"Borderlands 3": Flat humour, little new and yet somehow gripping
18.9.2019
Translation: machine translated
"Borderlands 3 offers few surprises, little innovation and some damn flat humour. Nevertheless, the formula of crazy weapons galore, strange characters and a crazy world still works. Simon and I shoot from all guns blazing from 1 pm.
"Borderlands 3" didn't make it easy for me to like it. As a big fan of the predecessors, I was really excited about the first announcement. Worrying scandalous reports about developer Gearbox and CEO Randy Pitchford in particular dampened my anticipation. Finally, the first gameplay trailer also caused mixed feelings. Kind of cool, but somehow also exactly the same as "Borderlands 2". This impression remained even after 20 hours.
More of everything please!
Seven years have passed since the last, official "Borderlands". I'm leaving out the "Pre-Sequel" as it's more of a big add-on. The core of the game has remained the same. Drive somewhere, shoot, loot, drive back and hand in the quest. But Gearbox has upgraded everything. There are more weapons, crazier weapons, more varied areas, such as a neon-lit, semi-desolate city, new characters with mechs or drones that can now even talk and numerous new vehicles. And you can upgrade almost everything in some way.
The star is of course still the loot - especially the many weapons. There should be a billion of them. I'll wait until you've counted them. The weapons include a revolver that shoots running and armed brains and a radioactive, faeces-shooting rocket launcher. And you are constantly finding new firearms. In chests, cupboards, toilet bowls or from the Loot Goblin. It can take a while for the loot flow to start. The first guns I found all had tiny magazines, no special features and the bullet-eating enemies were particularly tough. The game only gets going with better weapons.
The gameplay also becomes more fluid thanks to your new movement options. You can jump further, run faster and pull yourself up walls. This creates a real obstacle course feeling.
Optically, "Borderlands 3" is a stunner. The comic style has been retained, but now looks even crisper and more colourful. The level design is much more varied than in its predecessors. Especially when you have travelled away from the starting planet. You are no longer only travelling in the desert wasteland of Pandora. With a spaceship that also serves as your base, you can explore a total of four different planets.
As you would expect from the series, the world is brutal, chaotic and crazy. Everyone is at war with everyone else, everyone seems to have fallen straight from the nappy-changing table into a syringe-filled rubbish dump as children and the default volume is screaming. The quirky characters and varied levels make for a harmonious overall picture.
Not always a direct hit
The humour, on the other hand, is sometimes so flat that I can only shake my head. I'm actually a big fan of bad jokes. But some of the characters are just embarrassing and when the same joke about small penises is made for the fourth time, I wonder if a kindergarten teacher wrote the dialogue. Worst of all are the two villains Troy and Tyreen Calypso. The siblings are the influencers of the future and even more annoying than Handsome Jack from "Borderlands 2". Otherwise, the story wouldn't be too bad. Fortunately, there are also many characters that made me smile. Keyword Barista. The level of content gets a little better as the game progresses - that, or I just got used to the crude humour.
In addition to many new convenience features such as fast travel, better interaction options with friends, automatic looting, it's still annoying that you can only track one quest at a time. Or you find mods that are suitable for your level, but the skill required to equip them is only unlocked after a certain story moment. The same applies to the Eridium stones and tablets that you can decipher. And inventory management is still the same pain in the arse as ever.
In addition, the passive character abilities are pretty unspectacular, especially at the beginning. Perhaps this is also due to my class "Moze", the bride, who has her own combat mech. But when I invest 15 points in things like 3% more fire damage or 3% damage reduction, it doesn't bring much joy.
On top of that, "Borderlands 3" still has to contend with numerous bugs, especially on the PC, and the performance leaves a lot to be desired. I play at a resolution of 3440 x 1400 pixels with an RTX 2080 Ti at maximum details and the frames fluctuate between a decent 70 and a subterranean 40 fps.
You can play, but you don't have to
After seven years, I would have expected more innovation from Gearbox. "Borderlands 3" is a consistent further development, but not much decisive has changed. It's prettier, bigger and has more weapons. If it had come out three years ago, I wouldn't have anything to criticise. As it is, "Borderlands 3" feels outdated, even if one or two bosses add a bit of variety. The time between part 2 and part 3 is too long and the innovations too small. Those who loved "Borderlands 2" will still have fun. Despite strong fluctuations in the quality of the content, I have now found my rhythm. But if you were already bored by the repetitive gameplay back then, you won't fare any better with "Borderlands 3". And you're not really missing anything.
"Borderlands 3" is available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.
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Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
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