

The studio opted to throw an overbearing amount of humor on top of its relatively generic world, which winds up missing far more than it hits.īasing the entire game around the divisive character of Tiny Tina might have been a riskier move than metrics would indicate as even the tweens that found her zany humor hilarious in Borderlands 2 are now in their early 20s.
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Granted, landsharks are more fun to shoot than any of the post-apocalyptic monsters in past Borderlands titles, but Gearbox doesn’t take full advantage of the freedom it has to do whatever it wants with the world. Instead of cranking every creature design to 11, it sticks to a lot of standard D&D foes. While the sky is the limit with its “tabletop game run by a hyperactive little girl” motif, Wonderlands winds up having a blasé fantasy setting rather than anything too inventive or outside of the norm. Borderlands 4 can’t borrow anything from this approach, but it is a smart way to give Wonderlands a unique spin while also paying tribute to the games that helped inspire it. Traversing the overworld is more interesting than going through menus and there are even some collectibles and puzzles mixed in to flesh it out. There are a lot of neat touches, such as bridges that are made from bottle caps that make the world feel as if was created by an amateur, which Tiny Tina certainly is. The most interesting addition to the Borderlands formula is a top-down overworld that takes a lot of inspiration from tabletop games. REVIEW: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Will Feature Full Cross-Play Support It’s disappointing to see Wonderlands struggle to find its own identity and not take more chances, but this established Borderlands loop is comfortable in its own way, even if it is unexcitingly recognizable. That means there is a constant variety to the guns you’ll be firing, but there’s also no real way to master those weapons (and any strategies they may have) as you’ll rarely stick with the same firearm for more than an hour.Įxperimenting with Wonderlands‘ aforementioned magical spells to find combos and synergies is the newest part of the combat loop, which is an enjoyable addition since it both fits the game’s style and adds a new twist to the familiar gameplay. While melee weapons are given a full slot and aren’t completely useless like in most Borderlands titles, the primarily gun-based combat is still the same loot grind that will see you always finding new weapons and abilities as you go on. Grenades are replaced with magical spells, goblins take the place of tinks, and skeleton variants are used as the default baddie in place of Borderlands‘ psycho. Given that it’s been nine years, one might expect a bigger break from the Borderlands formula than what Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands ultimately provides, but it’s still an enjoyable diversion that feels just different enough to make it a good time.įor better or worse, Wonderlands is mainly just Borderlands cosplaying as a fantasy game.
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To tide fans over until the inevitable Borderlands 4, Gearbox Software has released a spin-off that expands upon the popular Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep expansion for Borderlands 2 that was released back in 2013 ( and as a standalone in 2021).
