Borderlands 3 Xbox One review: The best the series has ever been

It's been seven years since Borderlands ii released, and I'chiliad happy to say that Borderlands 3 was worth the long expect. Character arcs receive well-earned endings, questions are answered regarding lore and theories that fans will love, and the gunplay is meridian-notch. Any stumbles Borderlands 3 takes are overwhelmingly outshined by what it does well.

And equally satisfying equally information technology is for longtime fans, it'south still accessible to newcomers so that nobody is left out of the fun.

Commotion awaits

Borderlands 3

$sixty

Bottom line: Borderlands three is the best the series has ever been and perfectly closes the decade-long risk for fans.

Pros:

• Endgame content
• 30-hr campaign
• Enhanced gainsay
• Performance and resolution modes
• Diverse environments and enemies

Cons:

• Humour tin can be hitting or miss
• Some bosses are frustrating bullet sponges
• Inventory and vending machine UI
• Lack of cross-play at launch

Borderlands 3: Story and characters

Information technology was a tall order moving away from such an iconic villain as Handsome Jack, who arguably divers the Borderlands series, but Gearbox took the risk and did so quite successfully. Troy and Tyreen Calypso, the new antagonists hell-bent on conquering the universe and unleashing the power of the Vaults, don't alive in Handsome Jack's shadow. They forge their own path. I was worried that they wouldn't be able to alive upwardly to the expectations that Handsome Jack had set up for a villain, but I surprisingly never felt his absence.

What's the series without its own special brand of wackiness?

Like Handsome Jack, they exist to make your life a living hell. They'll insult yous left and right, laugh at your suffering, make sometimes cringy, abrasive jokes worthy of the "cool kids" table in a middle school deli. They're meant to be a take on the worst aspects of streamer civilization, obsessed with likes and followers, doing annihilation for content. On the surface, information technology'southward easy to write them off every bit i-dimensional caricatures, simply near the end of the game, their motives will fall into place more clearly with a reveal that gives much-needed context and reasoning for their quest to go gods. I still don't exactly come across how the whole "streamer culture" aspect fit the narrative, just this is Borderlands, and what'southward the series without its own special brand of wackiness?

Bated from bringing back fan-favorite characters like Lilith, Tannis, and Rhys, to name just a few, Gearbox also created a handful of new characters to aid our Vault Hunters. While most of them are forgettable in my stance, three that stand out are Wainright Jakobs, heir to the Jakobs corporation; Clay, a smoothen-talking gunslinger; and Lorelei, the leader of the resistance move against Maliwan on Promethea.

It serves equally a plumbing fixtures end to the franchise.

These new characters still take a backseat to render characters, for the most part, which I think was a smart move. We've invested years into characters like Lilith, and this was as much an ending for them every bit it was for u.s.a.. Borderlands 3 perfectly concludes a saga that begun in 2009 with our original Vault Hunters. It serves every bit a plumbing fixtures cease to the franchise that leaves room for time to come entries in the series, simply stands on its ain every bit a satisfying final installment. If Gearbox were to make Borderlands iv, I recall it would demand to be far removed from the story nosotros've been following, much similar how Mass Effect: Andromeda was from the Mass Effect trilogy — though hopefully the adjacent Borderlands, if in that location is one, will alive up to expectations.

When Gearbox started staffing for this Borderlands 3 and chosen information technology "the large one," the studio wasn't kidding. Information technology feels immensely larger than its predecessors in terms of content and story. We're taken all beyond the milky way, from industrial cityscapes on Promethea to the backwater bayous of Eden-6 in an effort to collect multiple Vault Keys and stop the Calypsos from opening The Great Vault and ushering the stop of the universe. Borderlands iii provides answers to a lot of questions regarding the Eridians, Sirens, and Vaults which I call back longtime fans volition love, if anything considering the lore is so rich.

Borderlands 3: Gameplay, gainsay, and 1 billion guns

If you don't come up for the story, you stay for the combat. Borderlands 3 is better than e'er in that regard. Yes, it'southward more of the same, but that'due south exactly what the series needed. I'm so impressed by Gearbox's ability to reinvent Borderlands and somehow keep it the same experience that people brutal in love with.

Borderlands 3 is better than ever.

Each Vault Hunter now has 3 actions skills as opposed to 1, and it makes a huge difference in how you play. Two people playing the same character won't have to worry about fulfilling the aforementioned rolls on a team now. Character builds tin be unique even if yous and your friend are both playing as FL4K. This diversity only adds to its replayability and life far beyond launch. If Borderlands 2 could nonetheless be popular seven years after release, imagine what Borderlands 3 could look like ten years from now.

Every bit I was told in my interview with producer Chris Brock during the game'southward gameplay reveal event, the gore had indeed been dialed up. Shoot a psycho in their face up, and yous'll be met with a cloud of exploding red mist. Information technology never gets old. Not after the first hour, and not later on the 30th hour. This only adds to how satisfying the guns feel to use. Something near the way they handled in Borderlands 2 didn't click for me, but it definitely clicks in Borderlands 3.

I'thousand not about to count every single gun in the game, but it certainly feels like a billion. Yeah, the advertised numbers are skewed because Gearbox tin technically count the same type of gun with pocket-size stat variations as multiple guns, but the numbers are still impressive. The care that went into crafting each weapon part and making each manufacturer experience unique is apparent.

Vehicle combat is still a pitfall, only luckily mostly avoidable.

On the opposite end, vehicle combat is still a pitfall. There are new vehicle types and more customization now, merely nil that really makes the combat itself fun. They're a means to get from point A to point B, but that's well-nigh the best I can say about them. Luckily there aren't too many missions that require them, though ane of the final missions relies on them quite heavily.

