The brand new first-person shooter is a lot of fun when playing as Claptrap

Aug 14, 2014 16:00 GMT  ·  By

Borderlands 1 and 2 delivered some truly impressive first-person shooter experiences, managing to combine the genre's mechanics almost flawlessly with those of role-playing dungeon crawlers.

Gearbox Software proved that it could deliver some stellar titles but now it's handed the keys to the franchise to 2K Australia, the 2K-owned studio that helped Irrational Games on all the BioShock titles in recent years.

The new result is Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, a brand new experience that slots in between Borderlands 1 and 2, chronicling the rise to power of sequel protagonist Handsome Jack, while filling in the gaps since the conclusion of the very first game in the series.

Bringing forth a new suite of protagonists, a fresh location, as well as a huge amount of new weapons and adventures, The Pre-Sequel definitely looks like another stellar entry into the series.

At Gamescom 2014, 2K Games, 2K Australia, and Gearbox brought forth fresh playable versions of the new game, allowing media representatives to take them all for a spin and see how they handle on the moon setting against the brand-new gangs of enemies.

I managed to get my hands on Claptrap, the lovable robot that guides you through Borderlands 1 and 2. This time, while still keeping his comic relief status, he is a playable character and can drastically alter the traditional gameplay of a Borderlands title.

His action skill is called VaultHunter.exe and, according to the game, it's sort of like an early beta malware program that infects Claptrap and causes all sorts of wacky situations. Activating it improves or worsens the abilities of the small robot. One mode causes him to grow pirate ship canons on his head and just blast everyone in sight. Another one results in a disco ball popping up that starts shooting lasers in all directions.

Depending on how you spend your skill points, some situations get more chances of happening. While some modes are certainly more preferable than others, keen players will be able to make due with whatever the random system gives them.

Playing as Claptrap is a lot of fun and teaming up with others only augments the whole experience. Special skill categories even provide squad-wide buffs if teammates perform a high five with Claptrap. If he's left hanging, then Claptrap will be the only one getting bonuses. His whole skill tree is filled with all sorts of great abilities and comical stuff but this doesn't mean that he isn't as deadly as the other characters – Wilhelm, Athena, and Nisha.

Overall, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is looking set to be another great iteration in the series. While certainly Claptrap proves to be the most amusing character, the other ones are still quite great at killing moon bandits and the new weapons, abilities, and gameplay mechanics augment the whole thing.