Only optional areas ive seen level locked but for the most part campaign is straight forward

Pretty sure it is. I saw a giant purple spider thing that had a skull and my guns did 0 damage at my level

[quote]I plan on getting the game regardless but I'm curious to know... 1. Is it level based? 2. Can you completely deviated from story and focused on the side quests?[/quote] 1. By [i]level based[/i] do you mean that your weapon and Corebots gain experience? If so then yes. 2. Yes, actually, the game recommends that you go off sidequesting in order to build your Corebots and weapon