The year 2009 saw the release of 2K Games and Gearbox Software’s Borderlands, which received critical acclaim for its hybrid first-person shooter/RPG gameplay, ultimately leading towards a Game of the Year Edition. Three years later came the game’s first sequel, Borderlands 2, which itself would receive a GOTY version, in keeping in tune with major well-received video game releases, alongside a port two years afterward to the PlayStation Vita, and other platforms such as the Nintendo Switch. The game itself provides an experience on par with its predecessor.
The action-based first-person shooter/RPG gameplay of the first Borderlands sequel largely resembles that of its predecessor, with the player able to wield a variety of weapons that consume different types of ammunition, the player able to restock their supply at vending machines if they have the money, and able to equip a shield that takes damage until it runs out of energy and the player’s character’s health receives damage instead. Fortunately, if the player’s character runs out of health, they have the opportunity for a few seconds to score a kill, in which case the player’s character revives with partial health and shield energy.
If the player does die, however, they revive at the last checkpoint at the cost of less than a tenth of their current money with damaged foes restored to total health, a generous price to pay for death compared to other RPGs such as the Dragon Quest games that take half the player’s money, and other Japanese RPGs that take the player back to the title screen or forces them to sit through all the unskippable company screens over and over. There isn’t much to complain about except the frequency of death and skewed difficulty curve, but otherwise, the gameplay helps the sequel.
Control, however, is more of mixed quality. While the central and side mission objectives are clear, getting lost is no problem, and helpful maps can prevent players from becoming lost, there are some hiccups with the Steam version that include the game not loading correctly, the lack of a suspend save, and the potential inventory space problems (though players can expend Eridium to expand the maximum number of items they can carry in Sanctuary). Ultimately, the developers could have spent extra effort to make the sequel more user-friendly.
Theodore Roosevelt revived as a cyborg
The writing in Borderlands 2 is generally solid, with the player controlling one of many different Vault Hunters on the planet Pandora, the original game’s setting, alongside the always-clear storyline objectives, despite some minor grammatical errors and the narrative feeling forced down the player’s throat, given the unskippable text.
As seems to be the case with most Western RPGs, the soundtrack leaves something to desire, being barely noticeable throughout the game, but some good tracks are present, and the voicework and sound effects are above average for the genre.
Borderlands 2 utilizes a cel-shaded visual style like its predecessor that looks pleasant for the most part despite some bland textures and dithering of scenery that tends to occur immediately after the player loads their game or revives at a checkpoint.
Finally, the sequel will last players a while, its main storyline taking around forty-eight hours to complete. However, the endless array of sidequests and achievements can boost playing time beyond that amount.
Overall, Borderlands 2 is a solid sequel that hits most of the right notes. The looter/shooter gameplay is just as enjoyable as it was in its predecessor, the narrative is superb, the visuals are beautiful, and plenty of lasting appeal exists. However, it leaves room for improvement regarding its control (notably the absence of a suspend save) and unmemorable soundtrack. Regardless, those who enjoyed the original game will likely enjoy its first sequel, and I would gladly continue to play new installments of this franchise.
This review is based on multiple playthroughs of different console versions, most recently the Steam version as Zer0.
The Czech Republic (uncommonly called Czechia) is a relatively young country in Europe, half of the peaceful dissolution of Czechoslovakia in 1993, and, surprisingly, a marginal contributor to the world’s videogame industry culminating in the annual Czech Game of the Year Awards. One Czech developer most gamers are very likely unfamiliar with is the two-person Attu Games, whose first title was the puzzle platformer Toby: The Secret of the Mine. Their second game was the Castlevania: Symphony of the Night-inspired Feudal Alloy, which is surprisingly good for an RPG developed by only two people.
Feudal Alloy follows the journey of a robot named after the game’s developer, Attu, who searches throughout an interconnected world for ten medals owned by the antediluvian robots at the retirement facility where he works. The plot isn’t elaborate and doesn’t receive a conclusion until the player finishes the game, with the locket collection subquest a surefire missed opportunity for further narrative development. While the game’s unique robotic medieval setting shows promise, it goes unfulfilled, seeming an afterthought, perhaps a drawback of the minimalist development team.
Fortunately, the gameplay serves Feudal Alloy well, the player outfitting Attu with stat-increasing robot parts and a sword, only initially able to execute a forward or upward slash with his weapon. However, the player ultimately receives new abilities that allow him to perform actions such as a dash that can send him safely to the back side of an enemy, shoot electromagnetic pulses in different directions (necessary to down some barriers), and so forth. Attu has two primary stats: oil, serving as his life, and temperature, which dictates how many times he can attack without overheating and being temporarily unable to act.
