The Radical Child

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Dragon Quest of The Fatemaker

I discovered the Gearbox Software-developed Borderlands series during the last decade, becoming enamored with its combination of first-person shooter and RPG gameplay to the point where I happily replayed the titles on multiple consoles to which they were ported, among them being those for Steam via my trusty Steam Deck. One of the expansion packs for the second game featured the story character Tiny Tina leading a Dungeons & Dragons-esque fantasy campaign setting, for which Gearbox would develop a successor and Borderlands spinoff entitled Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, which provides an experience on par with the main entries.

Upon starting a new game, the player must create a character termed The Fatemaker, who can be of one of several different classes. The gameplay remains like the main Borderlands games, with the player able to wield up to four firearms of various types (initially two), wear different item enhancements, and use a skill inherent to The Fatemaker’s class that needs to recharge. The spinoff’s “Save Your Soul” system also mimics the main series’ “Fight For Your Life” mechanics of being able to kill an enemy after losing all health to revive, failure resulting in revival at the last checkpoint and losing some money.

There are a few differences, which include the ability to wield melee weapons, cast magic that requires time to recharge, and, upon reaching a certain level, being able to select a secondary class that grants The Fatemaker an additional Skill Tree alongside their base one. As in the Borderlands games, leveling nets the player a skill point they can put into one of The Fatemaker’s skill trees, alongside a point they can invest into one of their base stats. The looter shooter mechanics work well as in the mainline Borderlands games, with some quirks like not needing to repeat phases of multiphase boss battles like that against the final boss. However, issues still carry over, like needing a steady trigger finger and losing all health without an enemy to kill to revive.

Wonderlands’ main weaknesses lie in its control. While there are a few improvements over the Borderlands games, like the in-game maps being three-dimensional and rotatable, which accommodates the multilayered stages, many areas are of questionable design to where I didn’t bother with whatever sidequest objectives were there. However, positive aspects from the main Borderlands titles return, like fast travel and objective markers, another improvement being that saving and quitting the game most of the time preserves The Fatemaker’s location. Still, other issues exist, including glitches (with objective markers occasionally disappearing in my playthrough) and unskippable voiced dialogue (which seems endemic to Western RPGs), and the game’s usability could have been better.

Narratively, Wonderlands is a parodic take on fantasy-themed RPGs, with plenty of humor (although some of it is toiletic) and references galore to other media such as the Star Wars franchise and the Smurfs. The campaign setting backstory is also well written, with some of it revealed through scrolls obtained throughout the game world. There are some areas where the writers could have been more creative, like calling the main antagonist something other than “Dragon Lord." Moreover, given the unskippable voiced text, the narrative frequently feels forced down the player’s throat. Regardless, the plot is an enjoyable draw to the spinoff.

While some nice tracks fit the game’s fantasy setting, most of the music is unmemorable, aside from a vocal theme song played during the ending credits. However, the voice performances are largely superb, including Ashly Burch as the titular game master, Will Arnett as the Dragon Lord, and comedienne Wanda Sykes as Frette the robot, one of the tabletop RPG’s players. Regardless, a dearth of memorable music seems endemic to most Western roleplaying games.

Like the main Borderlands titles, Wonderlands utilizes a cel-shaded visual style, which looks fantastic and even more colorful in its fantasy setting, with only a few minor issues regarding choppiness and collision detection.

Finally, the spinoff is about on par with the main series regarding playtime, around forty-eight hours, with plenty of lasting appeal through different difficulty settings, achievements, sidequests, various classes, the myriad sidequests, a playable epilogue, and so forth.

In summation, Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is an enjoyable offshoot of the Borderlands franchise, keeping what has been fun about the looter shooter series while introducing some new elements and occasional improvements. The lighthearted writing often stands out, as do the voice performances, pretty graphics, and the deluge of supplemental content. However, many of the issues from its parent series recur, like a necessary trigger finger, some annoying glitches, occasional irritating level design, the unskippable voiced dialogue, and the lack of memorable music. Regardless, fans of first-person shooters owe it to themselves to chance this excellent spinoff.

This review is based on a playthrough of a digital copy downloaded to the reviewer's Steam Deck and played with the Dock on a television, Clawmancer as his beginning class.

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Bowling for Pandora

The year 2009 saw the release of 2K Games and Gearbox Software’s Borderlands, which received critical acclaim for its hybrid first-person shooter/RPG gameplay, ultimately leading towards a Game of the Year Edition. Three years later came the game’s first sequel, Borderlands 2, which itself would receive a GOTY version, in keeping in tune with major well-received video game releases, alongside a port two years afterward to the PlayStation Vita, and other platforms such as the Nintendo Switch. The game itself provides an experience on par with its predecessor.

