Borderlands 2 – Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt Review

While there is still plenty of time till the June 2013 cutoff, Gearbox has already released the much-anticipated third DLC pack for Borderlands 2. This one takes us on an adventure with Sir Hammerlock in hopes of hunting down some of the more interesting enemies on Pandora. At first it might sound interesting, but will that be enough for Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt or is it a rather apparent slap in the face for Season Pass buyers?

Lets look at what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt.

HOT

Old Friends Return
Despite having a big role in Borderlands and Borderlands 2, it has been a while since we’ve seen our buddy Claptrap. Thankfully Sir hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt brings him back with a number of amusing missions to do. Fans of Jack will also be delighted to know that he also plays an important role in the DLC, but he doesn’t appear or have any dialog in the adventure. Not the best use for the character, though it’s good to see he hasn’t been forgotten.

NOT

Can Someone Reshuffle the Deck?
Like the previous DLC adventures and the base game, Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt adds two new raid bosses to the world of Pandora. Naturally these bosses are always welcomed, although they seem to expect more from you with more or less the same gear. So far we’ve seen a number of new guns added to Borderlands 2, they just seem to be designed for certain builds, over replacing current epic weapons. This isn’t a problem per se; it just makes the overall experience seem hollow.

Unfortunately this problem isn’t resolved in Sir Hammerlock’s Big Game Hunt, in fact I think it actually gets worse. The first raid boss is Voracidous the Invincible, who is a stalker that spawns with a witch doctor named Chief Ngwatu. Similar to previous raid bosses, Chief Ngwatu serves as something of a bee shield prevention method, which is accomplished by dealing nearly constant damage to everyone. He will be a constant problem for you till a set amount of time has passed or you get Voracidous to roughly 25% health. At this point, Ngwatu will give his shield to Voracidous, which is when the real problems start. Similar to Hyperius, Voracidous will gain the ability to use (spam) an unblockable nova blast and the fight will devolve into who can kill who faster. At this point the fight really comes down to luck and maybe how much ammo you have left.