Borderlands 3 is an action role-playing first-person shooter game. It is available to play on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC and was released on 13th September 2019. The game was developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games. Gearbox Software are one of the biggest recognizable and respected makers for the video game industry. Their aim is to bring joy, fun and happiness to their audiences. 2K Games is also highly recognized and respected in the video game industry. They have published some amazing game titles, such as Battleborn, BioShock, XCOM and more.
I Choose You
The biggest choice you will make for Borderlands 3 is right at the start of the game. This choice is for which character you want to be. I think I probably spent about an hour making this decision. There are four characters to choose from. The first choice is Amara (The Siren). She has elemental magical powers that she can use to deal a very large amount of damage or cause status effects on enemies. Another choice is Fl4k (pronounced Flak – The Beast Master) who controls a pet that does a great deal of damage to enemies. The pet can also seek out ammo, chests or take the attention and bulk of the damage from enemies. The third choice is Zane (The Operative). He uses technological skills, like a large dome-shaped shield to protect everyone inside it. He also has a doppelganger that attracts the attention of surrounding enemies and causes a large amount of damage. Last but not least, we have Moze (The Gunner), who has a giant mech that works like a Titan from Titanfall. She can summon it and jump in, and when she has control of her mech, she has the use of two different but very large heavy guns. If she jumps out before the timer on the summoning skill runs out, the mech will stick around and kill enemies on its own until the timer runs out. So, taking each character into consideration, have a good think about which one you want to play as. If you regret your choice and end up wanting to choose a different character halfway through the game, you will have to start a new game from scratch. On the upside, you will still get to keep the one you already have as well.
The Main Story
The story for Borderlands 3 is great. It tells a new tale of some fresh-faced vault hunters taking on a dangerous enemy or several dangerous enemies, really. They must get to the vaults before their enemies do in order to stop them from turning into all-powerful gods. Along with these fresh faces, there are absolutely loads of familiar faces as well. The story for the game is quite dark with a few funny moments, but it is extremely gripping and keeps you on the edge of your seat.
The main story for the game is very long, which I absolutely loved because it felt like I was definitely getting my money’s worth. When it comes to a Borderlands game, it’s all about the mayhem, and it felt non-stop in this game. I was absolutely hooked whilst playing and found myself glued to the screen because the story is so full of twists and turns. One of my favourite missions actually involved an appearance from the famous Penn and Teller, or should I say “Pain and Terror”.
The first few days after it was released, I would wake up, get playing straightaway and continue playing it until bed time. I would only stop to eat, which isn’t very healthy, but that is how invested I was in finishing the game. I even remember kicking up a fuss when my husband was telling me it was time to get some sleep. Like a good page-turning book, I felt like I needed to know what was going to happen next.
What Else Is There?
If an extremely long story isn’t enough, Borderlands 3 offers players a bucket load of side missions, a dungeon for up to 4 players and a horde mode. The side missions are a lot less serious than the story. If something really shocking has happened in the story, you can take some time out to do a few hilarious and laid back side missions as a welcome distraction. Some of the side missions are absolutely bonkers. There is a reference to in-game purchasing and microtransactions, which is hilarious but draining. They have also taken it so far as to do a reference to The Lord of the Rings.
The “dungeon” for the Borderlands 3 can be found in the social menu. You can queue in the matchmaking for the dungeon whilst playing. It can also be picked up quite far into the game as a side mission. The dungeon is absolutely manic, and it is brimming with enemies, but there is only one dungeon available at the moment. The aim is to work your way through the dungeon as fast as you can, beat the boss at the end and claim your rewards. The faster you complete this challenge, the greater the rewards.
The horde mode consists of wave after wave of enemies, and it gets harder as you progress. There are five rounds and five waves of enemies for each round. After each round, you get a break to refill ammo. You can have up to four players in a match, and again you can queue for matchmaking whilst playing like you do for the dungeon. If one of the players dies during a round, they will respawn just outside of the arena. They can still attack the enemies, but this will be from a distance in the sidelines. At the end of each round, they can rejoin the main arena.
Madness and Mayhem
The greatest thing about Borderlands 3 is how fun and crazy it is. It is absolutely hilarious, as well as full of serious moments. There are also so many moments where there is absolute carnage. It is filled to the brim with a variety of enemies and bosses that are just so much fun to destroy. When the game throws a great big boss at you that isn’t the easiest to kill, it ends up feeling great when you defeat it. It is also a great feeling to utilise the powers or skills that your character has. I chose to play as Amara (The Siren), and it was great experimenting with her powers to destroy enemies. Each character had a sense of individuality, and they were all extremely creative.
Not only is the game great fun to play, but it offers different planets and places for you to explore. The maps are absolutely huge, and each one has something different to offer. The landscapes and surroundings are stunning and creative. The graphics are great, and it feels like a lot of thought has gone into the individuality of the bosses, places and everything as a whole.
As I have mentioned, the story keeps you on the edge of your seat with it being quite dark and serious. This, coupled with the side missions being laid back and quite fun to complete, makes for a great combination. I think I put around 50 hours into the game within the first week of its release, and I don’t plan to stop playing any time soon. The game makes you want to carry on playing, and I can’t wait to try out every character and complete the story all over again.
What’s the Catch?
Despite all of its great points, Borderlands 3 is not perfect. I was disappointed to find that there are a lot of loading and glitching issues with the game. There are extremely long wait times for loading screens when going from place to place. There is also an issue with the inventory, skills and map loading screens. It will take a long time to load them, but sometimes they don’t load at all. You will have to close it and reopen it for these screens to load properly, which can be tedious and frustrating.
The glitching issues mainly lie with a lot of the side missions. There were so many times when I was ready to hand in a mission, or I was arriving at location of the mission start area, and it wouldn’t be there. This is normally easily fixed by leaving the game, closing it down, and reloading the game completely. If this doesn’t work, you can try doing a hard reset of your console. Even though this can be easily fixed, it left me feeling exasperated from having to do it so often.
Borderlands 3 Overall
Borderlands 3 is great fun to play and is a great game to play with friends. It offers split-screen or online multiplayer. The story is really long and offers lots of extras. There are plenty of side missions, a dungeon and a horde mode. There is only one dungeon and horde mode map available at the moment, but I can’t wait for more. I am very excited to see what the DLC for Borderlands 3 will offer. The characters, places and landscapes are creative. Each characters is completely different, so it will be a very hard choice as to which one you’ll want to play as. So far, I have played about 50 hours of the game and only completed it once. I can’t wait to play it again and again, trying out the different characters and comparing them.
The game definitely isn’t perfect, with it having a lot of loading and glitching issues, but if you are a fan of the Borderlands games, I would definitely say this one is worth it. On release, the game was priced at a staggering £60, but I was happy to pay this for something I have gotten so much joy out of. I really wanted to score the game higher than I have, but the issues that it presents happen too often to be ignored.
Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Platform: Xbox One, PS4, PC
Release Date: 13th September 2019
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