Now players even have the ability to genu-slide and drapery to climb objects, calculation mobility and verticality that wasn't nowadays before, unless y'all were one of those skilled players who spent five minutes carefully climbing upward a wall of rocks to cheese a raid boss. No judgment from me.

Speaking of bosses, Borderlands 3 has some of the most gargantuan the serial has seen. That doesn't ever equate to good, though. I had a lot of fun fighting certain bosses, and one Vault boss in particular — even if information technology was a bullet sponge — was my favorite, simply others are needlessly frustrating.

Other little quality of life changes, like the ability to fast travel from whatsoever location and refill all of your ammo at a vending automobile at in one case, serve to brand the game more convenient. Where it fails in user-friendliness, however, is the UI for your weapon inventory and vending machines. Quite frankly, they are abysmal and clunky to navigate.

And for a series that hypes upwardly its cooperative gameplay and then much, I'm disappointed in the lack of cross-play at launch. It's something Gearbox has said information technology'due south looking in to, just non something that appears to exist a priority.

Borderlands 3: Endgame content

The endgame content is where Borderlands three truly shines. I was frustrated while playing through the main campaign with the quality of boodle I was getting. I don't think information technology's a spoiler to say that since the game contains multiple Vaults, it contains multiple Vault bosses besides. Out of all of them, I only received a single legendary drop, which the occasional Ballsy or Rare weapon. Usually, any drops I got just formed a sea of green. In one case yous activate Mayhem Manner, which adds modifiers to enemies and yourself, after you shell the game, get fix for legendaries for days. It's understandable that the endgame would obviously have better loot, just I still felt good quality loot was a bit too sparse in the first playthrough.

Commotion Mode increases the challenge exponentially. Depending on if you play in Mayhem Mode one, ii, or iii, you'll see different status furnishings take identify that augments the gameplay. In Mayhem Mode 3 there could exist the possibility of your elemental harm being buffed while your grenade and gun damage has little event on enemies. No matter which Mayhem Mode yous play in, you'll always gain more feel and have a better chance at finding rare loot.

The endgame content is where Borderlands three truly shines.

And then there'due south the Proving Grounds, challenges left backside past Eridians that test players in various Trials. These Trials amount to waves of increasingly difficult enemies that finish in a boss fight. If you complete the challenge in nether a time brake or sure conditions accept been met, you lot'll earn greater rewards.

What it lacks is a proper raid boss. While Borderlands added Crawmerax in an expansion, Borderlands 2 shipped with a raid boss, Terramorphous. I would have expected Borderlands 3 to do the aforementioned considering the popularity of raid bosses and the focus on endgame content, but that isn't the instance. Players will need to wait for a raid boss to be added at a later point. For now, y'all'll need to be content with Commotion Mode, True Vault Hunter Mode, and the Proving Grounds — which honestly may be more than than enough for some people.

Borderlands 3 besides swaps out Badass Rank for Guardian Rank, a natural progression that is much better than its predecessor. Guardian Ranks tin can simply be earned afterwards y'all beat the game, and once they unlock you lot tin spend tokens on slight augments that buff various stats, like your max health or shield capacity. It's hard to come across in action any practical effect of grenade damage being 1% more than usual, for example, merely the effects are surely there.

Borderlands three: Performance and graphics

For the almost part, I didn't take too much problem running Borderlands 3. I played on an Xbox 1 X in operation fashion, and while there were frame rate dips and it wasn't always a steady 60FPS as information technology should have been, information technology was consequent plenty that it wasn't unplayable. Resolution style bumps the graphics up to 4K and caps your frame rate at 30FPS, which is more stable. I would have liked to play in resolution way, but for some reason it would screw with the mini-map in my game and near magnify the map and any markers on it, rendering it effectively useless.

When everything works properly, the corporeality of item is stunning. Borderlands' concept art style has ever held up amend than games aiming for photorealism, but Gearbox really outdid itself this time around. The environments are gorgeous, and it helps when the level of detail on enemies has bumped up a notch also. It'south crawly walking by an irradiated skag that's oozing toxic fumes — at to the lowest degree until information technology sees you as its side by side meal.

Should you buy Borderlands 3? Absolutely

Y'all'll have to enquire yourself whether you want to support Gearbox subsequently multiple controversies have kept the visitor frequently in the news, but if you're only here for that Borderlands feel, yous'll be happy. Almost everything was refined to make Borderlands the all-time game the serial has seen to date. The humor doesn't quite live up to what Tales from the Borderlands accomplished and leans too heavily on cringe-worthy toilet sense of humour, only when it hits the marking, it nails it.

Borderlands three definitely has a long life ahead of information technology, with Gearbox pledging to back up it for years to come up. Information technology says a lot that later on playing for 35 hours over the course of three days to finish this review, I only want to keep playing more.

Save the galaxy

Borderlands 3

Exactly what fans of the serial hoped for.

Borderlands is back and amend than ever in an chance that'll continue fans entertained for years to come.

We may earn a committee for purchases using our links. Learn more than.

The best character setups

Here are the best Lost Ark builds for PvE and PvP

Putting together a good build in Lost Ark is one of the best ways to meliorate how effective you are in combat. Here'due south a breakdown of each of the height PvE and PvP builds in the game.

Ultimate command

Here are the all-time steering wheels for Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 features all-encompassing and improved support for simulation steering wheels. To go the most out of this open up-globe racing game, consider one of the best racing steering wheels bachelor for Forza Horizon 5.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/borderlands-3-review-best-series-has-ever-been

Posted by: martinezthilvely.blogspot.com

Share this post