The action-based first-person shooter/RPG gameplay of the first Borderlands sequel largely resembles that of its predecessor, with the player able to wield a variety of weapons that consume different types of ammunition, the player able to restock their supply at vending machines if they have the money, and able to equip a shield that takes damage until it runs out of energy and the player’s character’s health receives damage instead. Fortunately, if the player’s character runs out of health, they have the opportunity for a few seconds to score a kill, in which case the player’s character revives with partial health and shield energy.

If the player does die, however, they revive at the last checkpoint at the cost of less than a tenth of their current money with damaged foes restored to total health, a generous price to pay for death compared to other RPGs such as the Dragon Quest games that take half the player’s money, and other Japanese RPGs that take the player back to the title screen or forces them to sit through all the unskippable company screens over and over. There isn’t much to complain about except the frequency of death and skewed difficulty curve, but otherwise, the gameplay helps the sequel.

Control, however, is more of mixed quality. While the central and side mission objectives are clear, getting lost is no problem, and helpful maps can prevent players from becoming lost, there are some hiccups with the Steam version that include the game not loading correctly, the lack of a suspend save, and the potential inventory space problems (though players can expend Eridium to expand the maximum number of items they can carry in Sanctuary). Ultimately, the developers could have spent extra effort to make the sequel more user-friendly.

The writing in Borderlands 2 is generally solid, with the player controlling one of many different Vault Hunters on the planet Pandora, the original game’s setting, alongside the always-clear storyline objectives, despite some minor grammatical errors and the narrative feeling forced down the player’s throat, given the unskippable text.

As seems to be the case with most Western RPGs, the soundtrack leaves something to desire, being barely noticeable throughout the game, but some good tracks are present, and the voicework and sound effects are above average for the genre.

Borderlands 2 utilizes a cel-shaded visual style like its predecessor that looks pleasant for the most part despite some bland textures and dithering of scenery that tends to occur immediately after the player loads their game or revives at a checkpoint.

Finally, the sequel will last players a while, its main storyline taking around forty-eight hours to complete. However, the endless array of sidequests and achievements can boost playing time beyond that amount.

Overall, Borderlands 2 is a solid sequel that hits most of the right notes. The looter/shooter gameplay is just as enjoyable as it was in its predecessor, the narrative is superb, the visuals are beautiful, and plenty of lasting appeal exists. However, it leaves room for improvement regarding its control (notably the absence of a suspend save) and unmemorable soundtrack. Regardless, those who enjoyed the original game will likely enjoy its first sequel, and I would gladly continue to play new installments of this franchise.

This review is based on multiple playthroughs of different console versions, most recently the Steam version as Zer0.

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The Moon Spinners

The year 2009 saw the release of the Gearbox Software-developed and 2K Games-published Borderlands, which caused quite a stir given its hybrid shooter and RPG mechanics, and its success would lead to its transformation into a franchise that would see several rereleases and remasters, as had been the trend for videogame developers seeking to fill their wallets through nostalgic appeal. Among the later entries of the franchise would be an interquel between the first and second number titles, titled Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel!. I’ve played several iterations of the game, first on PlayStation 4, then on Nintendo Switch, and most recently, on Steam, the last version my review covers.

Upon starting a new game, the player can choose among several characters, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Gameplay largely resembles that from the first chronological Borderlands game, with the player’s character initially able to wield two equippable firearms, although this ultimately expands to four, and the chosen protagonist can also wear a shield, grenade modifier, class modifier, and, given the game’s outer space setting, and oxygen modifier. The Pre-Sequel’s oxygen gauge one could consider the equivalent of classic Western RPG systems such as the food mechanic in the early Ultima titles, and it luckily doesn’t hamper the game.

The chosen protagonist’s oxygen modifier also allows him or her to get a boost in the air and slam below to deal damage to surrounding adversaries, which can really come in handy in oxygenated areas (since using said slam or boosting costs some of their oxygen) against multiple ground foes. Of course, as in the other games, the player can shoot their guns at antagonists to get experience and occasional drops such as new weapons, money, ammunition, and health recovery vials. As in The Pre-Sequel’s brethren, moreover, damage from enemies initially goes to the player’s shield before damaging their health, with death coming whenever HP reaches zero.

Fortunately, like other Borderlands titles, the game is nice to players when they die, allowing them a window of opportunity to kill an enemy near death to revive with some shield capacity and health, and one strategy I really found handy was keeping a bazooka on hand, given their high damage capability, to kill foes more easily when close to demise. Should the gauge that appears during death expire, the player’s character revives at the last checkpoint, with some of their money lost (less than ten percent), a fair penalty, especially compared to the harshness of death in many Japanese RPGs. One character ultimately gets an alternate death mode with a better opportunity to kill foes and revive.

Even the title screen hints at the game's beauty.

