A voiceover drones over concept art. On a planet called Pandora there is a legend of a piece of advanced alien technology called the Vault. The vault promises wealth and fame beyond imagining.
We see a cut scene of four people riding in a bus. This is the class selection screen. We have a choice between Soldier, hunter, Berserker and Siren.
I choose soldier.
A vision of a woman appears to you and tells you that she is here to help you find the vault and that you aren't going mad.
We get off the bus.
A robot greets us and gives us some tech. This is out heads up display, called an echo device.
We get control, usual FPS controls, analogue sticks for movement and Right trigger to look down your gun sights.
We are told to follow the robot to a New U station. This is basically a checkpoint, where once activated we will restart when we die. There is some high tech cloning and mind scanning tech explanation for this.
We go to the gates of a settlement and as we approach raider vehicles jump the gates.
The robot lets us in. We get to fight some raiders.
The controls are very COD, B to crouch. Clicking Left stick to run, X to reload. Y to change weapons.
After shooting up a few enemies I find a chest and get some new guns.
We progress through the town until we get to a house. The robot knocks and tells the occupant that we have cleared their bandit problem for them.
We get our first quest/mission.
A screen allows us to choose the active mission and a waypoint appears telling us where to go.
Mission 1 Dr. zed
Someone called Dr. Zed wants to thank us but can't get the doors open.
I open a door and we get introduced to the unlicensed saw bones doctor.
I level up, which means I have more health and can deal more damage. I also get my health and shield recharged.
Mission 2 Skags at the gate.
We are attacked by more raiders and have to kill them.
Now there are dog like animals called skags outside the gates and we must kill them. % of them and the mission is done. We have to go back to Zed.
Mission 3 Claptrap rescue.
The robot is shot in the attack and we must get him repaired.
A repair kit is nearby and using that on him fixes him up nicely.
Mission 4 fixer upper.
We need to get a shield, however the machine that dispenses them is broken.
We need to get some parts from another unit outside the town and fix the machine.
The part is on a machine just outside the gate. Some skags are guarding it.
Back in town we fix the machine and can buy a shield and some health packs. We can also recharge our health at the machine.
Mission 5 Blinding nine-toes.
Nine-toes is a bandit leader and he has men watching the town of Fyrestone. Zed wants us to kill them.
We go a little distance away to the bandit camp and kill eight bandits. I scout around and find a shotgun to go with my machine gun and pistol.
Back to town to Zed and a reward.
Mission 6 Meet Tk Baha.
We have to go and see a blind man who lives Nearby called TK Baha to find out where Nine-toes has his hideout. There is a large reward for Nine-toes.
We meet the blind TK Baha and he is a redneck loony.
Mission 7 TK's food.
We have to get the food that TK has had stolen from him by the skags back.
Nearby Skag holes have 4 pieces of TK's food which we must liberate from the Skags.
TK Baha tells us that Nine-toes hides out in Skag Valley.
I notice that there are piles of Skag poop which when search yield items.
Mission 7 Got Grenades?
we have to go to Marcus in Fyrestone to buy some kit for our showdown with Nine-toes.
We have to buy a grenade specifically. I do this. You fire one using left bumper.
We now have to return to TK.
Mission 8 Take him down.
We are to go into Skag gully, which is barriacaded. Once inside we are to kill Nine-toes using TK's dead wife's gun.
I go to the waypoint and detonator blows the barricade for us.
I find a marker which takes us to a loading screen which gets us to Skag Gully.
In skag gully I level up to level five and earn a skill point. This allows me to upgrade on my skill tree. I can get the first thing which is Scorpio turret.
I try and jump down off a cliff and find that I die.
I kill a lot of skags here. There are older skags and acid spitting skags here.
I find the grave and rattle the headstone for two new guns.
I enter the hideout of Ninetoes, I am attacked by mutant midgets and raiders here.
I find a boss battle type arena area and we meet Nine-toes. He is aided by two special skags in the fight. I find that when I die I go back to the nearest respawn point.
