PAX East 2014: A peek at Borderlands The Presequel Gameplay

he play styles of various first-person shooters and the structure they pride themselves around has carried over into an almost kind of credo that dictates the cliques of that follow them. There’s one exception in particular though, that’s revered universally though among a majority of these demographics, and I’m sure you know which one I’m talking about considering the name of this post.

With that in mind, here’s the $60 question that’s rung in my head since Borderlands 2 however, is where does Gearbox go from here? How many fresh territories can they cross with the series while still delivering all established elements that makes it what it is? While Telltale is tasking at the very goal with Tales from The Borderlands, Gearbox is stretching their legs with another shooting entry to the property; a game aimed towards the combination its signature tongue-in-cheek humor and fan service and new gameplay mechanics founded upon this escalation.

Presequel is already primed to impress and a testament to the mileage left in one of this generation’s most innovative franchises.

The title of Presequel is more than just a silly portmanteau of the distinctions, as players will uncover the past of Handsome Jack and his crew immediately after the events of the first game and the circumstances that drove him to the villainy that we encountered in Borderlands 2.

From the demonstration so far, the efforts to establish this story into the cannon have been the best the studio has ever done with the series. The charm of Presequel lies within the irony of it all; they’re approach within a fatigued plot setup that’s guilty of being a shallow avenue to milk popular properties has actually enhanced it. A once simple narrative founded on a heavy of its self-contained nuances has become a plot where players can actually care about the characters they’re controlling instead of settling for these cipher-like drones who only existed as mere tour guides to the cast of characters and world that truly showcase the experience of Borderlands.

One of the, if not the biggest element offered in Presequel is the setting takes place on Pandora’s moon in space; and the dynamics involved with the eccentric choice of real estate shape into arguably being the game’s most prominent asset.

As I sat and glued my eyes to Andrew Goldfarb trekking across the surface of the moon, the landscape drastically changes the dictation behind every action players will take when playing such as the gravity; a greedy player who impulsively jumps at the chance to snatching loot the moment it’s found will immediately understand the disappointing reality of the low gravity atmosphere they’re in on Pandora’s moon as their prizes float off into space with no way to claim them. If players stop and analyze the area prior to looting, a module that creates an energy force-field can be found and activated to artificially recreate Pandora’s atmosphere and gravity, which then ensures that all the goodies can then be grabbed up.

The effect of the gravity also plays a large role in combat, such enemies who are even caught just outside of the normal blast radius for damage from concussive explosives are now vulnerable from any explosions as they can knock hapless scavengers off their fragile footing to the moon’s gravitational polarity—meaning that some mob encounters can now be resolved by sending your enemies drifting into a suspended prison where they can’t fight back. Another factor to expedite combat is simply shooting off the breathing helmets of the scavengers you come across, leaving them to gradually suffer the violent effects of suffocation in environment devoid of oxygen. The newest addition boasted because of the low gravity from the team in their demonstration was the ground pound, a technique where players can press the crouch button during the height of a jump and send them smashing down into the ground. The move itself isn’t exactly crowd-control attack, but it’s vital for surprise attack from above where you can stun enemies in the very least, and especially comes in handy with new ammunition element debuting in Presequel—The Cryogenic element. When firing upon enemies with the ammunition equipped, landing successive shots against most foes will freeze them over into a bad guy popsicle helplessly trapped within their icy confinement, and like the suffocation taking gradual damage for their troubles, or you can always smash them into frozen bits and pieces thanks to ground pound.

Aside from these new elements, combat is essentially the same as it was in all of the others, each character performance centered around the familiar classes of the series as well; the utility of claptrap as a playable character and the specifics of his functionality are still a mystery, but the iconic character did tease an appearance as he came to assist the assault efforts of the crew and zipped around all over the place; his performance in combat unfortunately still didn’t allude any clues of what he play like though.

The Next Generation has already seen its fair share of rereleases and bloated sequels within less than a year’s time so believe me when I say that after leaving the Presequel event and the heavenly chairs we were able to sit in, I’m fully confident that Borderlands will continue it’s Pioneer spirit to amp up the first-person shooter genre for the better.