TESTED GAMESorderlands 3 is a bit like
that bloke in your office
who “tells it like it is”.
You’re not friends exactly, but
you’d sit in the kitchen eating
a warm sandwich with him if
you had to.
This is the Borderlands brand.
It’s unapologetic and in-your-face
and puerile, and we love that. But
while Handsome Jack was the
villain to rule all villains, your new
antagonists – Calypso Twins
Troy and Tyreen – are animated
meatbags of every millennial trope
you can think of.
This latest instalment tries so
hard to be young and hip and meta,
it sometimes ends up the very
opposite: ageing, old-fashioned
and not remotely cool.
That doesn’t make it a bad
game, though. If you’re able to
set aside the groan-worthy patter
and numerous bad-taste jokes,
sitting at the core is a satisfying
shooter-looter stuffed with
engaging firefights, a memorable
cast and many, many guns.
You set off as one of four Vault
Hunters, each offering a slightlydifferent play style: Amara the
Siren, FL4K the Beastmaster,
Moze the Gunner, and Zane the
Operative. With the main events
happening to the people around
you, all you really do is bounce
from mission to mission, collecting
stuff or clearing the bad guys. It’s
a shame your character is so bland
and irrelevant... especially with so
many colourful folks occupying the
NPC ranks.
But the key to Borderlands 3’s
appeal is a delightful gameplay
loop that will keep you pressing
onwards way after you promised
yourself you’d go to bed. Thanks
to expansive skill-trees and literally
thousands of weapons, you’ll never
want to stop experimenting.
Despite all its flaws, this title
should be exactly what faithful
Borderlands fans have been
waiting for. Just be warned that,
if you don’t like poop jokes or
suspect you’d find it hard to
overlook its less-than-sensitive
approach to diversity and
difference, it’s unlikely you’ll
find life comfortable on Pandora.
Vikki BlakeSTUFF SAYS Lame jokes aside, the biggest and boldest Borderlands game yet ++++,
Borderlands 3
As long as you have a high cringe threshold, the latest in the ever-tasteless
open-world FPS series will keep you blasting away long into the nightB
“Those
Pom-Bears
were clearly
marked with
my name, you
monster!”“Oh no,
someone’s
taken all my
Pom-Bears and
just left a load
of old guns.”PS4, Xbox One, PC, Stadia / stuff.tv/Borderlands3