If you ask me about my favorite game of all time, I probably respond with the Borderlands franchise. Yes, I grew up on Nintendo and became a massive fan of Mario, Zelda, Pokémon, Kirby, and many more of its IPs. But there is something about 2K’s Borderlands that keeps reeling me back in. I double dipped on these games so many times and completed more playthroughs then I can count, so it’s safe to say that I know Pandora and the moons like the back of my hand. I was happy 2K announced they would port the three main games (Borderlands 3 excluded) to the Nintendo Switch since I could relive my precious memories and let a whole new group of players meet the series. And boy, did they deliver.
Let’s give a quick summary of the story before diving into the games since it’s quite a fast franchise, with a total of five games, three of which are available on the Nintendo Switch. The right order to play them (storywise) would be Borderlands, Borderlands The Pre-Sequel (also known as Borderlands 1,5), Borderlands 2, Tales from the Borderlands (Telltale Games) and Borderlands 3. When you ask me why I love them so much, it’s the storytelling and humor. I’m not the best of shooters, but the story of Borderlands made me conquer them all; oh and Claptrap, the main reason I keep coming back is probably Claptrap.
Story Summary:
The entire story of Borderlands is based around a mysterious alien race known as the Eridians who were the first settlers of the known universe. They left behind advanced technology in vaults, way beyond anything humanity had come up within the modern era. Weapons manufacturers eventually find out about the Eridian Vaults and start settling new planets and moons in an attempt to have dominion over the riches. Enter the Borderlands – The four original Vault Hunters, Roland, Mordecai, Brick, and Lilith, start their adventure in the town of Fyrestone, pushed along by the voice of a siren known as Angel. The disgruntled former employees of the weapon manufacturers have transformed Pandora into a playground of chaos that the main characters have to push through to pick up the pieces of the Vault key, which will allow them access to the unknown Eridian riches. I’ll leave the rest up to you.
Since Borderlands 2 came after the first one, we are left with many plotholes since there is a considerable time skip between Borderlands 1 and 2. Luckily there was the elusive (and underrated Pre-Sequel. Four new hunters, Athena, Nisha, Claptrap (yes, he is playable), and Wilhelm join the fray. The new team heads out to help an endearing, low-ranking Hyperion engineer known as Jack on the moon base of Helios. The group enables Jack’s descent into madness as they wipe out the Lost Legion, search for the vault and build an army. Defying Roland and Lilith from the first game, they reach the vault, and Jack picks up an illuminating artifact depicting the awakening of a warrior and a new vault on Pandora. Lilith scars jack by breaking the artifact, and Jack loses the plot, becoming Handsome Jack, the evil leader of Hyperion and antagonist of Borderlands 2.
Up to speed? Let’s enter Borderlands 2. We are met with a hand of new vault hunters, namely Gaige, Krieg, Maya, Salvador, Zer0 and Axton. They arrive on Handsome Jack-controlled Pandora in search of a bigger and better vault. Throughout the game, the new vault hunters rescue the old vault hunters (Lilith, Brick, Mordecai, and Roland) and join a resistance movement against Hyperion known as Crimson Raiders. Since I don’t want to spoil anything about some story relations formed between 1, 1.5, and 2, I’ll leave the rest up to you to discover. Let’s put on some music and dive into gameplay—credits to Dan Bull for rapping the recap.
Borderlands Gameplay:
The main goal of Borderlands is leveling up your vault hunter of choice, giving him or her (or it?) a set of weapons and looter-shooter your way across the map. The concept is easy enough and well done. Each entry starts with a sort of tutorial, which hands you the basics before letting you loose into the world of Pandora (or a space station, or any other map entry). Since Borderlands 1 initially released in 2009, I was happy to see the game still holds up to today’s standards. No, it’s not the best entry in the series since you have to carry med packs and other supplies to stay alive, but the story is still solid. And I already hear you PC-gamers argue; it’s 11 years old, no wonder the Nintendo Switch can run this! Wrong. I tested the game in both handheld mode and docked mode and noticed a stable image and processing of the game. Since I can’t see how many frames per second a game runs at, I was happy to read from some fellow reviewers (as suspected) that Borderlands runs at a stable 30 fps (which is enough). Were there flaws in this entry? Well, not flaws, just the fact I had to get used to playing with a controller. Most of my playthroughs were on PC with Mordecai and Lilith. Since it’s either sniping or some close-combat fighting, this was new to me. The team behind the console port did a great job of making it accessible, though.
