There are a number of shout-outs to other works of fiction, including Star Wars and Pokémon. There are no Internet memes, except for one easily missed reference to an old Destructoid mantra that 99.9% of players will gloss over without a second thought. There are a few laugh-out-loud moments, and overall the writing is smart and snappy. She is immediately endearing, and has some of the best lines in the game. Springs is one of many denizens of Elpis, most of whom are the Australians to Pandora’s Americans. At about 25 hours to get through the campaign once, The Pre-Sequel runs shorter than Borderlands 2, but provides a good amount of entertainment. I would have really appreciated a slightly different or expanded ending for those who make it all the way through twice, and the narrative would have allowed for it, but that is not the case. It is a small thing, but it is a welcome touch. There is additional dialogue to go with it, so players have more incentive to go through the higher level content. For the first time, there is a believable narrative explanation for the second playthrough, True Vault Hunter Mode. There is one extra thing regarding the story that more serious players will appreciate. Sometimes it is difficult to tell which is which. Upon further reflection, I realize that while it caused me to see a character in a different light than I previously had, it perfectly encapsulates a major theme in the series. The bad guys are at least a little bit good and the good guys are at least a little bit bad. I felt betrayed, and I felt like it would not have and should not have happened like it did. Without spoiling too much, the ending upset me initially. Speaking strictly about combat, this is the most fun the series has ever been, and it owes most of that to the low gravity and corresponding abilities. It all happens quickly, and it is incredibly satisfying. Most battles I get into are frenetic affairs, where I summon Wolf and Saint, double jump toward an enemy, slam to stun him, fire two shots into his face, mentally change targets, and double jump toward that one while reloading. Weapons with long or frequent reloads like Jakobs shotguns or Scav ( The Pre-Sequel‘s version of Bandit) rocket launchers can now be used more frequently, with firing punctuated by crowd-controlling slams.įor instance, my Enforcer currently wields a Jakobs Quad - a shotgun with huge damage, high ammunition expenditure, and frequent reloads. This opens up the viability of a lot of weapons that were previously too cumbersome to use regularly. The slam damages nearby enemies, typically with an elemental effect, but one of the key features of it is that it does not interrupt other abilities like activating an Action Skill or reloading. One area in particular (Stanton’s Liver) has everything going against it: unmemorable environmental art design, no Fast Travel, no vending machines, and several optional missions pointing toward it. On top of that, not every area has vending machines near the entrance, which makes dumping junk loot a bit of a pain when visiting the offending locales. Some of the smaller areas have no Fast Travel station, an annoyance compounded by side missions that require returning multiple times. Specifically, there is a gap early on that can only be jumped in a vehicle, but even with four wheels and a rocket booster, I found myself falling into the lava chasm beneath the ruined bridge about half the time. There are natural progression blockers that are not completely functional once the requirement has been met. Expansive areas meant to be traversed in a moon buggy lack vehicle stations at every entrance, sometimes causing the player to have to trek on foot when backtracking or if the rover is destroyed. Other small oversights pop up in the level design here and there.
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