Borderlands 3 - PS4 - The Long Promised Review
Sheesh... I know I said I'd do this long ago but... 'I BEEN BUSY' (bonus points if you can name the movie).
OK... So as of today we have the base game, four year 1 expansion packs and half of the two year 2 expansion packs out and this review is based on the state of the game today. It's simply gone through so many changes, it's not worth trying to go over all that non-sense.
I do this on inauguration day, Jan 20th 2021. Joe & Kamala have taken office and the orange menace is gone so... I of course started with a nice sativa 
I'm not sure of the name, my nephew has gone into the grow business so I get my shit for free now... heh, sweet 
I started smoking around 5am this morning so I'm pretty freaking stoned and plan to stay that way for a bit.
Bottom Line - Yeah... I'm starting here first. If you like the Borderlands franchise, you will want this (at this point if you have not bought it, go for the package that includes everything, much cheaper and you will want it all). It has some really great new improvements to mechanics and looks amazing. If you do not like Borderlands looter/shooter type games, there is nothing here that will change your mind but you should keep reading anyway just for my superb gaming observations and humor 
The Story (minimal spoilers) - I see a lot of people complaining that the story sucks compared to BL2... I disagree completely. The stories in both are really pretty stupid. The real problem is the bad guy. In BL2, Handsome Jack was simply one of the greatest all time baddies and it is wicked hard to do that twice in a row. It does not make BL3 bad guys... Well, bad... Just not as good. Still very workable considering story mode in the base game ends up being a small part of your playing time (though it is considerable but we will get to that later). Another big complaint with the story I've seen is that returning characters, with the exception of Lilith and Tanis, are little more than cameos and a number a missing all together... Yeah, that is true but I have a bigger issue that I've rarely seen mentioned The cut scenes... They happen while you are present but you are never shown and apparently are looking at shiny objects while they happen as they are all done as though you are not there... Seems very weird to me.
Game Play - There are a few great new improvements:
1 - Bosses: They have mostly ditched the gigantic bosses of BL2 and gone back to having more normal sized bosses (though still pretty big). I love this... The bosses of BL2 were all the same, find the place they can't hit you and pick away at them. If you tried to fight them with anything resembling strategy they would 1 or 2 shot kill you. Quite the pain in the ass. The bosses of BL3 though let you have some really great battles.
2 - Side missions: Yikes... There are a ton of side missions and NO fucking escort mission. Plus there are recordings to discover, crew missions (some spanning the galaxy) and many other things to do once the story is over. There are three circles of slaughter, two raids (not raid bosses but rather area raids with mid-bosses and end bosses) and also mayhem levels (think OP leveling in BL2 but without the digistruct peak bit needing to be completed to go up)... Plus Borderlands Science (play it in Tanis's office on Sanctuary) and three month long events that only happen once a year (though I hope they open them up to be all the time once that last of year 2 DLVC is out).
3 - New moves - Sliding, mantling, better driving, slamming and far better enemy AI all make for much more varied play styles.
4 - Max Level - 65 is currently the max level, allowing you to have 2 capstone skills... Or spread them out over the four trees... So many builds.
Expansions - Four from year 1 and two for year 2. Keep in mind that for all of these they add more of everything from the base game including things to do and new areas/planets to explore... Lets look at them.
Year 1
1 - Moxies Heist of the Handsome Jackpot - When Jack died at the end of BL2, his casino that floats in space locked up. Now Moxie wants you to go in and stage a heist to take control of it.
2 - Guns, Love and tentacles - Sir Hammerlock and Wainwright are getting married but there is a curse that needs breaking first... Go figure out the curse and help them get married.
3 - Bounty of Blood - In my mind this is a love letter to Akira Kurosawa. A new planet part western and part Japanese setting where you are the hired gun there to save a town.
4 - Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck - Tanis send you inside Krieg's mind to try and put it back together and mend his heart at the same time.
Year 2
1 - Arms Race - An arena game along the lines of PUBG but all PvE, no PvP. The catch is that when you drop in you have no access to your weapons, skills or guardian rank (bonuses to stats plus bonus skills, more later).
2 - One more due in April - I've not seen anything on this one yet so... Maybe I'll do an update come April if I remember 
Guardian Rank - Once your first character finishes the base game story you start earning exp on a second bar that goes towards guardian rank... Think badass rank but with some differences. There are now 18 different stats you can add your points into and they are divided up into 3 different sections. Damage, Defense and misc. Each time you go up a guardian rank level you are given 2 options for each section of which you may pick only 1. As with badass rack, each additional point in the same stat gives diminishing returns. New, is that there is a 15% cap to each stat... Though this still requires tons and tons of points. At first this seems kind of cheap and less likely to make you a real badass like the unlimited BL2 stats but... You also get guardian bonus skills the more points you put into each section. I'm hoping the last DLC will expand the 15% limit though, I'd like to see at least 20% and ideally 25%.
Some more bottom Line - This game is massive... It dwarfs BL2. So much to see and do if you are into looter/shooters. Annnd if you have a friend to play with it is even more fun... Unfortunately if you don't, while the matchmaking is pretty damn good the internet is still full of assholes and I avoid it.
Questions on anything I may have missed? Let me know and I'll answer... Soon... I swear
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