Borderlands 3

The core gameplay mechanics work beautifully, shooting hasn't felt this amazing in a borderlands game before, the ability to slide and mantle onto ledges makes the core loop of shooting and looting even more satisfying than the previous games. But unfortunately those new additions can't save the game from poor pacing and a lackluster story that leaves much to be desired, mix that with really forgettable villains and a horrible mid section on eden 6 that last far too long

Borderlands 3 definitely went the wrong road in story but the right direction in gameplay

If you're like me who loved the story of borderlands 2 you won't find that here If you're someone who is here for just the story and a laugh then it's definitely the game for you

Pros: Fantastic loot Movement system is a major step up New vault hunters are all a welcome addition

Cons: Boring story Empty worlds Poor pacing and mid section

I love Borderlands. I love Borderlands so much, I got into its lore. The Borderlands series has a pretty good storytelling and gameplay to the point where I got sick of it, but keep coming back to it. I was hype when the 3rd game was announced because we haven't had a Borderlands game in a while for about 7, 5, or 4 years. The only thing that was turning me off was the controversy behind this game which made me a little worried. Then the reviews came out, I heard it was the best, it was the worst, it was mediocre at best, and I don't know how I feel about it. I got spoiled about a certain scene which left me disappointed. So finally during Christmas, I got the game.

I do enjoyed the up-step gameplay they introduced, making the whole game more fun. The player's menu is something I'm trying to get used to since this is a new game. The fast-travel is a little issue to me. I don't like the fact that to able to travel somewhere, you have to locate where the fast-travel is to the place you want to good. I have heard about bugs and glitches before I bought the game and they're pretty noticeable. EX: Shooting at a bandit vehicle and makes an explosion sound but no explosion. Although I enjoy the gameplay, I don't like how it's giving me OP weapons everywhere I go. In the previous games, finding powerful weapons is slightly rare but here it's everywhere you loot. In the previous games, you upgrade your class to get better against challenging foes while in BL3, it doesn't feel challenging at all. It makes things too easy and unstoppable.

I honestly don't know to explain the story in this game. Is lazy and uninteresting to go through. The main villains of this game is terrible to see and cringy to watch. This story ruins some previous characters of how they are and has ALOT of plotholes. After looking at Tales of the Borderlands and the Pre-sequel story, I thought the story would be better but nope they dumb it down.

May 2020 Edit: Borderlands 3 earns an additional point for it's outstanding post launch support. It's quality and frequency of updates are overall very good. These include: It's 15$ side story DLCs all 4 of which are more entertaining and pleasent compared to the main story; It's free events, raids and raid bosses, new missions, gameplay fixes, general content updates, weapon and skill buffs, level cap increases, limited time items, and of course a huge variety of new legendarys with some very clever and interesting new unique effects; Then there's whole new game features such as new skill trees giving basically 33% more versatility to each character, new item machines, an aniontment re roll option, new mayhem modes, the arms race game mode, that borderlands science thing, ect. This is on top of a game that already came out with a solid wealth of content.

The only minor thing I'm disappointed with is the character updates. Borderlands 2 and PS had two DLC vault hunters, this game has none. While especially with the 4th skill trees the BL3 VHs have better variety than the BL2 VHs, they have all played pretty much the same since launch. If they can introduce another more exotic skill tree for each character and easier than that start doing new things with class mods, that I believe would make up for having only 4 characters. Still a pretty small complaint. This game has reached a whole new level of GUN P*RN. Well done devs, honestly.

Review at release (8/10): Borderlands 2 was big leap forward from BL1 in story AND gameplay. Borderlands 3 is a step up ONLY in gameplay. Borderlands 3 is probably the most satisfying and punchy feeling FPS's I've ever played. With 4 different classes, tons of creative abilities, and an insane variety of core weapons along with legendaries with unique and goofy effects, the game is pretty much flawlessly executed in terms of being a fun first person shooter.

Unfortunately BL3 clearly has lost most of it's writing talent from it's predecessor over the 7 years in between the games. The story is coherent enough, but it's held back by a pair of bad villians who you don't want to kill as much as you want them to shut up. Many old characters either don't return or are left out. I was esspecally disappointed that you only get to hang out with "The B team" (Mordicai, Brick, and Tiny Tina) at one minor point in the story. New characters are a mixed bag, but one negative highlight was Ava, a petualant and annoying pre-teen who is given way too much power and screen time for no reason. It's sucks they couldn't stike the right balance between good old and new characters like BL2 did.

It's disappointing Gearbox could not follow up to one of my top 5 all time games with a better story, but it's hard to be mad when pretty much everything else is a slam dunk. Btw endgame is also superb, unless you're a raid boss fan.

Borderlands 3 is a butter-smooth game that finally eliminates the incredibly exhausting bullet-sponge experience. Not only that but maps are fun to explore because of their thematic uniqueness as opposed to those depressed vast open lands that are filled with repetitive enemies and monotonic colors. The fast travel option also saves a huge junk of your time. The vehicle gameplay could still be improved, sometimes I feel like I'm driving a yoga ball.

The story was not that bad. I mean since when was Borderlands famous for its writing? Campaign was well understandable and straightforward, although some of the scenes just seemed to be coming out of nowhere and has almost no buildup. Your character contributes very little if no interaction to the story. It would have been better to have only one character that players can choose which class to attach with.

2 player split screen is not great at all. Lag is a consistent issue. Can't read anything with 2 player. Disappointing as they could have fixed it rather than just throwing it out to the masses. Sound isn't great either. Names above players and icons seem to jump around vigorously it's distracting.