Pandora’s Massive Box

Another Switch review, another 2K Collection; this time it’s the turn of Borderlands, and this collection is stuffed with more game that Randy Pitchford’s hat is stuffed with rabbits.

It is hard to go back to such an old collection of games (the original Borderlands came out way back in 2009) and review them with modern game standards and sensibilities. Luckily,both as a game and a concept, Borderlands holds up very well, and due to the graphical style employed by Gearbox even the visuals stand the test of time. Something that can’t be said with many games from that era.

Platform: Nintendo Switch
Price: $49.99
Multiplayer: Yes – 4 Player Co-Op

The collection comes with the first three games in the series; Borderlands, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel; as well as almost all of the DLC that accompanied them. The only piece of DLC missing is the recently released Fight for Sanctuary DLC for Borderlands 2. That was meant to bridge the timeline between Borderlands 2 and 3 and was free when it initially released. Think of it as a marketing tool for the next game in the series. I can only imagine that this was left out as there are currently no plans to port over Borderlands 3. But even without that, you’re getting a shed load of extra stuff bundled in, including the added classes to play as.

The story revolves around a planet call Pandora; home to beasts, bandits and buried treasure… Well a secret vault anyway. It is where Vault Hunters go to ply their trades, and you will be stepping in to the shoes of one of them. As a newcomer the game allows the player to select their class, each with their own special perks and abilities and figuratively and literally step off the bus. Thrust in to a world where everyone wants to kill you, and that’s only if the Skags or Bullymongs don’t get you first. Borderlands is part FPS and part RPG. Kill people, earn XP to level up and unlock skills. Then use those skills to kill bigger and badder enemies. It’s a nice addictive hook that left me wanting to play for that little bit longer. It also helps that the game also sports a random number generator, but with guns.

There is loot for days here, and you will never be short of finding something new to point in a bandit’s face. There are the standard types of guns on offer; pistols, SMGs, rifles, LMGs, sniper rifles, rocket launchers and many, many more. But the hook here is that every weapon is randomized and has its own unique stats and bonuses. This can include the type of damage it does, how many bullets the chamber holds, the reload speed and raw power. At the time Gearbox boasted that this meant that there were millions of gun variants, and to be fair it does actually feel like every weapon you find it different. The loot drops are always targeted at your current level and because of this it is rare to find a gun that you can’t equip. If there is one problem I had with the whole loot system is that three of the games are stingy when it comes to inventory space, especially at the start of the game. This meant I spent a hell of a lot of time dropping guns to make room for new ones. You can of course sell any unwanted items at one of Marcus’ vending machines, but I still found myself running out of room all the time and there is nothing worse than that feeling of throwing something way that is worth cold hard cash.

Each of the games sport a selection of heroes to choose from; each with their own special ability and skill tree. There is enough variety to accommodate most types of action game fan. These include a soldier with a deployable turret, the sirens, who use psionic powers to gain the advantage in the battlefield, characters that do better with melee weapons and ones that prefer using long range weapons like sniper rifles. Out of all of the characters my favorite had to be the Mechromancer from Borderlands 2. She was original a DLC character, but comes included as standard here. Her special ability allowed her to call in a home-made Deathtrap robot who automatically targets enemies and either slashes at them or fries them. Each of the hero’s abilities are unique and definitely encourage multiple playthroughs. In fact the game offers multiple character slots, so there is no need to wait until the end of the game before trying out a new hero. You can swap them out as you choose. This comes in handy if you want to team up with up to three other players for some co-op action. Either online or local, up to four players can enter a game with their chosen hero and experience the game together. The games adjust the difficulty based on how many people are playing, so it will almost always offer a challenge to everyone in the party.

The quality of the ports here is outstanding. As I mentioned previously, due to the artistic style of the games, they play well with Nintendo’s handheld console and look sharp whether playing docked or portable. They also ran buttery smooth at 30fps and I can’t remember a time when I noticed any slowdown at all. Sure, they may not compare to the PC or current gen versions of the games, but they leave the Xbox 360 and PS3 ports in the dust and do well to showcase the Switch’s power.

But if there is one main complaint that I had with this collection; it is due to the nature of the platform it is on. The Switch offers mobile play and let’s be honest, chances are that if someone is buying this for the Switch it is most likely because of the appeal of portable play. But it just doesn’t feel right using the built-in controls for the Switch, especially when it came to shooting. Using a pro-controller was exactly as I expected it to be. But even with a very generous auto-aim option, trying to line up shots when playing in portable mode just felt off.

As Switch ports go, this is definitely up there with the best. Turn Me Up Games have done a great job is stuffing so much gameplay in to a small cartridge (even if the game will still take up over 12GB of space on your console or SD Card), and if you have never played these games before, then this really is a viable option. However, as with all three of the 2K Switch collections I cannot help but mention that these games are available on all modern consoles, and at a much cheaper price. So, if you already own a PC, PS4 or Xbox One, those might be the better ways to go.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.