The Radical Child

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.

Hell hath no fury...

The Blizzard Entertainment franchise Diablo is renowned for its hack-and-slash roleplaying gameplay, beginning with the release of the first game on personal computers in 1996, its first sequel seeing release in 2000. The first two games would receive expansion packs sometime after their releases, with the development of the third entry commencing in 2001, the tertiary title officially announced in 2008. Diablo III would not see its initial release until 2012, with the PlayStation 4 release coming two years later, and eventually a collection of the original game and its expansions entitled Diablo III Eternal Collection, which, like its predecessors, provides solid action RPG gameplay.

Upon starting a new game, the player can create a character from several classes. The player can outfit them with different weapons and armor, each able to hack away at the enemy with their and use skills that require recharging before the player can use them again (the same goes for HP-restoring potions). Some skills use points with different terminology (Wrath for the Crusader and Spirit for the Monk), which recovers as the player attacks. Players can also have an AI-controlled ally with their own weapons, armor, and skills. The only issue is that the player cannot easily break out of enemies that crowd around them, death costing the player ten percent durability for their current equipment, a fair penalty.

The third entry sports many improvements over its predecessor in terms of control, chiefly more generous inventory space, organized as a list rather than a grid, that negate the necessity to return to town constantly to sell excess gear, in which case the player can teleport there for free to do so. Automaps form as the player progresses across fields and through dungeons, with clear direction on the next story objective that prevents players from becoming lost. However, no equipment optimization option exists for the player and their companion, and they cannot see how weapons and armor increase or decrease ally stats while shopping. Regardless, Diablo III interacts well with players.

Most Western RPGs tend to sport blank-slate protagonists, but fortunately, whichever class the player chooses to play does have sundry interaction during story scenes that differ depending upon vocation, the narrative itself continuing from the second game, with journals scattered on fields and within dungeons revealing various backstories. Furthermore, the transition between the fourth and fifth Acts feels fluid in the expanded version of the third Diablo. There are some minor tried tropes, such as amnesia, but the narrative is a significant draw to the game overall.

The soundtrack of Diablo III, as seems to be the case with most non-Japanese RPGs, lacks a sense of memorability, perhaps more so due to the sounds of combat drowning it out during gameplay, but is no deterrent, and the voice work is top-notch.

The visuals border on perfection, with a 2.5-dimensional view of the game environs, largely devoid of things such as jaggies and pixilated texturing. The character models also look nice and have realistic anatomy, with the only real issue being the poor collision detection among characters, enemies, and their environments.

Finally, finishing the game can take around twenty hours, with the variety of classes and in-game challenges that sync with PlayStation Trophies nicely enhancing replay value.

Ultimately, the PlayStation 4 version of Diablo III combined with its expansion is, for the most part, solid, what with its enjoyable hack-and-slash gameplay, tight control, lore-heavy narrative, superb voice acting, beautiful visuals that look good even today, and plentiful lasting appeal. However, as with most Western RPGs, the soundtrack feels unmemorable, but I enjoyed the third game just as much as, probably more than, its predecessors. Even so, those that enjoyed prior installments will most likely enjoy the third game’s enhanced edition.

This review is based on playthroughs as a Crusader and Monk on the easiest difficulty.

Luz de las Antorchas

Given the critical acclaim of Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, it was only natural for there to be imitators, among them being Runic Games' Torchlight, which saw its digital release late in 2009 and retail release the following year, its creators actually behind the first and second games in the Blizzard hack-and-slash franchise. Is it a pale imitator or plagiarism at its finest?

Much like the original Diablo, the player can choose from different classes upon starting a new game, including the Destroyer, which specializes in melee combat; the Alchemist, which specializes in magic; and the Vanquisher, which specializes in ranged attacks. The player can also choose and name a feline or canine companion for the protagonist, not to mention a difficulty level. Afterward, players begin the game in the titular town of Torchlight, where they can perform functions such as shopping for new equipment and items. When ready, the player can venture into the multifloored random dungeon (although floors stay in their current state like in Diablo) to battle enemies, gather new equipment and items, and teleport back to town with a magic scroll to sell equipment, report on sidequests, and perform other tasks.

Gameplay is similar to the Diablo games, where players can physically attack enemies or cast mana-consuming magic with different effects, with foes occasionally dropping money, items, and equipment. Control can vary depending upon the medium the player uses, with the Steam Deck's trackpads in portable mode helping greatly yet admittedly taking some getting used to, but the controls are customizable. Players naturally earn experience from killing enemies, level-ups sporadically happening, in which case they can increase various stats by five points (most weapons and armor having stat requirements) and invest one point into different skills native to or shared among classes. Killing "named" adversaries also earns players Fame, which, when raised enough, results in extra ability points. Some items, like in the Diablo games, require the player to identify them with a consumable scroll.

The game handles death quite well, with players receiving several choices like paying money to revive at the beginning of the current floor or returning to the town with no penalty, fairer punishments, unlike many Japanese RPGS. One superiority versus the Diablo games is that the player can give excess items to their pet and send them back to town, after which they return after a fixed interval with the money gained from the items' sales. One skill into which players can invest points reduces the time pets need to be away, and this neat feature counters the need to go back to Torchlight often. Aside from the learning curve associated with playing the game on the Steam Deck, the mechanics work surprisingly well.

Control is solid also, with a linear structure that keeps the player moving in the right direction and a more generous, but still limited, inventory space than in the Diablo titles, alongside the ability to send a pet to town to sell surplus goods. The convenience of town scroll portals is another positive aspect, as is the need not to retrace steps when breaking from the game. Ultimately, Torchlight interacts surprisingly well with players.

As with most RPGs in which the player customizes their protagonist, the story can feel light at times, yet each class has varying story scenes, and the narrative never feels forced down the player's throat, which is a good thing. The dialogue is well-written, there is enough story for a game of its meager length, and on the whole, the plot certainly doesn't disappoint.

The music creates a nice ambiance, although the tracks aren't exactly catchy. However, the sound effects and voicework are near-note perfect, so the aurals still rise above average.

The 3-D graphics contain plenty of polish and don't detract from the experience, either, with different equipment affecting the protagonist's appearance, fluid animation, beautiful dark environments, and fitting colors. However, they can look slightly blocky and blurry-textured when seen up close, yet look great most of the time during the gameplay when the player keeps the camera well above the various environs.

Finally, one can finish the game in around twelve hours, with an extra dungeon having seemingly infinite floors providing excellent lasting appeal alongside achievements, the different classes, and sidequests.

On the whole, Torchlight, given its solid hack-and-slash gameplay, tight control, great sound, polished visuals, and infinite lasting appeal, is a very positive experience and is, as I stated before. "plagiarism at its finest." There are some minor issues, including the general unmemorable nature of the soundtrack and the light-handed narrative, but the other areas compensate for that. Those on the fence can play a free demo before considering buying the whole game, with a great chance that they will do so and experience what is perhaps one of the gold standards of its subgenre.

The reviewer played the digital version of the game on the Steam Deck in portable mode as an Alchemist.