It’s been quite awhile since a proper Borderlands title has graced players. Depending on how you view it, there hasn’t been a game since 2013’s Pre-Sequel. Despite this, the series has grown a steady following over the years and has introduced new life with the help from Telltales: Tales from the Borderlands. Borderlands 3 continues its unique blend of humor and gameplay that still remains relatively safe, while adding a few quality of life improvements.
Borderlands 3 starts a few years after the events of Borderlands 2. The big-bad Handsome Jack is gone, but new villian(s) arrive. Those being the Calypso Twins, Tyreen and Troy to be exact. Their main goal is to collect all the vault key fragments for their own need, while also having a little fun along the way in the form of streaming their activities ala influences or Twitch streamers.
The result is a story that feels underwhelming in different facets. While there are some some memorable new characters that are introduced – one of which is voiced by a celebrity – that had me laughing in disbelief. The majority of the time missions tend to be somewhat forgettable, with only a handful that truly stick out, compared to that of its predecessors.
You start off in customary Borderlands fashion by picking the vault hunter of your choice. There’s Amara (siren), Flak (beastmaster), Moze (gunner), and Zane (operative). After that the adventure begins, we are re-introduced to Claptrap as he gives some basic – yet new – gameplay mechanics with the help of 4th-wall humor.
Gameplay is familiar, and that isn’t a bad thing. Combat feels better than its ever been, and the ability to power-slide, mantle, and melee slam from a height add new variety to how to achieve these spongy enemies. Like previous games, one way to alleviate this factor is changing variety. Depending on the enemies, some are more susceptible to certain elements over others. Like other changes in Borderlands 3, one gun element that’s replaced is slag. Slag is replaced by a new elemental damage called radiation and it’s equally as devastating.
In fact, the first hour or so is going to feel very familiar in structure, it’s only when you get Sancutary III – a ship that serves as a hub – that the game feels “new”. With Sanctuary III, you can gear-up before taking out in the world. Grab some guns and ammunition from everyone’s favorite arms dealer Markus. Or, visit Earl, and sell your hard-earned Eridium for cosmetics to apply on your character or your room in the form of decorations.
Each vaulthunter has his/her three skill trees with a class skill being at the top. Now a note before further reading, my main character through my entire playthrough was Zane. While I did try out the other VH’s the majority of content and gameplay that I saw was with Zane.
Zane’s unique in that he’s similar to Zero from Borderlands 2. His three abilities are deploying a barricade for protection, deploying a decoy to trick enemies, and deploying a sentry that can provide fire support. Additionally, the other VH’s have their own abilities that provide helpful offenses.
Amara uses her siren abilities such as ‘phase lock’ where she can suspend enemies in an orb. Moze’s main ability is using a giant mech – sort of like Titanfalls titans. She can hop in and rain destruction onto enemies in tight situations. Finally, Flak uses the creatures of Borderlands to do his bidding. Whether it be Skag or Rakk to help fight.
When the main story is done, there’s an incentive to keep on coming back, that being the Badass Ranks. There are three tiers that have their own statistical abilities that can be improved. After each level increase, your points can be put into these three tiers that can also provide rewards for your character.
Borderlands 3 can be played alone, which is fine, but Borderlands 3 is more fun with other players. Given the amount of enemies, Circles of Slaughter, and missions combat can become quite challenging. Co-op can become somewhat troublesome as matchmaking sometimes times-out or has connection issues.
Borderlands 3 plays it relatively safe in terms of deviating from its core gameplay loop; but with quality of life improvements, new (and old) characters to meet, places to see, and the ever-addicting loot grind the game is still fun to play.