When I first went through a complex overflowing with soldiers mounted on aliens, I thinned their ranks from afar before I felt it was safe to move in and finish them off. That's how I usually play Borderlands. With a little patience, I was also able to shoot their helmets off and watch them die as they ran out of air, another cool detail that makes the new setting matter.
The second time through, I approached the scenario with guns blazing and jumped from spot to spot, holding down the fire button throughout and stomping when appropriate. I felt like my experience with arena shooters such as Unreal Tournament, Quake III, and even Titanfall was useful here. It made Borderlands more twitchy and airborne than ever, and I liked that. The faster, freeform movement meshes nicely with a game that consists almost entirely of putting bullets into things while side-strafing, giving you a whole new axis to dodge incoming fire.
Venturing across the lunar surface to the AI's resting place in a crashed ship highlighted how fun the new low-gravity mechanic the moon's smaller size resulted in. I could jump much higher and further than in any previous Borderlands game. The level design rewarded exploration of my new jump abilities by providing hidden loot and sniping perches at high, out-of-the-way locations. Jump pads created an even larger focus on vertical movement by boosting me even further and even higher.
On descent, I could perform a downward slam--affectionately referred to by 2K Australia as a butt stomp--to inflict area-of-effect damage on any enemy around my point of impact. Combined with the moon's low gravity, this was a useful new mechanic; the Borderlands games often swarm you with enemies in close range, and The Pre-Sequel is the first game in the series to give some measure of crowd-control ability--through this jump and butt stomp--to every playable character from the outset. The new Kraggon enemy--a kind of ice-covered moon skag--was a prime example of this. Killing one caused it to split into two smaller Kraggons, who themselves divided again--like a series of Russian nesting dolls with sharp teeth. One of Athena's skills enhanced this slam by creating a small black hole that drew enemies closer for more damage--creating, in genuine Borderlands style, a butt singularity. Verticality didn't provide invincibility, however, as enemies with jetpacks existed to ensure threats can still come from above.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel introduces a new element, cryo, and a new weapon type with lasers. Apparently these only exist on the moon because we didn't see them in Borderlands 2, but boy, are they fun to play with. Cryo in particular will freeze enemies, allowing you to shatter them with either a melee attack or further gunfire. In crazy firefights, this can make all the difference between life and death, and save you and your partners from becoming too overwhelmed as you freeze them in place. It will be interesting to see how level and progression play into what the cryo element is able to do or not do, but for now I'm happy with the awesome new ability that will add further strategies to my Borderlands expertise.
Each of the characters' new special abilities felt unique from the vault hunters' abilities in previous games. Athena wielded a shield that she could use to defend herself or throw in the style of one Mr. Captain America. Wilhelm summoned two drones to help fight and guard for him, and seemed to be a cross between the standard turret based special ability and the mechromancer's special ability of summoning a floating robot. Both of these abilities can be upgraded and altered with the expansive skill trees that the Borderlands games are known for.
Oxygen isn't a complete pain during play, at least not in this demo. There were atmosphere creating waypoints during the mission that let me fire up an oxygenated zone. Helpful. Enemies need oxygen too, so popping their helmets is a good way to do a good bit of damage during combat.
Now, those oxygen kits also create jump packs. Once in the air after a low gravity jump, you can extend your already epic reach by blasting some oxygen. While you're enjoying the view from above, press the crouch button and you'll slam down on enemies below.
Traversal and gun battles, while physically made of the same stuff, feel different now thanks to low gravity and the oxygen system. Firefights go vertical more often than not, and when enemies get to jumping around, everything goes a little bonkers.
