With the recent release of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, I thought I would do a review of the entire series thus far. Starting with the first installment simply entitled Borderlands.
Borderlands
Borderlands is an action, role-play first person shooter with a very high regard for loot, often reffered to as a "shoot and loot" game. Developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K games, Borderlands was originally released October 29, 2009. It was, and as a series still is, geared toward online multiplayer for 2-4 players, but is still fun for solo play. Unfortunately the first game in the series is only playable as a single player game now, the servers that the game used for multiplayer have been shut down.
The basic plot of the game is you are one of four selectable vault hunters on a mission to locate and open a vault that is promised to have untold riches inside. The mission takes place on an alien planet called Pandora, and it is full of all kinds of creatures and bandits that you can unload millions of rounds into. As briefly noted above there are four different vault hunters you get to choose from, each with his/her own special abilities and weapon preferences. As you level up your character you can spend points on a skill tree to improve your character in various ways.
-First is Roland the soldier. His weapon preferences are rifles and shotguns, though he is proficient in all weaponry. His action skill deploys a Scorpio Turret that tracks and fires on all enemy targets within range. It also deploys an energy barrier you can take cover behind. Upgrading the Scorpio Turret provides offensive or defensive improvements, such as healing any players nearby.
-Second is Lilith the Siren. She is one of six women in existance born with mystical powers, recognized by various tattoos on their body. Lilith favors weapons with elemental properties (fire, acid, electrical and explosive). Her action skill uses her Siren powers to "Phasewalk," an ability that allows her to temporarily enter another dimension, turning her invisible to enemies and invulnerable to attack. It also increases her speed and phasing in and out creates a shockwave that damages nearby enemies.
-Next is Mordecai the Hunter. This is the character I used for my first play through of the game. I think I chose him ‘cause he reminds me of Roland Deschain in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. His weapons of choice are sniper rifles to dispatch his enemies from afar, and revolvers for up close combat. Mordecai's action skill is his pet falcon Bloodwing, which can be dispatched to attack his enemies from a distance, and after upgrading, she can attack multiple enemies and cause them to drop larger amounts of items.
-And last but not least is Brick the Berzerker, the largest of the four original vault hunters. He is a tank-style character with very strong melee attacks. Brick prefers explosive weapons and rocket launchers. His action skill is the ability to go "Berzerk." He loses the ability to fire any weapons, but his melee power vastly increases as he uses both fists to punch his enemies to death. During this time he also rapidly regenerates health.
Unfortunately there really isn't much to the story itself, at least if there is it didn't leave a big impression. Even so I really enjoy playing the game and plan on playing through it again in the near future. After doing countless quests for the people of Pandora, the vault hunters finally get the key to the vault, find it and open it. What is in the vault? Unbridled wealth? Riches beyond measure? Nope. Instead it is home to a giant alien monster that the vault hunters have to fight to the death. It was a fairly cool creature and a tough battle, satisfying overall.
There were four downloadable add-ons called:
-"The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned" which is pretty self-explanatory.
-"Madd Moxxi's Underdome Riot" which is an arena.
-"The Secret Armory of General Knox" which introduces Athena who becomes a playable character in the newest game in the series.
-"Claptraps New Robot Revolution" also self-explanatory.
Overall Borderlands is a great game that is a lot of fun to play and has a high replay value.
I rate it a 7/10.
Borderlands 2
Borderlands 2 was also developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games and was released on September 18, 2012. Like the first installment, Borderlands 2 is a "shoot and loot" game with a series of central quests and numerous side quests. Once again you must choose one of four (or six if you download the two additional characters) vault hunters and take them to a new vault.
However you are not the only one looking for it, Handsome Jack is venturing for it as well and he is a piece of work. Handsome Jack is, in my opinion, one of the best video game villains ever created.
The first character you can choose to be is Axton the Commando. Much like Roland in the first game, Axton's Action Skill deploys an automated Sabre Turret that fires on any enemies within its range. After a few upgrades he is allowed to deploy two turrets at once and can even stick them to walls and ceilings.
The second vault hunter is Maya the Siren. This is the character I chose for my first play through because of her healing abilities. She is also beneficial for herelemental effects and crowd control. Her action skill is Phaselock, which will suspend and immobilize enemies.
The next vault hunter is a short little Mexican named Salvador the Gunzerker. Salvador resembles Brick from the first game as far as abilities are concerned, but instead of powerful melee attacks Salvador's action skill allows him to dual wield any two firearms. Upgrading his skill can allow him to throw multiple grenades at once, regenerate massive ammounts of ammunition and health, or attract enemies with a double middle-finger taunt.
The last vault hunter is a Zero the Assassin whose origins, species and gender are completely unknown. Zero's skills are based on sniping and using a sword for melee attacks. His action skill creates a decoy and turns Zero invisible so he can sneak past or attack enemies. 