I then go back to the fight and finish it. The dogs seem to have their health back, I am not sure about Nine-toes. I kill the dogs and Nine-toes and loot their hideout. Now to go back to Zed and Tk.
Tk is a happy man and tells us that this will piss of Boss Sledge.
Mission 9
Now we have to return to Zed for our reward.
Mission 10
We have to check out the job board in Fyrestone for our next job.
This board has two new missions to choose from.
Mission 11 Catch a ride.
Scooter wants us to check out his ride system.
When we find this piece of tech out near the door of Fyrestone it is broken.
Mission 12 Bone head's theft.
Bone head has stolen a critical part from the ride system.
And now we come to the annoying bit, yes this is an RPG as This mission is ranked at level 10 and I am only level 7. This means that try as I might I can't get Bone head and his gangs shield down with the weapons I have.
Eventually and I do mean eventually I kill Bonehead and his gang. I get the part I need for the ride machine. Taking it back allows me to spawn a vehicle. This is driven like a halo warthog. Y changes to gunner seat and we can shoot missiles and fire a machine gun while in the vehicle.
Time to grind, but how do I grind?
I have to kill the same respawning enemies a hundred times. Why did they take the shit bits from RPG's and add them as well.
Oh and the A.I. sucks enemies will stand still and let you shoot them for ages as long as you stand out of their range.
Mission 13 The piss wash hurdle.
There is a barricade between Fyrestone and the main road. Boss Sledge's men are guarding it and there is no way through on foot. However the vehicle can jump the canyon on a handy ramp. Going over the ramp we can flank the barricade. Kill the men and open the gate.
Mission 14 Return to Zed.
We go back to Zed and he gives us an extra weapon slot so we can fast change between three weapons now.
Mission 15 Sledge: Meet Shep.
We basically have to drive to a location and talk to a man, mission done.
Mision 16 Sledge: the mine key.
We have to go into a heavily defended wind turbine station to get a mine key.
There are lots of bandits, brusiers, and large corrosive skags.
When I eventually get to the key location we find that someone else has stolen it.
Mission 17 Get the flock out of here.
There are a flock of creatures called Rakk, near the wind Trubines, Shep wants us to kill them all.
These things are flying bat like creatures that come from a ground based nest.
The vehicles guns make short work of them.
When you lose your health and die you get a few seconds to keep on damaging enemies. If you can't damage anyone you will bleed out, kill someone and you get to come back from the dead with a second wind.
Mission 18 Braking wind.
We have to go back to where we found the key note and kill all the same enemies again. This time we are hitting three switches to start turbines as the objective.
Mission 19 Get a little blood on the tires.
Go run over ten creatures, an easy mission.
Mission 20 TK has more work.
Go see TK and the mission is done.
Mission 21 By the seeds of your pants.
We have to go and get some seeds that TK needs.
We have to go back to skag gully for this.
The blade flowers are scattered around Skag gully so that we have to take a full tour of it and kill all the skags. There are eight sets of seeds to collect.
Mission 22 Tk's life and limb.
We have to go and kill Scar to get back TK's prosthetic leg.
Scar is a larger Skag which is up in a previously inaccessible part of Skag Gully.
Killing him isn't that hard and we get Tk's leg in the loot that Skag drops.
Back to TK to end the mission.
Mission 23 Hidden Journals The Arid Badlands.
We have to go and find 5 journals scattered around the area.
The journals are from a scientist named Patricia Tannis. She tells of her arrival on Pandora looking for the vault and it's a tale of woe from their on in. However amongst the tales of descending madness and of her team being eaten we hear of a dig site and proof that the aliens really have been on Pandora and the vault might actually be real.
The five journals are all in areas we have been to before execept one which is in a new area filled with enemies and the Rakk make an appearance again.
Taking the journals back to the board in Fyrestone finishes the mission.
Mission 24
We have to find journals from two sets of bandits who dies camped out in skag gully.
Someone wants to know why they were out there.
The two journals are marked on the map and fairly easy to get to, only small skag and Rakk in the way.
