The slight change in control means your muscle memory isn't allowed to get complacent. The new sand-skiff hovercraft vehicles could have been a simple reskin of the Runners and Bandit trucks from the main game, but they have their own unique handling style. Just how it should be." Thankfully, the game doesn't lean too heavily on the pirate motif or fall back on obvious gags. "If you've fallen into familiar combat rhythms, Captain Scarlett will shake you out of them. Sandworms are technically new, but are clearly Threshers with a new lick of paint. Stalkers dwell here, as do Spiderants and Crystalisks. There are plenty of run-down townships across Pandora, yet Oasis manages to stand out, its faded seaside whimsy and rotten boardwalks highlighted by mutant palm trees and pock-marked volcanic rock. Some of the differences are purely cosmetic, subtle changes to familiar landscapes that force you to look again. It sticks with what works, but gives it a tweak. It doesn't ditch the levelling and skill trees to become a pure shooter. It doesn't focus on vehicles and try to squeeze a racing game into an RPG box. Captain Scarlett doesn't try to make Borderlands 2 fit into a new genre. You want DLC that feels like an expansion - a natural extension of the existing game - not a random offshoot that drags it away from the gameplay you enjoyed.
This is crucial, and it's a tricky balancing act. We're just starting to feel hunger pangs for something more, and Captain Scarlett delivers, right on cue. The brilliant nuts-and-bolts appeal of the gameplay remains, but the thrill of discovery has gone. That means discovering new twists on old missions, but they remain old missions. Almost everyone who picked up the game at launch is now on their second play-through, either with a new character or in True Vault Hunter mode. This is a game designed at a deep level to loop around, rewarding continued play. Borderlands 2 came out just over three weeks ago, and while the addition of DLC so soon after launch would usually be cause for consternation, in this case fans are genuinely excited rather than wary. Others wait too long, dropping downloadable content a year later when most have moved on.Ĭaptain Scarlett's timing, in contrast, is impeccable. Some games shovel their add-ons out as soon as they launch, or lock them away on the disc for those who buy more expensive editions, leaving players feeling like they've bought half a game. With so many other things to grumble about, the importance of timing an add-on often gets overlooked. How does it achieve this lofty goal? Let's break it down. The first downloadable expansion for the wonderful Borderlands 2, it should serve as a template for other developers and publishers to follow.
Know this much: Captain Scarlett and the Pirate Booty is good stuff.
It's so easy to focus on the negatives of the situation - the price gouging, the on-disc DLC, the sly doubling of the price we pay for our games - that the good stuff doesn't get celebrated. Downloadable content and the concept of the "season pass" are now apparently permanent fixtures of the gaming landscape, even if nobody exactly welcomed them with open arms.
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