Our hands-on mission sees us aiding a scruffy cockney kid called Pickles, a little urchin who tasks us with turning on some valves to activate a jet of methane gas in order to freeze and cross a lake of lava. Packs of Kraggons, lunatics and scavs lay in wait, however, looking to make our lives exceedingly difficult. Piling all of our skill points into Wilhelm's Cyber Commando skill tree, we augment the capabilities of his remote drones, Wolf and Saint. Wolf is an attack drone that goes on the offensive, filling enemies full of holes, while Saint fulfils a support role, hanging back to replenish your shields. Obviously, ploughing skill points into Wilhelm's Hunter-Killer and Dreadnought trees bring other interesting benefits, bolting other robotic parts onto his person.
Traversing the moon's surface, we start by experimenting with reduced gravity, while managing our oxygen levels. Oxygen is of course what keeps you alive and breathing on the lunar surface, but it also fuels your jetpack, so keeping an eye on your O2 levels soon becomes an ongoing concern. Thankfully, regenerating oxygen is simply a case of hitting a switch on a console at certain points, which throws up an airtight dome, enabling you to breathe without using up your dwindling O2 reserves. Once your oxygen begins to drop, you'll get a vocal warning telling you as much, so we found that dying due to being starved of air ought to be a rare occurrence. Still, it's something else to be aware of, alongside your health and shields.
There is a new type of ammo in The Pre-Sequel, Cryo ammo, and it does what you would imagine it does. It freezes enemies into a gigantic sheet of ice, causing them to shatter with the next bullet or melee attack they incur. As a nice touch, the names of enemies change as you freeze them, changing from (bandit) to (snowball) or (icicle.) I'd like to see this same touch applied for other means of elemental damage, like calling enemies that are on fire (matchsticks) or something.
There is a new type of gun. sort of. It's more of a new type of ammo: lasers. You'll find a lot of different types of lasers in the game, from constant beam style lasers, to pulse lasers like a gun from Star Wars, to shotgun lasers, sniper lasers, and all manner of other lasers. Lasers do a bunch of damage and basically give your guns a different feel. In the demo we played the operated by normal ammo rules, but we were told that all the laser mechanics aren't final yet. It would be cool if they just recharged, rather than operating off normal ammo.
Most of the combat saw us floating in mid-air, taking out enemies before our space boots even touched the ground.
Complementing this new jetpack, 2K Australia has introduced a technique called butt-stomping. After doing a double-jump, you can quickly tap the B button (Xbox 360) to slam your backside down on the ground, stunning enemies and dealing damage to anyone who is in butt-stomping radius.
This really comes in handy when you're surrounded by enemy forces in close-range combat, especially for a new enemy type known as Kraggon. These ice-covered alligators split into two when first defeated.
The character I played as was Athena, a shield-bearing maiden with, consistent to Borderlands design, three available skill trees. Her unique active skill involved using her shield to absorb gunfire directed at her, finishing with a shield throw that deals damage based on the damage absorbed. Fellow PSU writer Will Robinson also played as Athena, but chose the tree Xiphos, which has an ability that applies a damage-over-time bleed effect through melee attacks--except this bleed effect also heals you. I, on the other hand, picked the tree Phalanx, which focused on having your shield (Aspis) out as much as possible. Certain tiers in this tree allowed you to regenerate health, do extra damage with melee attacks, absorb elemental damage before throwing it back, taunt enemies into attacking you (increasing your gun damage per aggressor), and more. This breadth of character diversity and RPG customization is astonishing--and that's only character, and only two of her three skill trees.
Of course this new Borderlands has a host of new and outrageous weapons, but that's not really the draw this time around. It's the low gravity of the moon that makes this Borderlands trek stand out from all previous entries. With the low gravity, your character can leap quite high and quite far, giving you the option to shoot at enemies from above instead of taking cover. You can also perform a slam upon landing, which will knock down any enemies within the vicinity if your cataclysmic stomp doesn't kill them outright.
As fun as playing this new Borderlands was, you can't help but feel that it's just more Borderlands that happens to be on the moon instead of a truly unique title. If you love Borderlands and can't wait to play more, then this will be a good thing for you. If you're looking for a little bit more, this one won't really have it, unless the idea of performing moon jumps is enough to get your heart rate going.
