2019-07-01_PC_Gamer

(sharon) #1

The ‘loot shooter’ has become a
more competitive genre since the
release of Borderlands 2, with Destiny
2 , The Division 2 and Anthem all
currently vying for players’ attention.
Gearbox, however, isn’t tempted by
the games-as-a-service trend.
Nonetheless, co-op remains an
important focus for the sequel. “I
come from an MMO background,”
says Sage, “and so one of the things
that I’ve learned over time is, when
you want to play with people, you
want to get in quick to the action. I
think that is one of the beautiful
things about Borderlands 2 and
Borderlands 3, the ability to just
match and say, ‘Hey, I want to go
fight bosses, or I want to go have this
game plan activity’ ... You’re just in
there having a good time.”
To this end, Borderlands 3 will
introduce some infrastructural
tweaks to make getting together with
friends that much easier. Now, when
players group together, the enemies
they fight and the gear they collect
will be appropriately scaled for each
teammate. Gearbox demonstrated the
system during the presentation, as a
second,higherlevelplayerjoinedthe
fight.A lowlevelenemyforthefirst


player appeared as a higher level one
for their partner. And when the fight
is over, Gearbox protects players
from teammates with poor impulse
control with a new feature that will
instance loot to each player, meaning
there’s no longer a need to squabble
over who needs that legendary drop.
In fact, many of the new or
tweaked conveniences seem
specifically designed to keep groups
moving at pace. A new station on
Sanctuary III, for instance, will
collect up any guns you don’t pick up
during play – presumably meaning
groups won’t need to spend a long
period of downtime painstakingly
sorting through a boss’s drops. Even
characterskillshave
beenadjusted

to fit this mentality. Each Vault Hunter still has three skill
trees to pick from, but now each tree features its own
active ability that you can swap in and out. Amara, for
instance, has a ground pound called Phaseslam, a
projectile attack called Phaseblast, and Phasegrap, which
holds an enemy in place (similar to Maya’s Phaselock in
Borderlands 2). Zane, meanwhile, has an automated drone,
a clone that he can swap places with, and a barrier that
stops incoming attacks.
What this means is that each character has the
potential to fill multiple roles and playstyles, ensuring that
even two players who are using the same character can
team up and fill a meaningfully different niche.

BIGGER AND BETTER
The one main question I had during the event was this: to
what extent do these different planets change the way a
Borderlands game plays? Based on my time on Promethea,
theansweris notverymuchatall.“SameBorderlands
formula,butnotonPandoraonly,”asPowellsuccinctly
explains.ButmytimeplayingBorderlands 3 onlyserved
toreaffirmwhatI alreadyenjoyedabouttheseries,and
hadmeimpressedbytheclevertweaksandadditions
implementedalongtheway– frombettercombatanda
co-opfriendlyinfrastructure,to,yes,slidingandmantling.
Gearboxdoesn’tneedtoapetheliveserviceloot
shootersthathaveemergedinthesevenyearssince
Borderlands 2 ’s release.Rather,theycancherrypicksome
oftheirmainqualityoflifeinnovations,andfeedthem
backintoa seriesthatalreadyhasitsownpersonalityand
following.Borderlands 3 willbebigger.Ithasthepotential
tobemuchbetter.Andit’sinspace.Beyond
that,I thinkmoreofthesamereally
willbeenough.

RIGHT: Promethea is
experiencing a hostile
corporate takeover.
MAIN: Zane is one of
the four Vault
Hunters. And Irish.
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