BORDERLANDS 3 / DEVELOPER: GEARBOX / PUBLISHER: 2K GAMES / PLATFORM: PC, PS4, XBOX ONE (REVIEWED) / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Borderlands fans have had a pretty good 12 months or so, with its 2009 debut receiving a shiny HD upgrade earlier this year and the VR edition of the mighty Borderlands 2 arriving in late 2018. While these were both excellent releases, the one thing we’ve all been longing for is a brand new entry in the long-running series. Borderlands 3 is finally upon us, marking the all-conquering looter-shooter’s first original instalment on current-gen consoles, introducing players to a brand new set of Vault Hunters on a mission to stop the crazy Calypso Twins and their intergalactic cult from taking over the galaxy.
Our four playable characters are vastly different from each other, and they all have unique upgradeable skills and abilities that can be re-assigned if you’re not happy with the way things are turning out. It’s worth re-playing the first hour or so with each character before settling on the one you like the most – we initially started off with Amara the Siren, with her ethereal brawling abilities, but eventually plumped for a full playthrough with Moze the Gunner and her railgun-mounted mech suit. There’s also FL4K, the Beastmaster, who is able to command animal allies, and Operative Zane who specialises in battlefield gadgetry. You’ll be spending a long time with your chosen character, so choose wisely!
As with previous entries, the entire game can be played solo or in co-op with a team of up to four players. It’s likely to take at least 20 hours to complete the campaign, and you can pretty much double that if you spend time searching for side missions. Borderlands 3‘s story spans many planets, and fully exploring each one is highly recommended, to find new characters and locations that the main story mode doesn’t take you to. There’s plenty of end-game content too, so you can keep looting and shooting way after the credits have rolled.
You’d expect a current-gen game to look and sound great, and there are certainly no disappointments in that regard. The familiar cel-shaded graphics are back, cleaner and sharper than ever, and everything you see in-game has been completely hand-drawn which is quite remarkable. Visiting different planets allows for a wide range of environments, including a rare appearance of an actual city and a heavy metal-inspired fortress which contains an incredible boss fight where the sound design comes into play in a subtle but important way.
Apart from a couple of nitpicks (the inventory and upgrade menus aren’t as user-friendly as they were in the past, and there’s a bit of jerky slowdown when exiting vehicles), there’s really nothing to complain about. One of the great things about Borderlands is that it has always known exactly what it is, and it never tries to steer away from its winning formula. If you’ve played any of the previous games, you pretty much already know what to expect in Borderlands 3 – self-aware humour, potty-mouthed characters, on the nose pop culture references, and tons and tons (and tons and tons) of guns. Those already on board with what the series offers will be more than happy with this, as will any newcomers with a taste for over the top irreverence, but Borderlands 3 is unlikely to change the mind of anyone who hasn’t been keen on earlier titles.