During my first game I played as Athena, a gladiator who carries a shield as her special move. She will whip it out and soak up damage and the more you do, the more damage you'll dish out when you throw your shield like a certain Marvel supersoldier. It's a pretty great special, and the shield lets you soak up a ton of damage, which is good when you rush in charging like some unnamed authors do, getting killed and constantly forcing your companion to revive you. Those horrible people.
The other character that was playable was Wilhelm the Enforcer, who deploys two drones as his special move, Wolf and Saint. Saint stays close to him and replenishes his health, and has a shield. Wolf runs out to lay fire on enemies and is much more aggressive. It's a nice balance that lets you hang back and let them do some of the work, and cleverly advancing the skill tree to make sure that both can help you out seems key.
The new characters do offer a nice little change-up in playstyle but otherwise, this is exactly Borderlands. It's got you running around completing tasks, hitting switches and unlocking new locations all in the interests of killing more bandits. Besides a huge boss creature that popped out of a lake of lava that we had frozen over there were no real surprises- it's still got the humor and guns that we all know any love, just with much less gravity than before. Sadly they didn't have a playable build with the other two characters that will be included in the full game, Nisha and a militarized Claptrap. That little robot will be a clear favorite when the title hits.
The oxygen mechanic was overwhelming and worrying at first, and something that I felt could potentially ruin the carefree blasting that has made Borderlands so popular. After a few minutes, however, I'd become accustomed to it and was dashing in and out of oxygen bubbles with ease.
With that said, it's still a mechanic that'll have to walk a fine line between being a clever thing to consider and an annoyance in the final release - and I look forward to seeing how that pans out in the final release.
For those more interested in the loot aspect of the series, there's a few new things there, too, including some new types of equipment and most notably two new types of weapons. The first, lasers, set enemies ablaze and streak across the environment satisfyingly, but didn't feel that different to the regular guns to me. Better were the ice-based weapons, which can freeze an enemy solid for you to shatter with a melee attack, ground pound, or simply a hail of bullets. Those felt good. Each weapon manufacturer has its own set of ice and laser mechanics, adding to even more variety. New enemies to blast are mingled with some semi-familiar Borderlands fodder - adjusted to be lunar-friendly, of course.
Borderlands has built a reputation around its strong co-operative play. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel looks to continue this trend. Even when demoing the game as press, Gearbox insisted we played with a partner. While the idea is solid, my partner spent most of their time aimlessly wandering, falling into the abyss, and getting into battles without me. Unfortunately, pairing us up did not rekindle the love of Borderlands co-op, it simply made for frustration.
While Borderlands can't help a player who can't read a map, they can craft a solid shooting experience and that's exactly what the people at 2K Australia have done. The shooting in the Pre-Sequel is as good - if not potentially better - than its predecessors. Snapping between looking through your sights and simply trying to lay down cover fire feels great. Which is important because the combat comes fast and furious. After hopping across a chasm I was attacked by Moon monsters, four-legged beasts which charge you with reckless abandon. When with me, my co-op companion used their cryogun - a weapon-type new to this entry - to stop these charging beasts dead in their tracks. Meanwhile, I shattered the frozen monstrosities with a blast from my shotgun.
While the new moon setting and characters in the game are pretty cool, these are the only real things that have changed since the last release in the series. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel doesn't look like it will do much to draw in a new audience that haven't already enjoyed playing through the first two releases in the series, but those games were two of the most popular releases for the entire last generation of games, so maybe they didn't need to change much. Looting guns, leveling through skill trees and performing very basic tasks as missions seem to still be the primary focus of gameplay in Borderlands: The Pre Sequel. The demo mission had us head to a nearby location to release a few valves to set off a methane gas leak that would freeze a pool of lava and allow an NPC to cross unharmed, and that's definitely not the most exciting mission we've seen in the series. Head to the moon in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel this Fall.