As in other entries of the franchise, each character has a unique combat skill that lasts for a minute or two and takes some time to restore, with Wilhelm, for instance, able to summon two drones, one which gradually heals him and the other which attacks the enemy. Leveling fully restores the player’s shields, health, and action command cooldown (although gaining levels happens more slowly compared to many other RPGs), and gives the player a skill point they can invest into one of three skill trees, more powerful skills accessed as they invest points into lower-level skills. Class modifiers can give bonus points to these skills, some actually being fairly useful and critical to completing the game.

Other notable features of the game mechanics include the grinder, where the player can combine three firearms or other equipment (though these have certain limits depending upon the rarity rank) into another of the same type, sometimes with bonuses (and using moonstone, a material also occasionally gained from killing enemies, can increase the chance of a rank up), which definitely helps ease the stress of inventory management, since the number of items the player can carry and store in a facility in Concordia (one of the only towns players encounter in the game) is finite, albeit increasable, along with ammunition capacity.

The mechanics definitely work well, with the difficulty being relatively above average but certainly manageable, especially with the right equipment and abilities, although there are a few occasions, such as one boss towards the end, that drove me to seek help from the internet. Another thing to keep in mind is that certain foes are weak to the different elements that weapons can inflict: shock, freeze, burn, and corrosion. Those unskilled with first-person shooters will also need a steady trigger finger to appreciate the game fully, and there is some repetition should the player die and fail to revive. Despite these issues, the battle system very much serves The Pre-Sequel well.

Control does have its positives, although to a lesser extent. While the boosting and slamming system via the oxygen modifiers can be fun to mess around with, they account for some horrid level design, and while there are in-game maps, The Pre-Sequel doesn’t have separate ones for different floors of areas; a few sidequests, thus, can be hard without a guide. A suspend same would also have been nice, since saving and quitting the game doesn’t preserve the player’s current location. Glitches aplenty also arise occasionally, at least in my experience playing the latest version via my Steam Deck. Juggling inventory space can also be problematic, though players can increase limits on holdable items and storage in Concordia, and players can mess around with the Grinder there, as well. There are a few other bright spots, however, such as the clear direction on how to advance the central plotline and most sidequests, fast travel, and easy menus, though things could have certainly been better.

The narrative, however, very much serves The Pre-Sequel well, although, despite its setting mostly between the first and second numbered titles, some players may be lost in terms of continuity, and a refresher on events from the first game would have been nice. There are plenty of colorful characters, and the sidequests add decently to the plotline, with a few aspects paying homage to the Star Wars franchise. The script is also reasonably mature, and the clear direction mentioned is a definite plus to the story. However, it does feel somewhat forced down the player’s throat, given the unskippable voiced dialogue, but is otherwise good.

Oxygen tends not to be an issue throughout the game.

There are a few good tracks in The Pre-Sequel’s soundtrack, such as the track in the opening level and others that very much fit the game’s lunar setting, not to mention the ending theme, and the sound effects very well aid the outer space atmosphere of the storyline, with breathing and laser effects, among other things. The voice acting is also well above average, with a few characters having Australian dialects, although more memorable music would have definitely been welcome. Regardless, the aurals very much help the game more than hurt.

The same goes for the graphics, with a cel-shaded style similar to other Borderlands entries and character models that are both anatomically-correct and look well-designed. The colors are bright and vibrant, and the environments, except for some occasional dithering and blurry, pixilated textures, are more than believable, very well conveying an outer-space atmosphere. The enemy designs are nice as well, as is the overall art direction, although there’s also some choppiness and dithering at times. However, there is a graphics enhancement patch for the Steam version that really makes the game look like a million bucks. Ultimately, The Pre-Sequel is a definite visual treat.

Finally, one can finish the game in somewhere from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, although there’s plentiful lasting appeal in the different characters, side missions, the Steam achievements, the Badass Rewards gained from achieving certain conditions such as killing a certain number of enemies with specific kinds of firearms, and Vault Hunter mode accessed post-game, although the game’s glitchy nature may deter players from wishing to go through again.

All in all, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel! is a solid interquel with many things going for it such as solid shooter-looter mechanics, the entertaining storyline and dialogue, the good voice acting, and pretty visuals. However, it does have issues of which mainstream players need to be aware such as the need for a steady trigger-finger, the frequent glichiness, the general lack of memorable music, and the fact that the story might not seem well-enough connected to the game’s chronological precursor. Regardless, I very much enjoyed what time I spent with the interquel Borderlands game, and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it, especially to fans of first-person shooters.

This review is based on two playthroughs, one of the digitally-downloaded version through the code included with the Borderlands Legendary Collection first as Wilhelm, and another as the Doppelganger with the Steam version as played on a Steam Deck, mostly on television but sometimes portably.