Seems once we return the journals that Boss Sledge sent them their to live for a while to intimidate the Fyrestone people.
Mission 25 Scavenger: Sniper rifle
We have to find parts of a sniper rifle.
This means going to a new area called Arid hills.
Which is huge and filled with enemies.
There is a bandit camp which the pieces of sniper rifle are scattered around in. I kill all the bandits then find the pieces.
Returning to the board finishes the mission.
Mission 26 Circle of Death: Meet and greet.
Take part in an arena as a gladiator??
We have to go to an outpost called Groaning Hollow and meet Rade Zayben.
That is the first mission at the arena.
Mission 27 Circle of Death Round 1.
We go into the arena and fight against a pack of skags.
Surviving opens the door out.
Mission 28 To the safe house.
Back to the main story missions.
We have to travel through the arid hills to a new area named Sledge's Safe house.
This is a large complex of corridors and rooms where we meet stiff bandit and Psycho resistance.
Burning Psycho's
Midget Psycho's
Burning Psycho's
Roidrage Psycho's
The boss here is a large psycho, once he is down we get the mine key.
The ghost voice comes again and tells us that we can go after Boss sledge now.
We have to go all the way back to a new location in the fyrestone area to a gate which i presume is the one we just found the key to. This ends the mission.
Mission 29 Sledge: battle for the Badlands.
We are to infiltrate headstone mine and kill Sledge. Also we are to get his Eridian Artefact.
We enter a new area here via a portal to a new map.
This is a large mining area.
There is a mounted gun which deals heavy damage. Once you kill the gunner you can get control of the gun for some fun.
Sledge is a large armoured bad guy in a little room of his own. Killing him is hard but not the toughest thing yet in the game. Maybe I was just well levelled here.
I pick up an alien artefact that Sledge had, seems to be something to do with the vault.
Getting back through the map is quite hard.
Back at Zed in Fyrestone we collect our reward.
Mission 30 Leaving Fyrestone
We are to travel to the Dhal Headland and speak with ernest whiting.
Travelling through the fyrestone area I come to a new gate which is opened by a robot for us.
We can now travel to the Dhal Headland.
He we find a vehicle station right in front of us and a quick jaunt takes us to Ernest and the mission is done.
Mission 31 Getting Lucky
We are to rescue Lucky Zaford at the last chance waterin hole.
For the first time we get bandits in vehicles attacking.
The Dhal headlands are fairly open desert. There is a settlement, filled with bandits to kill and then we find lucky and release him.
Mission 32 Powering the Fast Travel network
Seems that there is a teleporter we can use to travel between new u stations.
Only it's broken and we need to fix it.
Two breakers and a master switch have to be thrown.
There are two pylons out in the roads which have switches to jump up to.
Once you throw the switches it spawns some enemies. Either bandits in vehicles or new scythid scorpion/earwig/bug type things.
Then you have to go to a power station which is filled with bandits and flip a switch. Back to Ernest and you can now use fast travel.
Mission 33 Road Warriors: hot shots
A bandit vehicle gang led by Mad Mel is terrorising this area.
We have to go out into the main open area here and kill 8 vehicles which endlessly respawn until we kill them.
Mission 34 Road Warriors Bandit Apocaplypse
We have to kill Mad mel.
I drive to an arena where we have several on foot and vehicle mounted bandits to kill then Mad Mel himself in a bigger vehicle.
The gate open on the other side of the arena when we finish and we can now move into the New Haven area.
This is a large settlement with non hostile characters.
I find the boss of New Haven Helena Pierce and finish the mission.
Mission 35 Power to the people.
We have to turn on 5 generators around new haven.
Which is a fairly easy no enemy jaunt around the town.
Mission 36 Seek out Tannis.
After having prove to Pierce that we are not just good for killing bandits she decides to let us progress. Pierce is a firm believer that the vault is a myth. We have to go and meet Tannis the researcher at her dig site.
We have to talk to a claptrap to open the gate to rust Commons.
Rust commons is another large area with settlements and lots of bandits.
