Upon its original release back in 2009, co-op shooter-looter Borderlands felt like a breath of fresh air. Playing as one of four trigger-happy mercenaries, each with their own RPG-like skill trees, and teaming with up to three other players if you wish, it’s your job to fight across the forbidding terrain of Pandora to track down a mysterious Vault and loot its contents. Filled with a cast of insane characters, irreverent humour, plenty of swearing, monsters, violence and, most importantly, tons and tons of guns, the Borderlands GOTY Edition adds a brand new layer of polish to the original game (and all of its DLC), and throws in a few tweaks and enhancements to make it feel more at home in today’s gaming landscape.
The entire game has been remastered for current-gen consoles, so the beautiful cel-shaded world looks more shiny and enticing than ever before. Many of the other additions are relatively minor, such as a new mini-map in the corner of the screen, the ability to customise your character’s appearance, and no longer having to manually pick up items from the ground. We sort of expect these sort of things to be included without question these days, but 2009 was a different time, and adding these improvements to bring what is an already outstanding game up to date just makes the experience that little bit better.
With all four DLC packs included, adding hours of extra fun to the overall package, there’s no question that this is the definitive version of the game. Owners of the original Borderlands on PC are able to upgrade to the remaster for free, which is a nice touch, but console owners unfortunately aren’t offered the same luxury. Even if you already own one of the game’s previous-gen editions though, this new release brings things up to date nicely, and it’s one of those games that will always be a pleasure to re-visit. With Borderlands 3 releasing later this year (finally!), there’s no better time than now to go back to where it all started.
BORDERLANDS – GAME OF THE YEAR EDITION / DEVELOPER: GEARBOX SOFTWARE, BLIND SQUIRREL GAMES / PUBLISHER: 2K GAMES / PLATFORM: PC, PS4, XBOX ONE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