Attu can gather parts from defeated enemies for money to purchase bombs necessary to break some barriers and make certain foes vulnerable to standard attacks, oil vials to restore his health, coolant to allow him temporary infinite use of commands, and equipment. He can also acquire experience for sporadic leveling, where the player can purchase abilities from one of three skill trees allowing increased attack power, heightened defense, or an improved cooling system, the last tree having a magnetic ability letting the robot collect parts from downed enemies.
One quirk of Feudal Alloy is that there are only two genuine boss fights throughout the game. However, several points abound necessary to advance where Attu must battle enemies that spawn from retracting chambers for several rounds. The game is friendly to players when they die, with Attu respawning at the last save point with no experience or money lost. These account for a satisfying battle system, with only minor shortcomings like Attu's inability to slash his sword when kneeling (although he does get the ability to release an electromagnetic pulse in said position).
The game looks gorgeous in motion.
Control is smooth, with players in each subsection acquiring maps showing Attu’s current location, and while the game has an inventory limit, I never reached it in my playthrough. As in the RPG Castlevanias, skills can assist exploration of the massive, interconnected world, with some barriers, for example, downed by electromagnetic pulses. Granted, one can get lost in the gameplay zones, and a minimap would have been welcome since the in-game maps aren’t detailed. Other absent quality-of-life features include a suspend save and sortable items. Glitches in the Steam version with the rumble feature exist also, and the game could have interacted better with players.
The music is one of the much better efforts for a Western RPG, unsurprising given Europe was home to many an excellent classical composer. The soundtrack includes riveting Celtic medieval tracks that rarely give way to silent moments, but more variety would have been welcome. The sound effects are believable, and Feudal Alloy’s aurals well accompany the gameplay experience.
The hand-drawn visuals are also pleasing, looking much better in motion than YouTube videos would have one believe, with new equipment, for instance, affecting Attu’s looks, alongside a nice variety of enemy robot designs. While some foes look similar, they aren’t mere palette swaps, the framerate additionally staying consistent, with little to no slowdown or choppiness. There are some oddities, including the instant disappearance of uncollectible monster parts at times, but otherwise, Feudal Alloy is a visual treat.
Finally, akin to other Metroidvanias, the game is generally short, from eight to sixteen hours, depending upon whether the player wishes to unlock all achievements. However, there isn’t much lasting appeal afterward, and finding every elusive treasure chest to achieve all can be frustrating, given the lack of in-game tracking on how many unopened are in each area.
Overall, Feudal Alloy, considering its development by only two people, is surprisingly good, given its great Metroidvania gameplay, the fitting soundtrack, and the fluid visual style. Granted, those unfamiliar with its subgenre might find it easy to get lost in the large, interconnected world, the narrative is lackluster, and there aren’t nearly enough reasons to play on well after completing the game and most achievements. However, fans of the niche videogame genre will likely find plenty to celebrate in what this reviewer considers one of the first good releases in 2019.
This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the reviewer's Steam Deck to the canon conclusion, with all but one achievement earned.
Score Breakdown
The Good
The Bad
Great Metroidvania mechanics.
Pleasing soundtrack.
Nice visual style.
Can be easy to get lost.
Paper-thin plot.
Little lasting appeal.
The Bottom Line
Not a masterpiece, but still decent for a game developed by two people.
The year 2009 saw the release of the Gearbox Software-developed and 2K Games-published Borderlands, which caused quite a stir given its hybrid shooter and RPG mechanics, and its success would lead to its transformation into a franchise that would see several rereleases and remasters, as had been the trend for videogame developers seeking to fill their wallets through nostalgic appeal. Among the later entries of the franchise would be an interquel between the first and second number titles, titled Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!. I’ve played several iterations of the game, first on PlayStation 4, then on Nintendo Switch, and most recently, on Steam, the last version my review covers.
Upon starting a new game, the player can choose among several characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Gameplay largely resembles that from the first chronological Borderlands game, with the player’s character initially able to wield two equippable firearms, although this ultimately expands to four, and the chosen protagonist can also wear a shield, grenade modifier, class modifier, and, given the game’s outer space setting, and oxygen modifier. The Pre-Sequel’s oxygen gauge one could consider the equivalent of classic Western RPG systems such as the food mechanic in the early Ultima titles, and it luckily doesn’t hamper the game.
The chosen protagonist’s oxygen modifier also allows him or her to get a boost in the air and slam below to deal damage to surrounding adversaries, which can really come in handy in oxygenated areas (since using said slam or boosting costs some of their oxygen) against multiple ground foes. Of course, as in the other games, the player can shoot their guns at antagonists to get experience and occasional drops such as new weapons, money, ammunition, and health recovery vials. As in The Pre-Sequel’s brethren, moreover, damage from enemies initially goes to the player’s shield before damaging their health, with death coming whenever HP reaches zero.
