BY: Cory Donde
With the same grind for loot, familiar faces from previous entries, and several returning enemy types, it would be easy to mistake Borderlands 3 as an over-glorified DLC for Borderlands 2. However, with enough new mechanics, new weapons manufacturers with interesting gun quirks, and a pair of new antagonists, Borderlands 3 makes its mark in the ten-year-old franchise from 2K and Gearbox. The new story follows a new set of vault hunters on their journey to foil the plans of the Calypso twins, Tyreen and Troy, and their quest to become gods. Along with the main quest, there are the token Borderlands side quests, as well as the hunt for loot that the original looter shooter in the series made so addicting.
As a long running fan of the series, I was concerned about the quality of the new title with all of the controversy leading up to the release of the game. From lawsuits due to alleged assault on employees by Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford to voice actors from previous games not even being contacted to reprise their original roles, the time leading up to launch day was proving to be a public relations fire that 2K and Gearbox seemingly couldn’t put out long enough to generate excitement. Luckily, besides some minor gripes, I was happy with the final result and can see myself putting 100+ hours into the new title like I have with past Borderlands games.
In my initial playthrough, I played as the gunner Moze, who can spawn a mech to fight in until it runs out of fuel or is destroyed. I put in about 30 hours to beat the game and try a little bit of the end game content. After completing the campaign, one of three levels of “Mayhem Mode” can be activated in order to scale all of the enemy’s levels to your current level, as well as give the enemies a buff so that going back and completing skipped side quests or grinding bosses for loot is a more formidable challenge. Along with Mayhem Mode, “New game plus” returns to start the journey again, with all of your characters skills and equipment carried over.
The best aspects of the game are still the grind for new guns with increasingly odd and powerful abilities, building up the skill tree for the vault hunters, and the silly nature of the side missions. The main campaign unfortunately feels like a bit of a drag and recruitment process until the finale begins to kick in, but side missions help to spice up the quest through the new planets. One of the biggest features advertised in the game’s trailers was the new planets, which do a good job of adding variety to the previously explored Pandora. The game is also better for cooperative play with friends, since the features of independent loot for each player in the lobby and enemy level scaling towards each individual person make the game more fun for those who may be extremely ahead or behind their friends levels. Gearbox is also updating the game the way most live-service games do, with free limited time events, like the Bloody Harvest Halloween event, which just launched and is going until December 5, will keep the game fresh until the release of the planned paid DLC.
On a more disappointing note, the new antagonists aren’t as compelling as Borderlands 2’s Handsome Jack was. Where Jack was an antagonist that believed he was doing what was best by eradicating life on Pandora, the Calypsos are a parody of YouTube and streaming culture. To quote The Escapist’s critic Yahtzee Croshaw: “Just because you make a character annoying on purpose doesn’t make them any less annoying.” Whenever the Calypsos make a new video, it reeks of the kind of click-bait qualities that streamers use in order to gain views, and they end every video with their catchphrase: “Like, comment, and obey.” Another minor gripe is the menus that are used to upgrade your character, equip weapons, and view the map have an odd lag to them, which wouldn’t be as much of an issue if the player didn’t spend so much time in the menus. My last complaint is the focus on a new character named Ava, an aspiring vault hunter who is also quite an annoying teenager who. Despite never seeming to have much character development, Ava ends up getting almost everything she wants without earning it.
If you enjoyed previous Borderlands games, then Borderlands 3 is worth purchasing. If you don’t enjoy the series, then skip this title. Additionally, if you haven’t played the series before but are interested, I would advise picking up the Borderlands Handsome Jack Collection first in order to catch up on the story, as well as to get a feel for the gameplay style. Plus the collection is significantly cheaper than the newest title.