There are new ant like bugs here that are very hard to kill. Looks like i need to grind.
I eventually get to Tannis by running for it and avoiding combat as my current level means I have no chance of killing the largest bug here.
There are glowing ruins here that suggest the vault is nearby.
Tannis tell us that out alien artefact is only a part of the vault key. There are more.
We have to help her get the parts of the key.
She knows that a man called crazy Earl has a piece of the vault key. He also has her underwear??
Mission 37 Claptrap Rescue New Haven
I find a broken claptrap, there is a repair kit nearby, but you have to puzzle jump up onto a roof to find your way up to it.
Back to the claptrap and mission is done.
Mission 38 King Tossing
The tetanus warrens are ruled by a nutter called King Wee wee, we have to go and kill him.
We have to travel to a new areas called the tetanus warrens. This is a big area, made out of piles of rubbish and shanty shacks.
There are scorpion type enemies here in varying sizes and varieties of acid spitting.
Lots of shacks filled with bandits. I eventually find King wee Wee and he is a midget who uses a weird grenade system and tries to melee you to death.
A weird boss fight but ok.
Back to New Haven and the mission is done.
Mission 39 Scavenger: Sub Machine gun.
We have to go out and find pieces of a sub machine gun. Again the pieces are hard to locate due to being semi-hidden and the map locator being a bit off.
Mission 40 Hidden Journal Rust Commons West
Find 5 journals scattered around the map.
These missions aren't really that fun, only doing them for grindings sake.
The journals do at least tell a part of the story.
Mission 41 Corrosive Crystal Harvest
We are tasked with harvesting 50 corrosive crystals from the tetanus warrens.
When we get ther glowing green crystals that we couldn't shoot last time now can be broken up with gunfire and collected. Basically all the monsters and bandits have respawned so this is a repeat of mission 38 only collecting crystals.
Mission 42 Like a moth to a flame.
You have to go and light three torches which attracts a huge flying beastie.
Killing it finishes the mission.
Mission 43 Find Bruce Mclane
We find Bruce's body in a shack, well in a tunnel under the shack anyway. Bandits have killed him. We find his journal.
Seems Bruce got some local leaves, dried them and turned them into cigars. He sold them to bandits who died smoking them. Their friends got revenge.
Mission 44 Product recall
We have to go and collect three boxes of Bruce's poisonous cigars from the middle of a bandit camp.
Mission 45 Scavenger Combat rifle
We have to find the parts of a combat rifle.
Mission 46 Insult to injury
Skulls of someones research team have been mounted on poles in a bandits camp. The researcher wants us to get some payback and get the skulls back.
10 skulls on poles to find and collect.
Mission 47 The legend of Moe and Marley
Two skags must be hunted down and killed. These are bigger boss type skags and they shoot electricity and fire. They are also surrounded by hordes of other smaller skags.
Mission 48 Claptrap rescue The lost cave
Find the claptrap, find the repair kit, take it back to the claptrap.
Mission 49 Shock Crystal Harvest
Find the shock crystals in the lost cave area. Shooting up piles of crystals while killing all the respawned baddies.
Mission 50 Circle of death round 2
Survive in the arena.
Mission 51 circle of death final round.
Survive yet more skags in the arena.
Mission 52 schemin that sabotage.
We have to go back to headstone mine, kill all the respawned enemeis, this time we have to plant three fuses, or destroy three fuses i am not sure. Then pressing a nearby plunger sets the pipeline alight.
Mission 53 Claptrap Rescue Safehouse
I go back and repair a claptrap i missed on an earlier mission.
Mission 54
We go to a new map here called crazy Earl's scrapyard.
I find a blocked gate to Crazy Earl's, there is a gas canister nearby and shooting it finishes the mission?
We find Cracy Earl inside in a caravan. He speaks to us through the door.
Mission 55 get off my lawn
We have to kill 25 bandits and 3 spiderants for Earl.
Mission 56 Today's lesson High explosives
We have to find an explosive charge stolen by bandits and set it off in their camp to teach them a lesson.
