Borderlands 3 Revision in progress

Way back in 2009 the cinematic opening of Borderlands was set to the song Cage the Elephant There is no rest for the bad guys. Well, I must be mean. Since the release of Gearbox Studios Borderlands 3 (BL3) on Friday, sleep was a bonus. A nasty weekend, I looted and shot in the galaxy. I still have a long way to go before I can make a final verdict, but I have spent enough time to tell you that, like Pandora herself, Borderlands 3 promises the rich Vault hunters, but you will face obstacles on the road to reach them.

Let me tell you a story

Just like the first two installments of the franchise, Borderlands 3 starts with Marcus' quick monologue, followed by a violent introduction (featuring The Heavy – Put it on the line) – of our four new chapel hunters – Moze the gunner, Fl4k the Beastmaster, Amara the Mermaid and Zane Flynt the operator. Each of these characters has similarities to the previous classes, making them familiar while making enough unique changes to their skill trees to keep them from feeling tired.

The history of BL3 start in the same way: the incredibly annoying robot Claptrap is back to quickly remind you how a first-person shooter works. This "tutorial" is totally useless, as anyone over the age of ten knows the basic controls of each FPS and really feels like a lazy way to introduce you to the main story. Fortunately, the tutorial is finished quickly, but I would still prefer to separate it from the story so you can skip it.

The story really begins when Lilith (the playable siren of the original) recruits you. Borderlands), one of the co-leads of the Crimson Raiders. With all the bandit clans joining the Children of the Vault (VOC), a powerful cult led by the Calypso twins (an obvious satirical representation of modern social media influencers), Lilith and his Raiders are the last hurdle between them their goal is to locate chests located throughout the galaxy. Your first job as a Crimson Raider is to recover a safe card before it falls into the hands of the VOC. And so begins the underlying quest line that serves as a backdrop to looting and shooting of Borderlands 3.

visual

The cartoony style the Borderlands The franchise is known for is back. Either you like it or you hate it, and I like it. With so many other games trying to achieve the ultimate realism in their graphics, the choice to continue using cell art in the shade is a good choice for Gearbox Studios. Cartoonish does not mean BL3 lack of detail. The world is very detailed when all graphical functions are enabled. I did not really notice the impact it had until I left the well-known desert areas of Pandora for other worlds. Each new world has its own environment and I found myself doing explorations just for fun, something I had not done in the franchise since the initial release.

The animations of the characters and the enemies are of first order and the carnage of the battle will be scattered during the fight. The signing of the franchise is back in force, and the blast of blood from a bullet in the head or a body exploding from a nearby grenade is as good as ever . For anyone who has evolved beyond gratuitous violence, there is an option to turn off the gore.

Unfortunately, the visuals were also one of the obstacles on the road that I mentioned earlier. Everything looks good, but the bugs and optimization have raised their ugly heads. Gearbox, like many other developers, has had problems implementing certain video resolutions (with a 21: 9 ratio).

Running them with DirectX 12 also caused problems. I can attest to the problem that the initial loading of the game with DX12 takes forever (3-4 minutes) and that the transition to DX11 results in almost instant loadings. The move to DX11 also eliminated the artifacts and discoloration of the screen I knew under DX12.

gameplay

An area where there is not much change in the Borderlands formula is the fight. If you are looking for the chaos and chaos that govern the series, you will not be disappointed. Some attributes could benefit from a quick balance pass, but overall, each weapon type has its own qualities if used in the right situation. And the weapons will come quickly and furiously.

BL3 claims to have RPG elements, but in reality, this simply translates into characters with skill trees and many weapons with different attributes. Beyond that, character development is non-existent and the only reason that different classes even have a name is to link them to the story. It may sound negative, but for me it is not. Gearbox did a fantastic job making sure everyone knew that the seven-year gap between exits was not synonymous with a whole new look for BL3. Honestly, I loved the gameplay of Borderlands 1 and 2 and everything else for Borderlands 3 would have been disappointing.

This does not mean that everything is the same. There are still a ton of changes in the character classes. Something as simple as making the pet Fl4k a persistent companion makes sure that the animal is more than just a skill on a cooldown, opening up of new game styles that we have never seen before. I play mostly Moze and his different skill trees mean that I can adapt his teddy bear to the environment and to the opponents I face in the same way as I exchange elemental weapons to meet the needs from the moment. . Each of the characters has this flexibility built into their skill trees and even Amara plays differently from the sirens that preceded it.

Back to action

During my almost 20 hours of play with Borderlands 3 this familiar but new feeling keeps popping up. In his heart, BL3 is a shooter game and does not pretend to be anything else. Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel (and fail), new character options and multiple worlds to visit have added enough to the recipe to grab my attention. So far, history has been enough to keep me interested in the many cutscenes and to move the action forward at a good pace. Gearbox has also done a good job bringing in old characters for their appearances without trying to rehash all that has happened to them before.

We will have to wait and see if enough new pieces have been added to Borderlands 3 to make it a true finale of the trilogy or if it ends up looking like a long expansion of DLC. I'll be back to give my last review of the game once I finish it, but for now it's time to get back to action. With the amount of sleep I do not plan to take tonight, I can already say that the next morning will be tough.