Pandora’s Box – review of the game “Borderlands 3”

My first experience with the production of Gearbox Software was not the happiest. Years ago, this specific para-comic aesthetics did not seem particularly attractive to me, and the gameplay itself seemed to me to be at least not very interesting. Traveling through the wilderness of Pandora in order to check off next generic tasks and collect tons of equipment somehow did not particularly captivate my heart, which made the title quite quickly abandoned. The situation repeated itself in the case of the second installment and the fanciful “pre-sequel”, which was a kind of link between the individual parts. I played, shot, ran and gave it up. I did not fully understand the Borderlands phenomenon , saying that there is nothing innovative there. However, it did not stop me from playingWorld of Warcraft or League of Legends , whose formulas were also not incredibly veiled. The problem, however, was that in the two titles that attracted more attention from me, I had a group of good friends with whom I played regularly. As for Borderlands  – there were no applicants for this title. In my opinion, this was the problem of this production. For a single player, it didn’t really have much to offer. Yes, there was a fictional outline somewhere over our heads, but let’s agree, that was not the essence of the game in this case. For this reason, taught by experience, to the third part of Borderlands I approached with a certain amount of distance. I didn’t expect too much, and rightly so… because the game made a bigger impression on me.

Mayhem is coming!

At the very beginning, before I even had time to bite into the gameplay, I was greeted by no one else but the rusty and clearly incomplete R2D2 distant cousin, Claptrap. This talkative idiot is the mascot of the series and perfectly captures its spirit, which is pure madness. After going through the main menu, just before starting the game, we have a choice of one of only two (what’s more?) Difficulty levels and a loot system, which should quite clearly indicate what the emphasis was on. However, as it will turn out later, it is not so obvious, but more on that later. As in the case of the previous parts, also this time the gameplay is preceded by an atmospheric intro in which we get to know the available characters, of course there will be four. The producers provide the player with the Syrena, a typical “fighter”, who has no equal in hand-to-hand combat, Beastmaster, who is supported by rather not very friendly animals, Gunner in a big mech and Zane, which is quite a typical soldier. Each character offers a slightly different approach to combat. Even so, one thing remains the same, and that is total threshing, which is really fun. Seriously, the game definitely works even if you play alone – after many hours spent with it, I never got bored of it. On the contrary, I have an irresistible urge to sit in front of the console and once again enter the wilderness of Pandora to smash more and more opponents. The fight looks really interesting: a wide range of all kinds of weapons, armed vehicles and, finally, the unique skills of a given character (each of them has three development paths) give you a lot of opportunities to exterminate your enemies. Although driving the rover is not the most intuitive, it does not change the fact that it is extremely useful – especially when exploring the map.

We The Children of the Vault

It is not without reason that at the beginning I went straight to the game, skipping a bit of the storyline at the same time. It must be remembered that Borderlands 3is almost an archetype of looter shooter production. What does this mean in practice? Simply put, the essence of the game is looting countless opponents in order to get better and better equipment, increase statistics and so on and so on. There is probably not much room for a complicated and multi-threaded story here. It is relatively similar in the latest production of Gearbox Software studio. The story is that we find Pandora as one of the many daredevils and we stand on the side of an organization called Crimson Raiders (led by Lilith, known from previous parts), in which we fight a sect of madmen called Children of the Vault. The cult tries to open up all the alien vaults in the galaxy and gain possession of cosmic super technology. Our job, of course, is to prevent them from doing so.Borderlands,  although it may not sound very immersive and after some time we will simply stop bothering about it. Remember, this is all about a solid slaughterhouse, and there is plenty of it.

Put it on the line!

The game’s graphics also remain unchanged, which shouldn’t come as a surprise at this stage. This is practically the hallmark of Borderlands and if you think about it, this “frivolous” comic-book aesthetic actually fits the whole thing. It can therefore be said with full conviction that Gearbox Software also did a great job in this respect this time. The models, animations and textures of the third (including “pre-sequels” to even fourth) are really polished. The levels that we traverse defeating the next masses of opponents are the classic Pandora, known from previous editions. So we have some sand, some rocks, post-apocalyptic metal-tile huts surrounded by a trestle and toilets, from which money or ammunition fly out. Everyone who has already dealt with the series and liked it will be pleased, because the third part goes back to the roots of Borderlands and it does it really well. It is also impossible to omit the sound of the game. Traditionally, the flagship piece is the responsibility of the band The Heavy , and the repertoire also includes songs prepared by the electronic music producer GRiZ. In combination with atmospheric dialogue lines and phenomenal sounds of the surroundings, the whole sound of Borderlands 3 is a real “hit”.

You’ll fit into Pandora just fine!

There is another point that needs to be addressed. On the occasion of the game’s premiere, there were voices that the third part would not be equal to its predecessors. The Denuvo software was added to the list of objections in the case of the desktop version and the award of an exclusive distribution to the infamous Epic Store. On top of all this, there was a chry with micropayments and paid lootboxes. While these additives are purely cosmetic, a certain distaste remains. However, apart from all this (which, however, should be condemned) and analyzing only the gameplay itself, i.e. how it looks and how much fun it guarantees, it can be safely said that Borderlands 3 is  in no way inferior to the older parts. On the contrary, it is the best version of the series, as it is based on its strongest points.

We would like to thank Cenega for providing the reviewer for the PS4 console.