Gaming Reference & Reviews

Borderlands 3 takes 2 steps forward & 2 steps back

The Borderlands franchise developed by Gearbox Software & published by 2K struck gold in 2009 by becoming one of the original pillars of the looter shooter subgenre. Having since expanded it’s reach into sequels & spinoffs such as the episodic choose your own adventure game Tales from the Borderlands. Even all these years later, Borderlands has persisted as a powerhouse IP by continuing to release quality titles through the years, with Borderlands 2 being heralded by much of Gearbox’s fanbase as the magnum opus of the franchise. Borderlands 3 proves to be a mostly quality sequel, improving on the few flaws of its predecessor but at the same time creating a few new problems of its own.

Those unacquainted with the Borderlands style of game won’t have much trouble coming to understand it if they already have a history with traditional FPS games, as looter shooters function identically to traditional shooters but with the twist of RPG elements such as random loot drops, namely weapons, of various types & rarities. The guns you find can shape your entire playstyle from playthrough to playthrough, but veterans of the genre will already know what loot from the pool they need to complete their character defining build.

Borderlands 3 provides players with easily the most polished gameplay experience in a Borderlands game to date, from fluid movement thanks to the additions of sliding & vaulting to the best vault hunter toolkits to date in turn providing the most in-depth build possibilities of any Borderlands game. The sky is the limit thanks to each of the 4 playable vault hunters having 3 unique skill trees with a 4th branch accessible through DLC. All of these unlockable skills can drastically alter the way your character functions & shape the rest of your playthrough. With so many possible combinations there is a favourite playstyle for any type of player, regardless of preference. The guns have endlessly entertaining variety, always offering new ways to deal death & carnage with elemental effects & projectile types which does wonders to keep gameplay fresh & engaging. Improvements to its predecessor’s systems like the removal of the slag element in favour of the new radiation & cryo elements, avoiding the bottlenecking slag facilitated towards Borderlands 2’s late game.

The largest weakness Borderlands 3 displays is in its story, or rather writing in general. Handsome Jack became a universally beloved character upon Borderlands 2’s release thanks to his charismatically unhinged writing along with the altogether tight story of that game. Unfortunately, Borderlands 3’s Troy & Tyreen do not carry the torch of community approval, coming off as obnoxious streamer types who’s jokes fall flat more often than not. The new characters introduced in this game have almost all received the opposite fan response from the Borderlands 2 crew, with characters like Ava receiving the brunt of player’s hatred. Borderland’s humour has always been a hit or miss subject for individual tastes, but this instalment feels extra flat with too many dated references & random style jokes that certainly aren’t up to everyone’s standards. The second largest issue with Borderlands 3 is the way it handles loot, which is an ironic issue for the grandfather of looter shooters. Players have expressed disapproval of the largely tedious grind sessions necessary to get the weapon you want thanks to much larger legendary drop rates making the loot pool more cluttered, resulting in much more difficult to get the gun you actually want, which is further complicated by the extra layer of random modifiers called anointments that force you to brute force two separate instances of RNG to get the perfect gun for your loadout, a task which many agree takes an unacceptably long period of time. The late game content such as the Proving Grounds, Slaughterhouse & Maliwan Takedown is designed to almost necessitate a group, but of course not every player has access to 3 other people willing to play the modes with them. While these modes are theoretically possible with just one player, it requires an intense amount of solo grinding to accomplish such a task.

Borderlands 3’s replay value is mostly dependent on how much you want to try out the other characters & how many builds you want to assemble. The less inquisitive players out there who will be fully satisfied by one playthrough will find themselves with a minimum of around 30 hours of playtime, while the more completion & variety oriented players could reach up to 70+ hours. The grindy loot based progression may not be for everyone, but for those who enjoy the RPG inspired progression system, they will find the most enjoyable & polished gameplay in the series with Borderlands 3. The base game sells for $80 CAD, but significant content like the fourth skill trees for the vault hunters & 2 season’s pass DLC’s that include content like 4 separate DLC stories with new locations & weapons can bring the cost up to $130 CAD if bought in the ultimate edition bundle. Such a hefty price tag for a large amount of very significant content will be a deal breaker for many, & understandably so.

Since assigning a numerical value to art seems somewhat pointless to me, instead included below is a handy list of pros & cons to help you come to your own conclusion

Pros	Cons
Combat is very smooth & has plenty of variety	Very unlikeable characters populating a poorly written story
A seemingly endless supply of new weapons keep gameplay fresh	Very high price tag for all the game’s content
Plenty of replay value for those interested in trying new characters & builds	Legendary weapons don’t feel as special & obtaining the specific one you want is a chore
Lots of variety in customization for your vault hunter, vehicles & weapons	Endgame content nearly requires playing with multiple other people