Second time's the charm

Borderlands 3 is a technological step forward, and it succeeds in reiterating the franchise's manic-weapons-and-zany-scenarios formula. But it barely attempts to meaningfully distinguish itself from its predecessors, and those attempts don't generally work in the threequel's favor.

I want to be clear that the core "Borderlands" gameplay - running around and shooting bandits and exploding their dumb faces - is surviving and thriving in Borderlands 3. Its character classes are powerfully distinctive. Its combat is more beautifully chaotic than ever, with what feels like a record number of enemies in every encounter. Its new environments and their corresponding enemy designs are diverse and creative, as are the random weapon drops; upgrading from one crazy weapon to another, differently-crazy one is still a blast.

But given that we're nearly a decade on from Borderlands 2 (and 5+ years from the Pre-Sequel side-story), it seems reasonable to expect Borderlands 3 to stand out from its forebears. It doesn't -- instead, it's more like a remaster of the second game, with an upgraded engine and re-skinned content. Everything it does well was also done well in Borderlands 2.

That "remaster" sensation includes some surprising failures to meet contemporary game expectations. You can't track multiple quests at a time, finding fast-travel destinations is a pain, even clicking on menu buttons with a mouse just doesn't work as well as it should. (Which is especially confounding since the game has been released on PC for over a year, now.)

And, while there are a few stand-out moments in Borderlands 3's narrative - here I'm thinking particularly of Ice-T's and Penn and Teller's amazing guest spots - it overall falls short of the bar set by Handsome Jack's tale. Troy and Tyreen are lackluster villains (more annoying than anything else), cutscenes distractingly railroad the story away from you, late-game plot revelations fall flat, and even cameos from series favorites like Tiny Tina (who's less tiny, now) are disappointingly short-lived.

Also, what the hell happened to the "effervescent" items showed off in Borderlands 2: Commander Lilith and the Fight for Sanctuary? I thought that teasing those super-shiny guns for the third game was, like, the whole point of that DLC.

... but I digress.

The problem isn't that Borderlands 3 is un-fun -- it is fun. In terms of moment-to-moment gameplay, it's as fun as the series has ever been. It just seems like it's still lingering in the shadow of Borderlands 2.

Better than: Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
Not as good as: Borderlands 2
Waiting for its DLC packs: to be done, let alone be on sale at a reasonable price.

Progress: Beat the main campaign.