Game Review: Tales From the Borderlands

One of the other games I bought after Christmas was Telltale's take on the popular Borderlands series. After being recommended by several friends to pick it up, I snagged the Season Pass using a coupon that came with my PS4. On the day before it expired too! Once that was done, I downloaded Episode 1 for free and the remaining ones came after. If memory serves, Telltale already had experience with its series of both Game of Thrones and The Wolf Among Us. Every game created by the developers is split through episodic releases, with a total of 5 episodes. I didn't really keep track of how long each episode for Tales were but my best guess would be 1-2 hours. That kind of ball park range anyways. Tales From the Borderlands takes place a few years after the events of Borderlands 2. Handsome Jack is dead, as are most of the major corporations, with Hyperion still around being dicks to pretty much the rest of Pandora. Just how Jack would have wanted right?

I could have separated each review into separate ones for each Episode, but I feel that since everything in each piece is the same, it'd be best to collectively review it as one package. The story starts off with you as Rhys, a Handsome Jack fanboy who's in the run for a pretty big promotion. What happens however is you being screwed over by the new head honcho Vasquez (hilariously voiced by Patrick Warburton), who is also a huge jerk to no surprise. In a fit of revenge, you and your best pal Vaughn set off to Pandora in an attempt to scam Vasquez and Hyperion out of 10 million dollars for a Vault Key. Perspectives change though, and Rhys isn't the only person you're controlling.

In addition to controlling Rhys, you also control Fiona, a con-artist living with her sister and father figure on Pandora who catch wind of this deal. Through both eyes, you witness the deal fall apart and everything goes to shit. In classic Borderlands fashion, a Vault is involved and it becomes a giant mess as to who can get to its contents first. Team ups, betrayals, deaths, bald heads, you know, standard adventure stuff. Tales from the Borderlands is one giant movie with interaction. The main draw is that it's choice driven. You select 4 options (most of the time) of dialogue when the opportunity presents itself. All of these do carry through with all 5 episodes mind you. So you really get to see your actions play out, some with benefits and others with consequences.

There are also moving segments where you interact with the area around you. Whether it's searching for clues, heading to an important door, or moving to the next area, you get to interact with your teammates who are with you at the time. There's also quick time events which can either cost you the game (resulting in a Game Over) or provide different outcomes that can really turn your head inside out. The voice acting is pretty much incredible as it was before in previous Borderlands games. Familiar faces appear and can get long time fans riled up to see their favorites. Troy Baker and Lauren Bailey do an amazing job as your 2 protagonists. Having Handsome Jack reappear as an odd figment/part of Rhys is downright hilarious. I found myself laughing pretty hard at the dialogue exchanges. The humor is still there guys!

Gun fights, crazy hijinks, space rockets and lots more can be experienced through Tales from the Borderlands. I don't want to get into the story as much since I feel that fans of either Borderlands or Telltale games will want to give this a shot. Also, everyone's favorite robot comes out to play and it's downright hilarious. I think he was one of my favorites as well in terms of dialogue. Stellar song choices play out during each episode's opening title credits, and the environment of Pandora/Helios are as vibrant as ever. There were only some small complications I had with dying at parts that were a bit hard to understand in some of the episodes (I think 1 of them really). Other than that, I really really enjoyed myself in watching this Vault adventure unfold. I felt for the characters and its supporting cast, feeling scared about one of them dying. Anyone who plays this game will for sure have a different experience than I have. Mine had Vasquez dying after I sold him out to big bad Vallory, and several other key choices which I won't go into.

Should you Play this Game?

Absolutely! The voice acting and story should be enough for anyone who's a fan of comedy to check out. Fans of Borderlands style and characters will get an immediate joy out of every episode and it wraps up pretty nicely in the end. Very relaxing to play until of course you get to the QTE's. The characters grow on you very fast and the overall humor is great. Definitely try this if you're able to!