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Score Breakdown
The Good	The Bad
-Great looter-shooter gameplay. -Nice story with lots of humor. -Good sound. -Beautiful visuals. -Plenty lasting appeal.	-Requires steady trigger finger. -Glitchy, even with latest version. -Not enough links to first game. -Not enough memorable music. -Some technical issues with graphics.
The Bottom Line
A good but glitchy interquel.
Platform	Steam
Game Mechanics	9.0/10
Control	7.5/10
Story	9.0/10
Aurals	8.5/10
Visuals	8.0/10
Lasting Appeal	9.0/10
Difficulty	Depends on Character
Playtime	24-48+ Hours
Overall: 8.5/10

After Earth, But Good

Depending upon how players define the term, open-world videogames can possibly date back to the 1970s, given the existence of titles with limited boundaries, nonlinear gameplay, and no concrete goals, although developers wouldn’t elaborate on the concept until games became more complex in the ‘80s, with early RPGs such as the first Ultima trilogy being possible examples. The turn of the millennium would see the idea expand even more, with non-RPG cases such as the commercially-successful Grand Theft Auto III. Games such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild many critics deemed “revolutionary” for open-world games, and other companies would attempt to rival it, among them being Biomutant.

The game begins in a post-eco-disaster world inhabited by anthro mutant characters, the player customizing a protagonist when starting a new game. Regardless of whatever form they take, they have excellent backstory largely revealed in the initial hours of the game, and the Green Aesop narrative never feels ham-fisted. The storytelling style is also interesting, with the characters speaking in squeaks and grunts, the player’s Automaton translating the gibberish dialogue, although given the wait times between the babbling and the translations, the plot slightly feels forced down the player’s throat. There are also some grammatical errors in the dialogue, but generally, the plot helps the game far more than hurts.

Luckily, solid gameplay backs the narrative, with the player’s character able to battle enemies with melee, ranged weapons, or a combination of both. Players receive different kinds of skill points when leveling that can unlock “magical” abilities or physical skills that necessitate a combination of different button presses. New weapons the player can craft from various base materials, with equipment upgradeable as well, and there are plenty of goodies obtainable from the sidequests, which generally have good direction and are trackable in-game. Different difficulty settings accommodate players of different skill levels, and aside from a few annoying enemies, including one of the four “World Eaters” they must defeat to advance the plot, and long loading times if the player’s character dies, the gameplay is far from tortuous.

Control, however, is the weakest aspect of Biomutant. While akin to most Western RPGs the game is fairly liberal about when and where the player can record their progress (aside from during missions involving the seizure of rival tribes’ outposts), and the direction on how to advance sidequests and the main plot is largely clear (except for maybe one or two instances), the aforementioned long loading times abound, along with the lack of a minimap and occasional irritating level design. Regardless, this area could have definitely been far worse, and has plenty redeeming aspects.

Western RPGs in my experience tend not to have memorable soundtracks like their Japanese counterparts, and Biomutant is no exception, largely reliant upon ambience, although there is occasional music that sounds decent, the sound effects are good, the gibberish is mildly-adorable, and the constant narration from the Automaton is perhaps the aural high point.

The visuals two have many things going for them such as the customizable appearance for the player’s character, the vibrant colors, the good environments, diversity in character models, and the main character’s appearance changing with different equipment. However, there is a great deal of environment popup, dithering, and blurry/pixilated texturing when viewed up close, although the game is definitely far from an eyesore.

Finally, a straightforward playthrough can take anywhere from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, although there are plenty things to extend playtime such as the myriad of sidequests, a New Game+, and PlayStation Trophies, but the annoyance of one particular boss fight may mildly deter supplemental temporal investment.

Overall, Biomutant is definitely a more-than-serviceable open-world RPG with solid gameplay, the always-welcome ability to record one’s progress most anywhere, a decent environmental-themed narrative, good voice acting coherent and gibberish, nice graphical presentation. It does, however, have issues with regards to its long loading times, unmemorable music, and visual hiccups, although the game is another instance where I vastly disagree with mainstream videogame critics, and I actually preferred playing it to the ballyhooed Breath of the Wild, and in my humble opinion, Biomutant is sure to scratch both those open-world game and anthropomorph-centric RPG itches.

This review is based on a playthrough of a physical copy purchased by the reviewer to the standard ending.

The Good:
+Great open-world gameplay.
+Save (mostly) anywhere feature.
+Good audiovisual presentation.
+Plenty lasting appeal.

The Bad:
-Long loading times.
-Story a bit derivative.
-Soundtrack unmemorable.
-Some visual imperfections.

The Bottom Line:
A great open-world Western RPG.

Score Breakdown:
Platform: PlayStation 4
Game Mechanics: 9.0/10
Controls: 7.0/10
Story: 8.5/10
Music/Sound: 8.0/10
Graphics: 7.5/10
Lasting Appeal: 9.5/10
Difficulty: Adjustable
Playing Time: 24-48 Hours

Overall: 8.5/10