Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty is the first DLC that expands on the already vast and long campaign of Borderlands 2. It brings with it its fair share of fresh air into the game as well as adds various new items and currency to an already very in-depth system, despite a few shortcomings with regards to its quests.
Upon starting up this newly released DLC, you are greeted as soon as you make your way into the town of Oasis via fast traveling by yet another fairy tail from our favorite Pandorian arms dealer, Marcus. He tells us about a marvelous buried treasure that was left behind by a fearsome pirate of the name Captain Blade.
This expansion to the Borderlands 2 experience is everything you expect it to be. It adds even more quirky and memorable characters to the mix that are sure to make you laugh during your interactions with them. However, none of them shine more brightly than Captain Scarlett, a pirate who’s seen numerous battles in her time and has the scars to prove it. She also has a knack of betraying her fellow pirates once she’s done with them and has taken what ever she needs from them. She also tends to come up with random, awkward ECHO conversations with you regarding what she wants to do or how she’s trying her best to express her hand gestures to you without getting frustrated.
In addition to Captain Scarlett, her good ol’ pirate ‘admirer’ Herbert is a disturbing yet hilarious character as he’s constantly recording everything Captain Scarlett does via his ECHO device. His weirdness continues thanks to a shack of his devoted entirely to Captain Scarlett, acting as a shrine to his obsession with her.
Although this new DLC is mainly set on in vast desert area, the devs over at Gearbox Software did an amazing job in regards to detail. Taking the new Skidriff vehicle for a spin, you’ll see that every inch provides a breathtaking view. The new Skidriff, by the way, is a simple hover-boat vehicle that’s capable of only carrying two players at once and features a machine gun, explosive harpoon, saw blades and rockets. Luckily, it can even be used in the areas of the original Borderlands 2 game.
By far, the most visually outstanding area that this DLC contains is the underground area of Hayters Falley, an underground oasis booming with vibrant colors and water – something very rare in the world of Pandora. It can easily be considered the most beautiful area in the whole game. You can tell the artists spent a lot of time carefully planning this area – time that’s definitely paid off.
Sadly, even with all the amazing new characters and locales, the quests featured in Captain Scarlett And Her Pirate’s booty feel very bland, aside from the ones that are given out by Censor Bot. He is a NPC who’s sole mission is to censor everything that’s wrong in Pandora by silencing the problem for good, like putting a P3rv-3 bot out of commission for gathering nude magazines and spreading them around Pandora. This can make up for some of the more boring side-quests, which tend to be a just “go-to-this-area-and-pick-up-these-parts,” or “go-to-that-area-and -slay-a-certain-someone” type of quest.
Even more so, the main story quests of Captain Scarlett’s And Her Pirate’s Booty seem to be plagued by very bland and boring sequences. Again, they seem to be made up of the same stuff from the side-quests over and over again which is a big issue seeing how the main story quest can easily just take you up to three or four hours to complete.
Speaking of side quests, the new raid bosses (Hyperious the Invincible and Master Gee the Invincible) that are featured in this DLC which can only be fought by completing the main story quest more then make up for the lack of fun side-quests. These new bosses require a lot more wit then brawn, seeing how you must actually come up with a strategy with your fellow co-op members to beat them and require constant communication in-order to triumph over these end-game bosses. They will literally leave you broken and pulling your hair as you try to grasp perfect combat strategy. They easily make the original raid bosses look like child’s play. Thankfully, they provide what the original end game bosses were missing since they were easily beatable if you had the right gear equipped, even a solo situation or in True Vault Hunter Mode.
Though these bosses require some real teamwork to be defeated, they seem to offer little to no valuable loot which can make them seem un-worthy of the headaches and moaning they will surely cause when it’s all said and done. That’s unfortunate because this game heavily revolves around getting the best loot from the biggest and baddest bosses on Pandora. It can make anyone feel like they haven’t really accomplished anything when the only thing they see of value are the new Seraph crystals which give you the ability to buy Seraph rarity equipment from the black market located in the town of Oasis.
Even then, purchasing these weapons doesn’t seem worth it, as they’re not a whole lot better then the orange rarity loot found in the original Borderlands 2. What’s more frustrating is that it takes up to 120 Seraph crystals to purchase these weapons while these raid bosses only drop anywhere from seven to ten crystals at a time. This can be extremely time-consuming considering these new raid bosses can only be defeated once per day. It can make for a very long and boring grind.
Overall, Captain Scarlett And Her Pirate’s Booty gets a solid 4 out of 5 stars from me but is only a must if you crave that extra content. Though there’s more good than bad here, this DLC doesn’t really add any must-have gear for your character. If you’re looking for a challenge in the gameplay, however, this expansion does a great job at testing your wits and skills throughout the whole way. It can turn out to be fun and challenging adventure with but a hint frustration if you aren’t patient enough to re-think your strategy in some parts and soak in what Gearbox has created with this DLC.