Recent reviews by Astro

After playing around 45 hours or so into this game so far, and at least 2000+ in the previous instalments of the game (Cross platform, only 75 on steam but plenty more on PS3 and XBOX), I can say that I am fairly into the Borderlands franchise. I love their games and have played an unhealthy amount, probably too much. In this review I’ll cover the game so far, first play through and second will come as I play more, and I'll do it in depth. Currently I have played two of the 4 characters from the base game, they are WIlhelm the Enforcer and Fragtrap the Claptrap. At the very bottom of the review I will have a summary and quick review for those who only want that.


From the minimal amount of time I have clocked into this game, I have loved the minimal changes made to the game. For sure, like many others have said, this game does feel like a huge DLC to the previous games. Now for me, that's all I personally wanted, and if you look at it like that then i really feel like the game has succeeded. On the contrary, many people were expecting more from the Australian part of 2K, and feel as if there is too little in the game. From personal experience with the franchise, it feels that it is similar to base game of the previous games except from end game. Now to talk a little more in depth.

*Possible spoilers in this section*

For all of you who don't know, the game is set between the first game and the second. The protagonist is Handsome Jack, and he is directing you to ultimately regain control of Helios (The Hyperion base near Elpis from the second game) after it is taken by the Dahl Lost Legion force, led by the commander, Colonel Zarpedon.

The story progression is fairly quick, and the character development of Jack is well done. I personally felt him getting more power hungry toward the later stages of the game. I have yet to find all of the echo's in the game, so I haven't personally found all backstories but from what I have found it is of high quality. The main story is definitely interesting to play through and I feel as if it is the main gem of this game.

I haven't yet played through all the side quests but from what I have played, I feel as if the story of these isn't quite a strong but is still enjoyable and relaxing to play through.


New gameplay elements: The game takes elements from the last two games and combines both into a enjoyable experience. Obviously, because the game is set upon Elpis, the low gravity element of the game makes navigation very enjoyable and fun to experiment with. Furthermore, the low gravity also hugely changes combat and flow of the game, there is a now a vertical plane to take into consideration when fighting your way through a base of enemies. The movement is fairly smooth but, as many others have said, there can occasionally be an invisible wall in the way of something you would expect to get too. These little bugs will obviously be ironed out in the future game cycle.

Another important element that has been implemented into the game is obviously the Oxygen. This, if anything, is what turns people away from the game as they worry it will become difficult to manage. After a lot of time of testing this mechanic, I can confirm that this mechanic is easy manageable and isn't difficult to cope with. All oxygen does is make sure you can boost yourself over them gaps you need to cross. If you oxygen levels drop, you will slowly loose health, but its near impossible to die from this, and the screen will start 'blackening at the edges', Now this can get irritating but helps you to get to the plentiful oxygen 'bubbles' in the ground or to somewhere with an atmosphere. I personally love this element as it changes a lot and gives the player something extra to think about.

Combat: The combat in this game definitely feels a lot like combat did in the second game of the franchise but like previously stated, takes from the first game too. For a start, critical damage in this game is quite substantial and really does what you expect a critical should do. In the first play through of the game, very little enemies early on are elemental so there is little 'resists' to be worrying about. Saying that, elemental weapons early on aren’t quite as common.

With the new addition of the Cryo element, the player is able to freeze the enemy in place for a set amount of time, leaving them vulnerable to more damage and are also immobile. This is a huge part of combat in the later stages of the game and in the second play though as immobilising a stronger foe can really assist in killing them, before they get you. Obviously, the enemies are able to use this element against the player too, the effect leaves the player also vulnerable and instead of immobilizing them, slows them. This can get fairly irritating at times but that’s how it works.

My favourite addition of this new game is the 'slamming' ability. This is when the user can boost up or jump off a high point and then 'buttslam' down causing a set amount of damage based on the users 'Oz Kit'. Furthermore, this can also produce an elemental effect also depending on the users 'Oz Kit'. This makes combat very enjoyable and adds a twist to the usual combat we have seen in the previous games.

Overall combat is very fluent and can be both an ease at times but at other times challenging. The scaling of levels we will talk about later.

Levelling: Levelling in this game is much alike to the others but definately feels alot quicker. In this game you can burn through the first few levels very quickly, and getting your action skill at level 3 as per 5 is great. This game chucks you in combat almost instantly which is a huge plus as it makes the game drag less and brings a faster start to the story. I feel that side quests aren't as important in this game as you can get from the first main quest in the game to the end doing very little side quests.

Enemies can be either very easy or very hard depending on how you have decided to approach the main quest line and at times can be aggrivating when you are blitzing through an area killing enemies in secounds. Although this is fun, at times I like a challenge, and this game is yet to comoletely challenge me. At the higher levels it is clear that the higher bad-ass spawn becomes a bit of a burden but really makes the game a little more enjoyable to level through.

*More potential spoilers*

Vehicals: The vehicals in this game are similar to the previous games but are far more enjoayble and alot more tanky. They can seem like glass cannons at times but output great damage at little effort.

The first vehical is a moon buggy (go figure) that can be equipted with either a laser turret that is accurate and fast firing or a homing missle set that is deadly from close and long ranges. This vehical can have 2 people inside it, one driving and the second in the turret meaning only 2 of these can be on the map at any one time. Personally the latter is my prefered choice when i want to shoot down some enemy vehicals. Some of the jumps in this vehical seems a little to close everytime. That can get a slight bit annoying when you have to perfectly line up your vehical and boost at the exact second to get over a little bit of lava.

The second and final vehical, you get fairly early on is a qaud rotor hovering vehical named a stingray. This vehical is a single seated vehical and is definately more enjoyable to take out on the surface of Elpis. The stingray come equipt with a boost much like the player has. This enables the player to boost upward meaning they can clear jumps alot easier than in the other vehical. Furthermore this vehical can 'slam' like the player.

Enemies:

:D

I shot a midget with an oversized right arm. 11/10.