Mission 57 hair of the dog
Earl wants us to collect 24 bottles of booze for him. A new area here called Treachers landing.
Mission 58 The next piece.
We now have to go after a bandit called Krom who has taken Earls vault key.
If we had known that we wouldn't have helped Earl.
Anyway we pass through a new area called rust commons east, to get to Krom's canyon.
Krom's canyon is a funnel up to a large emplaced gun on which Krom sits and fires rockets and machine gun at you.
Killing him gets you the piece of vault key.
Mission 59 Earl needs food badly
While we are in Krom's area we can get earl some canned skag meat.
The rest of Krom's map is filled with bandit shacks.
Getting the ten cans of meat is quite a hard affair, harder then killing Krom. The respawing of enemies here seems to be more frequent. You can no longer be assured that an area is safe once cleared, as sometimes the enemies respawn without you actually leaving the map.
Mission 60 Krom's claptrap rescue Krom's canyon
Claptrap is broken, repair kit needed, claptrap fixed and it leads you to a cache of weapons.
Mission 61 Jaynistown secret rendezvous.
We have to do a deal with a bandit to get to the trash coast, as the only way across is via a drawbridge.
We have to go to the bridge and talk to a claptrap there.
The bridge is now open and we go to a rendevous with a bandit called Cobb.
He will get us into the trash coast however as usual he wants some jobs done for him in return.
Mission 62 Jaynistown A brothers love
Jaynis is the ruler of Jaynistown, his brother wants him dead as he has turned the town into a bandit haven.
Jaynistown is a settlement nearby which is walled and filled with Bandits.
Killing them all I find Jaynis and kill him.
back to Kobb and it's mission over.
Mission 63 Jaynistown Spread the word.
We have to go and tell Erik Franks in new haven that Jaynis is dead.
Marcus warns us that he does not supply Tannis with goods, he wonders where she gets her stuff from?
In New haven talking to a random npc completes the mission.
Mission 64 Dumpster diving for great justice
We have to go to six dumpsters and retrieve porn mags that Erik's wife has chucked out.
Mission 65 Jaynistown getting what's coming.
We are to collect a reward in a container outside of new haven. This sounds like Taylor Cobb cleaning house by having us killed. Still I suppose we should do the mission, even if it sounds like a trap.
It is a trap, openning the empty container spawns loads of bandits.
Killing them we are instructed to report to Helena Pierce.
Mission 66 Jaynis cleaning up your mess
Helena tells us that Jaynis was nuts, but Taylor is nuts and slightly cunning. He will be much more dangerous than Jaynis as ruler of Taylortown as he is now calling it.
We are tasked by Helena to clean up our mess by killing Taylor.
When we get back to Taylortown Taylor has been busy, there are rocket and gattling guns on the roofs off a few buildings and the bandit supply is restocked.
When we get to Taylor himself he hems us in in a small area with doors that close on us. He then has loads of bandits two rocket towers and he himself wields a rocket launcher. This took many respawns.
When I eventually kill him I am to go and talk to his claptrap, which will open the way to the trash coast.
Mission 67 Another Piece of the puzzle
The guardian angel is what the game seems to be calling the female who has been urging you on all along. I wonder why we trust her as she seems to have some sort of vested interest in the vault yet is doing no work to get into it.
I actually think she is on of the Eridians, but hey lets not spoil the surprise.
We are now at the trash coast, where both Tannis and the angel think the hopefully last part of the vault key lies.
This area is a large open area of coast, there is a lot of spiderant activity and then we finally find the challenge. One of the rak hives that we have been seeing reveals itself to be just the tip of the back of a huge elephant like animal. We have to kill this boss as it shoots out lots and lots of rakk to kill us. Mainly two types defender and kamikaze.
Eventually I kill it and the objective is marked as a door in a cave. As we approach the door burns down and we hear rakk noises. A large fire breathing rak appears. However we don't have to fight it as it just leaves. We go inside and a container contains the final vault key piece.
Oh no it doesn't. Back at Tannis we find there is one more piece.
