http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIXZOa1iS8Q

Between Borderlands and Borderlands 2 the surface of Pandora has been explored pretty thoroughly, but upcoming title Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel will take the carnage a little farther away, to Pandora's moon: Elpis. Featuring former enemies among its four new playable characters, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel teams the player up with Handsome Jack as he tries to prevent the Lost Legions from destroying Pandora and Elpis with a giant moon laser.

Speaking of lasers, laser weapons are just one of the new combat options that are being introduced in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. The lower gravity on the moon allows for greater vertical movement and double jumps, as well as the "butt slam": a move in which the player jumps high into the air and then comes crashing down hard to enough to hurt any nearby enemies.

There are plenty of other new features in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, but now we'll hand over to Sir Hammerlock and Mister Torgue High-Five Flexington, the narrators of the new extended trailer that covers all the basics of story, characters, combat and special abilities in just under ten minutes. Bursting with Borderlands' trademark hyperbolic humor, the trailer introduces some of the NPCs that will appear in the game, including old faces like Moxxi and new faces like Janey Springs (though she's arguably an old face as well, due to her resemblance to Tiny Tina).

Investing in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel might be a leap of faith for some, since it was primarily developed by 2K Australia rather than Gearbox Software, but it looks like a lot of things that people love (or, in some cases, hate) about the series are going to be making a comeback. Loot can be found in abundance, the story is disposable for those who prefer to just romp around exploring, and there are brand new vehicles with which to traverse the alien landscape.

It will certainly be interesting to see Handsome Jack and his cohorts take on the role of heroes in charge of saving the world, and to see the plot gaps between Borderlands and Borderlands 2 fleshed out a little more. Now, can someone get Torgue a cough drop? He's probably going to need one after all that yelling.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel releases October 14, 2014 for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.