Fortunately, like other Borderlands titles, the game is nice to players when they die, allowing them a window of opportunity to kill an enemy near death to revive with some shield capacity and health, and one strategy I really found handy was keeping a bazooka on hand, given their high damage capability, to kill foes more easily when close to demise. Should the gauge that appears during death expire, the player’s character revives at the last checkpoint, with some of their money lost (less than ten percent), a fair penalty, especially compared to the harshness of death in many Japanese RPGs. One character ultimately gets an alternate death mode with a better opportunity to kill foes and revive.
Even the title screen hints at the game's beauty.
As in other entries of the franchise, each character has a unique combat skill that lasts for a minute or two and takes some time to restore, with Wilhelm, for instance, able to summon two drones, one which gradually heals him and the other which attacks the enemy. Leveling fully restores the player’s shields, health, and action command cooldown (although gaining levels happens more slowly compared to many other RPGs), and gives the player a skill point they can invest into one of three skill trees, more powerful skills accessed as they invest points into lower-level skills. Class modifiers can give bonus points to these skills, some actually being fairly useful and critical to completing the game.
Other notable features of the game mechanics include the grinder, where the player can combine three firearms or other equipment (though these have certain limits depending upon the rarity rank) into another of the same type, sometimes with bonuses (and using moonstone, a material also occasionally gained from killing enemies, can increase the chance of a rank up), which definitely helps ease the stress of inventory management, since the number of items the player can carry and store in a facility in Concordia (one of the only towns players encounter in the game) is finite, albeit increasable, along with ammunition capacity.
The mechanics definitely work well, with the difficulty being relatively above average but certainly manageable, especially with the right equipment and abilities, although there are a few occasions, such as one boss towards the end, that drove me to seek help from the internet. Another thing to keep in mind is that certain foes are weak to the different elements that weapons can inflict: shock, freeze, burn, and corrosion. Those unskilled with first-person shooters will also need a steady trigger finger to appreciate the game fully, and there is some repetition should the player die and fail to revive. Despite these issues, the battle system very much serves The Pre-Sequel well.
Control does have its positives, although to a lesser extent. While the boosting and slamming system via the oxygen modifiers can be fun to mess around with, they account for some horrid level design, and while there are in-game maps, The Pre-Sequel doesn’t have separate ones for different floors of areas; a few sidequests, thus, can be hard without a guide. A suspend same would also have been nice, since saving and quitting the game doesn’t preserve the player’s current location. Glitches aplenty also arise occasionally, at least in my experience playing the latest version via my Steam Deck. Juggling inventory space can also be problematic, though players can increase limits on holdable items and storage in Concordia, and players can mess around with the Grinder there, as well. There are a few other bright spots, however, such as the clear direction on how to advance the central plotline and most sidequests, fast travel, and easy menus, though things could have certainly been better.
The narrative, however, very much serves The Pre-Sequel well, although, despite its setting mostly between the first and second numbered titles, some players may be lost in terms of continuity, and a refresher on events from the first game would have been nice. There are plenty of colorful characters, and the sidequests add decently to the plotline, with a few aspects paying homage to the Star Wars franchise. The script is also reasonably mature, and the clear direction mentioned is a definite plus to the story. However, it does feel somewhat forced down the player’s throat, given the unskippable voiced dialogue, but is otherwise good.
Oxygen tends not to be an issue throughout the game.
There are a few good tracks in The Pre-Sequel’s soundtrack, such as the track in the opening level and others that very much fit the game’s lunar setting, not to mention the ending theme, and the sound effects very well aid the outer space atmosphere of the storyline, with breathing and laser effects, among other things. The voice acting is also well above average, with a few characters having Australian dialects, although more memorable music would have definitely been welcome. Regardless, the aurals very much help the game more than hurt.
The same goes for the graphics, with a cel-shaded style similar to other Borderlands entries and character models that are both anatomically-correct and look well-designed. The colors are bright and vibrant, and the environments, except for some occasional dithering and blurry, pixilated textures, are more than believable, very well conveying an outer-space atmosphere. The enemy designs are nice as well, as is the overall art direction, although there’s also some choppiness and dithering at times. However, there is a graphics enhancement patch for the Steam version that really makes the game look like a million bucks. Ultimately, The Pre-Sequel is a definite visual treat.
Finally, one can finish the game in somewhere from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, although there’s plentiful lasting appeal in the different characters, side missions, the Steam achievements, the Badass Rewards gained from achieving certain conditions such as killing a certain number of enemies with specific kinds of firearms, and Vault Hunter mode accessed post-game, although the game’s glitchy nature may deter players from wishing to go through again.
