Borderlands 3: Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot Review

"Hitting the Slots"

Campaign

January 1, 2020 at 7:09pm
By Jason Stettner

This is the first DLC expansion for Borderlands 3, and it treads familiar grounds. The series just can’t escape the shadow of Handsome Jack, and that’s once again present here. A bit too much honestly, and this pack showed me that I’m just purely tired of seeing this character in action.

There was a Jack look-a-like, his face was on all of the machines and every two seconds they’re mentioning his name. Moving past that, this is a fairly decent standalone story where you’re putting together a team and trying to break into a main casino tower.

It’s got the well known tropes which were funny, and it adds the unique Borderlands twist you would expect when it comes to humor. There’s some meaning behind what you’re doing, as you start this DLC by talking to Moxxi who has a history with Jack and this place.

That leads you to heading there to deal with more robots, and battling through the annoyances of line queuing. There are a number of areas, but this is more linear in what it provides. It’s not really much of an exploration, but does provide some neat places to visit with excellent level design. I was really impressed by how they structured this experience, it all connected beautifully. It was fun to play, felt on par with the rest of the game yet at the same time it wasn’t anything wildly new.

There were also far too many clear out all enemies, or survive missions in this one with the former being far more popular of a situation this time around. You’ll get a number of hours out of this one, some minor extra missions too. There are also hidden spots, you pay (in-game currency) to access them and honestly not enough of a focus on the casino aspect of this. Aesthetically to a degree yes, functionality not at all like one. They could have went further with that element of it as it was ripe for Borderlands jokes and experiences.

The Conclusion

I had a good time with Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot, at the same time this doesn’t feel like it’s anything new and I’m generally just tired of Jack. I don’t want to see this character again, it’s a rich universe and they’ve done too much with him. They went over the top with it, and too far quite honestly in how much he was placed within this pack.

It’s like they have no way to move past what that character has provided, which is sad. This is a nice standalone story that fans will enjoy and get a number of hours out of. I had some fun, it provided some laughs and just more enemy robots to mulch through. I hope they get a bit more adventurous going forward, do something new or fresh as the DLC as traditionally been very unique in this franchise.

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Borderlands 3: Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by 2k Games

Rating Overall: 7.2