Live Magazine September 2014 Volume 9/2014 | Page 50

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BORDERLANDS: THE PRE-SEQUEL
All the frantic fun of the Borderlands
universe will be shot straight to the
moon in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel as a crazy cast of characters
(including everyone’s favourite Claptrap) unite to kill things and get loot.
The Borderlands franchise has made
a name for itself as a role-playing
shooter, with twisted humour and
stylistic design. Borderlands: The
Pre-Sequel is almost a home-grown
effort as its being developed by 2K
Australia, with just a little help from
the developers of Borderlands and
Borderlands 2, Gearbox Software.

rowing from their both previous titles, from writing, to aesthetics, to
the characters themselves. For the
eagle eyed Borderlands enthusiast,
they might have already spotted that
all the playable characters in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, are NPC’s
who have appeared in the franchise
in one way or another. It also sees
the return of former, or more accurately future antagonist, Handsome
Jack, as he attempts to capture the
Hyperion Moonbase with the aid of
his henchmen, the game’s four main
characters, Athena, Wilhelm, Nisha,
and Claptrap.

The game is set on the moon, telling
the tale of the moon and Hyperion
moon base that players could wistfully gaze up into in previous Borderlands games. By setting it here, the
developers are hoping to satisfy the
player’s desire to go where no Vault

Gearbox CEO, Randy Pitchford, has
stated that Handsome Jack’s inclusion would show how some acts ‘can
be morally ambiguous’, with people
doing ‘bad things for possibly the
right reasons’. As a pre-sequel, it
will take the player from Handsome

and the Mechromancer.
Other additions to the game, such
as new gameplay and weapons
mechanics, are being implemented,
such as the ability to use ice weapons, an elemental effect which was
previously not used in the franchise.
As an extension of the influence of
the Australian developer, there will
be a healthy dose of Australian humour and culture injected into the
final product, with cricket themed
side missions, references to Mad
Max and the inhabitants of the
moon essentially just being Australians themselves.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel aims
to mix up some of the old with a lot
of the new, and provide a perfect
tie in to both the first and second
games while being able to stand

“AS AN EXTENSION OF THE INFLUENCE OF THE AUSTRALIAN DEVELOPER,
THERE WILL BE A HEALTHY DOSE OF AUSTRALIAN HUMOUR..”
Hunter has gone before, by setting it
before the events of Borderlands 2,
and allowing the events and action
to ramp up to a point before where
Borderlands 2 kicks off.
Despite being the ‘pre-sequel’, the
game looks to be injecting new life
into the franchise, while also bor-

Jack’s original morally good intentions to morally ruined individual he
becomes by the beginning the Borderlands 2.
The playable characters come with
new classes and a range of skills
that are hopefully in the same realm
of cool and zany as the Gunzerker

alone as a fully fledged Borderlands game in its own right. With a
release date set for later this year,
expect lasers and loot to be flying at
you very soon.

Written by Miranda Nelson

www.stickytriggerentertainment.com