All in all, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! is a solid interquel with many things going for it such as solid shooter-looter mechanics, the entertaining storyline and dialogue, the good voice acting, and pretty visuals. However, it does have issues of which mainstream players need to be aware such as the need for a steady trigger-finger, the frequent glichiness, the general lack of memorable music, and the fact that the story might not seem well-enough connected to the game’s chronological precursor. Regardless, I very much enjoyed what time I spent with the interquel Borderlands game, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, especially to fans of first-person shooters.
This review is based on two playthroughs, one of the digitally-downloaded version through the code included with the Borderlands Legendary Collection first as Wilhelm, and another as the Doppelganger with the Steam version as played on a Steam Deck, mostly on television but sometimes portably.
Score Breakdown
The Good
The Bad
-Great looter-shooter gameplay. -Nice story with lots of humor. -Good sound. -Beautiful visuals. -Plenty lasting appeal.
-Requires steady trigger finger. -Glitchy, even with latest version. -Not enough links to first game. -Not enough memorable music. -Some technical issues with graphics.
While the first installment of Japanese developer Nihon Falcom’s The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky trilogy originally release in Japan in 2004, it would not see foreign release until the turn of the decade, due to the time necessary for North American video game publisher Xseed Games to localize the massive script. Direct sequel The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC took just about as long to localize due to its own massive script, releasing in English in 2015, and providing an experience on par with its predecessor, which can be good or bad depending upon how well you liked the inaugural entry.
SC continues the first game’s plot, chapter based as well, with protagonist Estelle’s adoptive brother Joshua having disappeared, a new enemy arising in the form of the organization Ouroboros and its numbered Enforcers. The sequel tells its plot nicely, and akin to its precursor sports superb worldbuilding, with most characters having good backstory, Estelle getting her share and Joshua even more, along with a few twists, surprises, and plenty politicking and military engagements, although there is occasional deus ex machina. The translation doesn’t detract at all, despite some minor stylistic choices on part of the localizers.
The second game largely retains its predecessor’s mechanics, with an initial choice of difficulty alongside the ability to import clear data from the first game so that players can carry over character stats. Enemies are visible on fields between towns and in dungeons, with some orbment crystals able to cause the player’s visible party to pass through them or more greatly call their attention. In-battle gameplay, except for the ability to chain CP-consuming Crafts, mostly remains unchanged, alongside the tactics-style grid battlefield and movement on part of both the player’s characters and the enemy. The same issues from the first game return such as the inability to defend and reduce damage and the wildly varying cast times of EP-consuming Arts, but battles remain enjoyable.
Kevin executing a deadly prank on Agate.
Control does as well, with the ability to save mostly anywhere, except in battle, returning, alongside the turbo mode that can make the gameplay without and within battle go by much more quickly, the easy menus, the clear direction, unproblematic shopping, maps for most area, and the like, with the only real issue, at least when playing on the Steam Deck, being the need to play portably given one minor glitch involving the inability to use the controller for one menu option late-game. Otherwise, SC interfaces very well with players.
Aside from reusing much of its predecessor’s music, SC’s soundtrack largely shines, with many new tracks thrown into the mix, and the voices existing solely in battle fit the characters; if players find them annoying, they can mercifully turn them off.
The visuals are also largely the same, not a bad thing, especially with a Steam update somewhat smoothing out the texturing, although there are points where they remain blurry and pixilated, alongside reskinned enemies and the chibi character sprites. However, there are plenty positives such as the stellar-looking cel-shaded FMVs, the battle effects, the pretty environments, the cool three-dimensional effects, and so forth, that still make the game look nice even today.
The detail of things such as trailing dust when running is amazing.
The sequel, finally, is about as long as its predecessor, especially if players utilize its turbo mode, although acquiring every achievement and completing every sidequest can really prolong playtime, as can the replay mode. While most players will want to move on to the third and final game in the trilogy, having different characters in your party at certain times can account for dialogue variations, and thus there can exist minor differences in the narrative.
In the end, The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC is a solid continuation of its predecessor, given its solid tactical battle system, tight control, excellent narrative with a superb localization effort, an enjoyable soundtrack, and nice visuals. I’ll admit that when I first played the first game and its sequel a few years afterward in the past decade, I didn’t fully appreciate them despite enjoying them, although experiencing them together within a year or so helped me like them more, and my discovery midway through playing the inaugural entry of the turbo mode helped. Those who liked the original game will likely enjoy the second chapter, and I very much look forward to experiencing the third and final entry for the first time.
This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the player's Steam Deck with a combination of data from the first game and clear data from a past playthrough, with the game confirmed to work despite the indicator of Incompatability.
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