That completes the list of playable chatacters that are included with the game. The next two can be downlaoded as add on content. The first downloadable character (and my favorite) is Gaige the Mechromancer. Mechromancer? What's that? Well Gaige's action skill is to summon a hulking, floating machine called "Deathtrap" to attack her enemies. The story begins with the vault hunters answering a call from Handsome Jack to find the vault. Unfortunately it's a trap and Handsome Jack attempts to kill all the vault hunters by blowing up the train they are riding.
From that point on he constantly tries to take you out, and in turn the vault hunters try to take him out. You aren't alone though, the original vault hunters from the first game help you out periodically throughout the game. And there are a couple of twists involving certain deaths that really keep you on your toes.
Handsome Jack is a very twisted individual, but damn he is funny. This game is definately good for many laughs. Naturally Handsome Jack gets to the vault first and opens it when you arrive unleashing another giant alien creature that you have to kill. Once you kill it you get to kill Jack. In addition to the two extra characters, and countless character skins, there are also four downloadable add on campaigns.
The first one was "Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate's Booty" which, like it sounds, puts you on a treasure hunting quest.
Next was "Mr. Torgues Campaign of Carnage." The objective here was to get sponsored in an arena tournament, and of course enter the arena and leave a champion.
The third add on was "Sir Hammerlocks Big Game Hunt." It is what it sounds like, basically a safari.
And last but definately not least was "Tiny Tina's Assault On Dragon Keep." This one is the best by far. much longer and more content than the rest. The story for this add on revolves around the vault hunters from the first game and Tiny Tina playing Bunkers and Badasses, a table top paper and dice game parody to Dungeons and Dragons. The player is dropped into the Bunkers and Badass world, Tiny Tina, as the game master, narrates the story and modifies it as she sees fit. The world is fantasy themed with dragons, skeletons, orcs and giant spiders.
The graphics, sound and gameplay are very similar to the first game with some improvements. The humor and story are fantastic, keeping me interested enough to play through the game several times on different difficulty levels.
Very high replay value. I rate this one a 9/10.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is the same type of "shoot and loot" game as its predecessors. The game was developed by 2K Australia with assistance from Gearbox Software and published by 2K games.
And let me just go on record saying nothing good ever came from Australia, aside from Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman. Thanks to the backwater Australian developing team we get to listen to Australian accents and slang throught the game, and in my professional opinion it is annoying.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was released October 14, 2014. The story for this installment takes place both before and after the events of Borderlands 2, hence the goofy title. When the game opens up we see the remaining vault hunters from the first Borderlands game have captured Athena, previousy introduced in the add on content entitled "The Secret Armory of General Knox" for the first game, for helping Handsome Jack rise to his riegn of terror. During the interrogation Athena tells the story of her escapades with other vault hunters, it is that story that players go through and takes place before the second game.
The location for this story is on Pandora's moon Elpis and Hyperions satelite base Helios. So as a change to gameplay there's minimal to zero gravity and no atmosphere without artificial atmosphere generators. They also introduce laser weaponry, which became my preference. 
Once again you start the game with four vault hunters to choose from.
The first vault hunter, naturally, is Athena the Gladiator. This is the character I played the game through with. Athena is a rogue assassin that uses a sword for her melee attack and he action skill is a shield, called "Aspis", that absorbs damage and can be thrown at enemies. (way to go Australia, can we say Captain America?)
The second vault hunter is Nisha the Lawbringer, who made her debut in Borderlands 2 as the unnamed sheriff of Lynchwood. Her action skill is called "Showdown" and it increases gun damage and speed.
The next vault hunter is Claptrap the Fragtrap. Leave it to Australia to make the most annoying character in the game a playable character. His action skill "VaultHunter.exe" generates random effects depending on the current situation that can have possitive or negative effects on the players. In other words it's totally random and may be more of a pain in the neck than anything.
The final choice at the start of the game is a mercenary named Wilhelm the Enforcer. Wilhelm made his first appearance in Borderlands 2 as the second major boss. By that time, though, he is more robot than man as he has an addiction to cybernetic upgrades. As the game progresses you see this transition take place. His action skill allows him to summon a pair of drones named "Wolf and Saint", Wolf is an offensive drone that attacks enemies while Saint defends Wilhelm by providing shields and health regeneration.
There is another character add on you can downlaod and play as, and that is Jack the Doppelganger. His real name is Timothy but he was surgically modified into a body double of Handsome Jack. His action skill, "Expendable Assets," summons several digital copies of himself to fight for him, much like what the real Handsome Jack does in Borderlands 2.
I just read a rumor that another character download is planned for a playable vault hunter named Aurelia. I have yet to confirm this.
There is one other add on available at this time entitled "The Holodrome Onslaught" that features another arena type mission and raises the level cap to 60. To be honest after reading nothing but bad things about thier planned DLC (Download Content) I personally have no plans of downloading any more for this game. Graphically this installment falls a little short of the second game and there are alot of animation glitches. The sound also has its glitches and the constant use of the Australian accent is nausiating. Overall the game was fun, albeit annoying at times, but still a decent addition to the series. I just hope future games are left to the original creaters and not in the hands of Australians.
With a moderate replay value I rate this one a 6/10.
With a moderate replay value I rate this one a 6/10.
N64