We have go to salt flats to find a Baron flynt who has it.
However to get to the salt flats we have to get a claptrap to open the way for us.
Mission 68 Smoke signals Investigate old haven.
Old haven is a new area.
The Crimson lance whoever they are have taken over old haven and are luring bandits in and killing them.
Mission 69 Not without my claptrap
In the large town of Old haven we fight much stronger solider type enemies.
I find the claptrap and free it.
Mission done.
Mission 70
We have to stop the fires which the crimson lance are using to attract attention to old haven.
Four fires must be closed down. There is very heavy resistance here.
Once done back to Helena in New haven.
Mission 71 The final piece
We have to infiltrate Baron Flynt's harvester, which is a huge stucture, which once was a harvesting rig.
The rig is grounded and a small town set up around it.
We have to destroy some bandit patrols, four of them.
The we get inside the perimeter town and find our way to an elevator up onto the deck of the harvester.
On the deck we get a few waves of bandits, then two larger bandits, one attacks with a machine gun and the other a huge sword.
Then flynt himself who has an explosive sniper rifle.
Once he is dead we go to his treasure chest and find no piece of vault key.
Angel tells us that this isn't how it is supposed to happen and she seems to be flustered for the first time.
Steele who controls the Crimson lance tells us that Tannis is in league with her and that we have been duped. They have the key and she politely tells us to get off the planet while we still can.
Helena comes on the radio and tells us that sanctuary is being attacked, wherever the hell that is.
We have to get the vauult key back from Tannis.
Mission 72 Get some answers
We are directed towards a crimson lance base. On the way we encounter lots of crimson lance soliders.
We can't get into the base, however our marker leads us to a back door. An old tunnel which is long disused. We are attacked by lots of spiderants here.
We continue through the tunnel until we come to an arena where there are three boss type soldiers to fight.
Now there is a map transition to Crimson fastness.
The crimson fastness is a bunker like maze.
I find Tannis here in a cell. She it seems was also betrayed.
Steele has the vault key.
Mission 73 Find the echo command console.
We have to get the echo system back online so people can communicate again.
I move through the maze again and find the console. not so easy, there are three other switches to be found.
Mission 74 Reactivate the echo comm system.
We have to go into a wide open mountainous area called Crimson Enclave. Here we must activate three consoles. each is in a heavily fortified building.
There are eridian soliders flying around here fighting the Crimson lance, they are losing badly.
We then have to go back inside the crimson fastness and reactivate the first switch again.
Mission 75 Find Steele
We have to go after steele as she goes to open the vault.
Angel is pleased we have got the echo system back up and running.
We have to make our way to the entrance to a new area called the descent.
This is a huge hole dug into the ground and obviously the motherload of Edirian architecture on Pandora. The vault is nearby. There are Eridian soldiers here and this time they attack us. Seems that they don't want anyone near the vault either.
We go along a long winding snowy cliff edge filled with eridian and crimson lance duking it out.
As we finally get to her a cut scene shows her opening the vault using the three key pieces.
The arch of the symbol forms and a gateway to another dimension opens. A huge Lovecraftian monster appears in the doorway and eats Steele. Angel urges us to destroy the destroyer.
Mission 76 Destroy the destroyer.
We have to kill this huge boss.
It consists of a huge eye and tentacles, oh and a mouth.
It attacks with it's tentacles, shoots out spiny explosive barbs and has a laser beam.
Killing it is basically a game of hide and seek avoiding it's shots and taking shots in between.
When you eventually kill it Angel tells you that she used you to open the vault, however, it was only because she knew you were the one to destroy the creature.
Angel is reveals to either be a satellite in orbit and an a.i. or talking to us through the satellite in orbit.
Tannis will give us ample reward on angels behalf.
That seems to be the final main mission of the game. All that remains to finishing our first playthrough is taking the vault key back to Tannis.
That took 30 hours and gave me 605 achievement points.
I will probably play on a bit and do some more missions but essentially that is the main story done. Only repetitive side missions and grinding for achievements to accomplish.
