Borderlands Legendary Collection Nintendo Switch Review

"Ain’t Not Rest for the Wicked"

Campaign

June 21, 2020 at 8:50pm
By Jason Stettner

This package brings together three legendary titles, and is a perfect way to kickstart your adventure within the Borderlands. Within this release you get the remastered Borderlands: Game of the Year edition which is the first title in the series. You also get Borderlands: The Handsome Collection which contains the second game and the Pre-Sequel.

The latter mentioned title fables the events that lead towards the second game, providing context into what leads into the creation of the second game’s villain. It’s all quite well done, and fits together in a very well formulated narrative driven journey. This package also contains all of the DLC that ever released for the titles and almost too much game content quite honestly.

You can spend countless hours venturing across the landscape of Pandora, or far above it in space too. You’ll be able to create your own characters, meet wacky individuals and battle for all the special loot you could ever desire. It’s actually crazy to see this all available in one package on the platform, such a treat for play at home or on the go.

Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition

This first game introduces you to the world of Pandora and features many graphical updates over that original iteration. This follows a group of Vault Hunters out there searching to see if the rumors of a mythical vault are true. Like with all Borderlands games you pick from one of the classes, level up and collect loot. It’s got a rather epic story that in itself feels like a self-contained adventure.

You’ll visit many large scale areas while on foot, or by using a vehicle. It might feel a tad simplistic considering the titles of today, but it’s still a mighty time as you aim to discover the secret behind the massive vault. It even goes further than that with the DLC that expands the locations you visit, and the weird experiences that you have in what’s mostly a battle against the Atlas Corporation.

Borderlands 2

This is the direct sequel to the first game and it greatly expands many of the concepts that made the original so great. It features one hell of a like villain in the form of Handsome Jack, and you battle against him throughout the title. This group of vault hunters expands with six options and you’ll face off against forces trying to take Pandora for their own. It’s still about vaults, but more so about taking down the corporation that’s really making their presence known on the planet.

It’s a new venture, but one that’s even more epic and advanced. It still has some familiar friends, and you’ll need to visit Sanctuary to see them. The DLC adventures were also rather deep, at least the last one really was. Not the one leading towards three, but the one prior to that which was the last for a number of years.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel

This is probably my least favorite of the bunch, but still an interesting spin-off for the series. It follows the rise to power of Handsome Jack and gives a lot of context into just who this character is. You get a fresh bunch of vault hunters to use and are sent to the moon within this smaller adventure.

While it’s not as expansive as the others it does fit into the second game very well and is great for those that loved the slick villain. It’s almost odd seeing him in this position, and the game is told from the perspective of a future reflection. Basically like around a campfire, it’s interesting and different. Did I mention it was on the moon of Pandora?! Yeah; I did, sort of a wild location and very different.

Gameplay

This is a RPG series where you’ll pick a vault hunter class and then level them up. Along the way you’ll gain new skills and abilities. Each class has unique special abilities, tools and skill trees to master. You’ll also constantly be finding new guns as these games have bazillions of them.

It’s wild, you’re never sure what sort of weapon you’ll end up using. Some have elemental effects, others are just wacky in many ways you’d have to see to believe. You can of course play the game multiple times with the same character on higher difficulty tiers or also take on a different class perspective if you can’t get enough of this action.

It is primarily a shooter, so be prepared to blast a massive array of enemies and bosses. There’s a certain level of humor in the series that is just great, and some badass opening soundtrack moments. You’ll meet some strange folks that will help you out, and others that want you to meet your demise. The worlds are filled with varied regions, main quests and of courses dozens of side quests to tackle. There’s always something to do, and almost too much gameplay quite honestly. You’re getting years of content compressed into one package. That’s sort of wild to think of.

This can also be experienced in cooperative play for up to four players online. This is a drop-in/drop-out sort of style. Matchmake for others, or even setup your own sort of game. The games scale depending on party, and the levels of players that are engaging within the action. When it comes to performance on the Nintendo Switch I was really blown away.

It’s not quite at the level of the other games, but the cel-shaded aesthetic helps a lot. I was seriously impressed by the high level of quality it provided when docked, or on the go. It also generally runs quite well, and the mix of visual with performance is well appreciated. It’s actually shocking how well it comes together, I was very pleased by that aspect. I should also mention the titles have gyro support for those that care about the feature, as I don’t.

The Conclusion

The Borderlands Legendary Collection on Nintendo Switch is exactly that, one incredible package of games that will provide hours of gameplay. You can hunt vaults, loot and chill with your friends to your heart’s content. You can seriously pack some hours into these games, and it’s great to revisit or try out for your first time.

It runs impressively well on the platform, these were some stellar ports for sure. It’s surprising that they can deliver the scope of this series well, while also keeping the entire experience of each game intact. You can also enjoy it all with others in coop play which is somewhat recommended for an even better time.

Battle bosses, take on the charismatically evil Handsome Jack or even face off on the moon. Go visit thrilling places across Pandora and enjoy one wide range of unique adventures. It’s a truly great time and these adventures have been some of my favorite experiences over the years. It’s well worth the time.

Read our Bioshock: The Collection Nintendo Switch Review
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Borderlands Legendary Collection Nintendo Switch Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by 2k Games

Rating Overall: 8.6