Gearbox's release of Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition brings the missing piece of the franchise to current generation consoles. Mechanical and visual improvements solidify Borderlands has always been a fun, beautiful game that was quite forward-thinking despite some things not aging well.
If you were to plop Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition into someone’s console and tell them it was a game created in the last two years, I think they would believe it. Of course, this person would need to have played games for quite awhile to understand the ebb and flow of how the industry has evolved. And this person must have no previous knowledge of the existence of Borderlands or heard it referenced. That person might actually be pretty hard to find.
The point is, when Borderlands released in 2009 there wasn’t anything like it. Had the term “looter shooter” existed before then? Honestly, there is probably no way a human being could ever know that for a fact. But with its cell shaded graphics, absurdist humor, and propensity to dump hundreds of guns at the foot of players, Borderlands set a tone that many would borrow from for years. Unlike recent games in the genre, Borderlands never had a persistent online world. It never had weekly and monthly events or a launch period mired by technical issues and bleak content.
Despite this, the game and its sequels have long remained favorites in the community. So where does this leave Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition (henceforth called Borderlands: GOTY, because brevity)? Is it a nice salve for the five month wait until Borderlands 3? Yeah, kind of. More importantly, it’s a way to bring the game into the current generation and give it a little TLC so new and old fans can experience a classic.
Back in the Vault
The tale of four legendary Vault Hunters searching the dangerous planet of Pandora for mysterious alien technology was always a draw in Borderlands. Players being pushed by a mysterious force with the promise of great treasures and weapons gave the overarching story an allure. As the game goes on, we learn of the massive corporations vying for power and wealth who will stop at nothing to unearth the secrets of Pandora. Along the way, a cast of eccentric characters both friendly and evil begin to supplement the narrative.
Borderland‘s story is one that is simple while still containing a lot of moving pieces. Side quests flesh out the main path, enticing players to learn more about the world or just spend time helping out the next weird NPC. Whether or not you become invested in the story of Borderlands will always be a question of how much you pay attention to radio chatter while blasting things with guns. Sometimes it’s hard to follow, sometimes it’s hard to care. But few moments in the series have been able to compare to the unique writing Gearbox has given the characters of Pandora.
From the onset, players are greeted by robotic staple Claptrap and the casually gruesome Dr. Zed. Masked bandits who got lost on the way to a Mad Max film terrorize the Vault Hunter. But few people in this game are subtle. The brush used to paint personalities is thick with jokes that coat every inch of the dialogue. Those who hate games that try to be funny will probably loathe Borderlands or, they might just chuckle at how ridiculous it all is.
When playing Borderlands: GOTY it’s crucial to remember this was all written and developed in the late 2000s. Absurdist comedy stemming from the prime (in my humble opinion) Adult Swim-era and Will Ferrel school of movies was in full swing. Did every joke land back then? No. Does every joke land now? No. Yet that doesn’t keep the barrage of quips and goofiness from becoming stale. I’m ten years older than I was when I first got Borderlands for Christmas shortly after its release. I roll my eyes, guffaw, and chuckle at the game just as I did back then. To fully immerse yourself in the Borderlands experience, you must not take things too seriously. For humor like this, a handful of drawn out stories or dumb punchlines are only going to resonate with a few people but that’s okay. It shows the strength of the writing team that they were able to juggle multiple tones throughout.
Borderlands: GOTY also includes the four pieces of DLC content that were released for the game, making it the most complete package available. Worried that Gearbox was going to mess around with the basics of Borderlands with this update? Well put those fears to rest. The story remains, characters haven’t gone to anger management, and the core experience of shooting things in Pandora is as fun as ever.
Polishing a Diamond
Shortly after playing through the opening of Borderlands: GOTY, I decided to play my original copy on PlayStation 3. I’m quite amazed at how well the cell shaded art style holds up. The dark and sharp lines that are etched into the world and its inhabitants gives everything a stark contrast with pops of color that draw your eye in. Borderlands: GOTY dramatically boosts those visuals with 4K and HDR. Again, this was already a beautiful game but the fidelity now makes you appreciate what Gearbox accomplished a decade ago. Menus and the HUD appear sharper than ever before and an increase in framerate make this the definitive way to play.
Aesthetic improvements are not the only ones introduced, thankfully. My favorite is the introduction of a mini-map just like the one appearing in Borderlands 2. Players are no longer shackled to a single waypoint beacon and constantly checking out a map in the menu. Items can now be marked as trash or as a favorite, allowing for selling multiple items at once. Ammo, health, and money can all be picked up without a button press. Two-player couch co-op has been bumped up to four, something I did not try out. New character customization models have been added to the game but players can also take advantage of Shift codes and golden keys.
These refinements allow Borderlands: GOTY to show how refined the game can be and already was. The process of finding new guns to become stronger and investing in a specific skill tree was always fun. Systems aren’t as in-depth as Borderlands 2 or The Pre-Sequel but you can see the building blocks. The gameplay is addicting and becomes even better with friends. Borderlands was speaking a language many did not understand at the time but have become very fluent in now.
Of course, Borderlands: GOTY is still in many ways the same Borderlands game from ten years ago. Getting through the opening area of Fyrestone is a slog because missions require so much backtracking from start to finish. Quests will require you to go to a bounty board and then complete a distant objective and drive (which I’ve never enjoyed in the series) or run back to the board to turn it in. I was not a fan of having to dart back and forth through areas and would often run past scores of enemies just to move on with my quest log. Luxuries like seamless fast travel, upgrading your ammo count, and other quality of life improvements introduced in subsequent games just aren’t here.
The Complete Package
Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition is a bit of a cheeky title considering how long ago the game released but, much like the series, it’s another thing to chuckle at. With Borderlands: The Handsome Collection widely available, there’s no excuse not to have a shot at each game. In fact, Gearbox released 4K support for The Handsome Collection for free, making the game look even better for those with the hardware to support it. For more on Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, check out our video review below of Borderlands: The Handsome Collection.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dtnxqlvwm0
One of my few qualms with Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition is with its price. At $30, it feels $10 too much. This is not because Borderlands is ten years old. I just feel that Gearbox is riding the hype behind its reveal of Borderlands 3 and knows people will drop the money since the game has only just now come to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with all the bells and whistles. For $20, this would be an easy sell and nearly impossible not to recommend. Either way, price does not detract from this “remaster” or whatever you would like to call it. What better way to get back into the Borderlands groove than the game that started it all?