Borderlands 2
What about Borderlands 2 then? Ah, yes, the successor to the original. My personal favorite amongst the three currently available (since it’s close call between 2 and Tales of). This entry made some significant improvements in the quality of life elements. For example, Stimpacks instead of med packs you’ll carry with you and a much more substantial role for Claptrap. Since it launched initially after 1, without the knowledge from 1.5, it left most of its players with more questions than answers. It did, however, pack a punch and did once again on the Nintendo Switch. I went with my personal favorite, the Mechamancer (instead of Zero, since I just can’t adjust to his playstyle) and had my fight with the Bullymong, Captain Flynth, turned Lilith into a Firey Deity and much more. It felt familiar, and I had a blast. I could play Borderlands, on a handheld device while enjoying some nice Pentecost-weather (since it’s a national holiday). Borderlands 2 still packs the same humor, fun, and annoying quests that took me forever on the original version. Again, I was surprised how smooth and pleasant the game looked—another great addition, with little to no annoyances.
Borderlands 1.5
Which leaves us with the Pre-Sequel (best word ever, am I right?). Probably one of the most underrated Borderlands games out there. It heavily divided the Borderlands fanbase on release. It was not developed by 2K HQ, but by 2K Australia. Could the same energy and quality be preserved? I finished a total of two playthroughs on The Pre-Sequel, the least amount among all of them. And that’s mostly because of the oxygen-element in the game. It revolves around the moon of Pandora, and its space station Helios. Each character has to carry an air supply (except Claptrap), and the game involves a lot of traveling (which can be hard due to less off oxygen). Due to this being the Legendary Edition, it comes with all DLC and adds a lot of characters to Borderlands 1.5 and 2. This gave me the chance to dive deeper into one of the DLC characters, instead of going with Wilhelm again. I highly recommend playing as the DLC character, since this will grant a whole new set of dialogue, which is worth a playthrough on its own. Still, it has the same elements, annoyances, and parts I fell in love with—a great addition to the Switch library with really decent loading times and excellent graphical output.
Docked vs. Handheld
I already mentioned it a few times, but I like to play my games on the handheld mode of the Switch. Sitting in my backyard, headphones on, and just enjoying where the game takes me. I like the freedom the Switch offers, and think it’s still one of its best features. With the release of the Witcher 3 on the Switch, I became more optimistic about the big guns dropping on the Switch. Yes, Borderlands is another port, but it’s a great one. It’s great in handheld mode and did not give me any finger cramps while sniping or rampaging through Pandora/Helios. So for those afraid of losing precious scores due to frame drops, don’t worry my minions, Claptrap is here to save the day! I don’t think there’s any loss of quality in either of these ports, so if you haven’t gotten around playing one of these entries, now is the perfect time to opt-in.
Conclusion:
With the Borderlands collection, 2K made a statement on the Nintendo Switch. We can port and develop games for the Nintendo Switch. Just look at the great content we put out with Bioshock and XCOM 2. Well, let’s put Borderlands on that list as well. The one thing I do find annoying is the large download size if you buy the game physically. Most of the games we review are digital, so we are used to it – but downloading another hefty amount of GBs when you expect it to be ‘ready-to-play’, could be a letdown to some of you out there. Overall, Borderlands is nothing new under the Pandoran sun (or the moon?). It delivers and does what it does best: being Borderlands – Guns, gore, and humor. Excuse me, while I’ll dive back into Pandora for some more looting and shooting.
