SDCC Experience: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Laser Tag

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

We wondered what it would be like to enter into the Borderlands and Nerdist gave us that chance with Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Las Tag at SDCC

San Diego Comic Con was not only filled with gaming/geek news this year but it was also filled with loads of amazing experiences to promote and excite fans all around. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel was not going to be left out of this as the event out there in San Diego was the perfect place to show off how awesome the game can be. Even more so when 2K Games teams up with the Nerdist crew to bring us all a way to play a live Borderlands game via laser tag and some amazing set pieces that looked like they were lifted from the game. We were able to partake in the fun of the Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Laser Tag out there and here’s a bit of the rundown.

Just a quick note for those who want to see more on the Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel Laser Tag experience. We were not allowed to bring cameras into the arena for safety reasons but the Nerdist crew was on the scene to record some of the highlights. I’ll include that video below as it does have some of our crew and myself shown running and gunning our way through the Moon Base that was set up.

Before I get into all of the action itself I feel the need to touch on the set up beforehand. I have only played laser tag a few times before this and I was expecting a huge vest with a huge gun attached. I am a small person and was afraid to be bulked down by this. Fortunately Laser Tag Source was on the scene with their Tippmann Barracudas. These were guns with all of the sensors built into the weapon that was already pretty light to wield around the course. There were a few people who were given two guns to compensate the off balanced teams and they had no issue lugging those around and still confirming loads of kills.

Shortly after we were all geared up and had our call signs ready we were ushered into the Moon Base that had been constructed based off Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. Nothing too fancy but it was a great deviation from all of the standard fare that usually is used at laser tag arenas. The extra kicker was that the whole thing was set up on top of Petco Park so when you looked out all you saw was open air and a long drop to the ground. Outside of playing in a complete closed off arena set up like the sex scene in Revenge Of The Nerds I don’t think we could have been closer to an amazing location from Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel.

After taking in all the amazing scenery, the action music kicked up and everything went into a frenzy. Our team, the green, grouped up and took over 2/3 of the arena and forced the other team to have to hide in cover. Lasers were flying and people were dying as we had the tactical advantage. That was until the first of many smoke screens went up which allowed for players all around to sneak up and take advantage. This happened randomly it seemed but it was always a game changer that would force us to have to move to the music to stay alive and get a better shot off.

In the end this was just another themed laser tag set up. It just happened to be in the theme of Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel which brought out all of the fans of the game to cheer and play along. It was one of the most memorable laser tag experiences I have ever had though as it was set up perfectly and ran really smooth. Like I said above, you can get a better feel for it in the following recap video. Once we got going I lost sense of time and all I knew in the end is that our team from the site finished in the top four slots; even though our team lost overall.