Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel (PS3)

When the first Borderlands came out, I had never played a game with a loot system like it.  Then the sequel came out and I loved the series even more than ever.  This game was just as good.

Now I'll preface this by saying, I'm not the best at shooting games.  I am a decent sniper and in all the Borderlands games I have played I typically stick with sniper rifles as my main weapons.  In this game, I decided to be stupid and play only as Claptrap.  Which wasn't a mistake.

In this entry, they introduce the oxygen system (because it takes place on the moon) and lower gravity.  I negated the oxygen thing by playing as Claptrap, who doesn't need air.  It does kind of take a little of the challenge out of the game but not so much because Claptrap is such a terrible character. 

The story is between Borderlands 1 and 2, so if you have played both of those this will seem pretty similar.  It is a good setup to the second game and you see references to both games in it.  All the fan favorite characters are there and there are some good moments throughout.  It isn't as memorable as the second game in terms of events but still a decent story for the series.

There are ton of new guns in this one with a new gun type, Lasers, and a new equipment item, O2 tanks.  Lasers were okay.  I don't recall them being spectacular but the reason behind them not being in Borderlands 2 is pretty funny.  Being Claptrap, I didn't have to deal too much with the O2 tanks.  They do give some decent bonuses and using them for the special ground pound attacks adds just one more tool to the vault hunters arsenal.

My biggest gripe with this game or rather with the series in general, is that some of the challenges are impossible to do solo.  I usually play solo because I screw around too much to keep teammates.  There are times in this game that I have to use really cheesy tactics to get by.  Yes, it was designed as a co-op loot shooter but don't penalize me by making it stupidly hard or have to grind for legendary equipment just to maybe get a chance to win.  Some of the optional missions and bosses are just outright unfair but this is something the whole series does.  At least the main story missions are all doable solo without much cheesing or grinding.

As a whole, I love the Borderlands series.  This was a fun addition and I am definitely looking forward to the third entry.  I didn't play the DLC like I did for 1 and 2 but maybe someday.  It is out on PS4 and PC now under the Handsome Collection, so there is really no reason not to get into the game.  Catch a ride!