Tales from the Borderlands
Episode 1: Zer0 Sum
If Telltale Games have proven one thing over the past few years its that they know how to make a videogame off existing licensed material. With names such as Back to the Future, Jurassic Park, The Walking Dead and the Fables comic books under their belt already and soon to be tackling Game of Thrones, they are dev who know what they are good at and people want them to adapt their well known stories into videogames. So what happens when they have to adapt a videogame into a videogame?
The Borderlands franchise has been something of an accidental success, from a simple RPG/FPS hybrid that simply existed to mock itself it has become one of this generations most influential new IP's, allowing itself to evolve into new areas each instalment and not afraid to take risks when making a new entry, and Tales reflects that kind of attitude perfectly.
Turning a series famous for its open world shooting and dungeon crawling style loot based gameplay into a linear point & click adventure game must have been no easy task but the opening chapter to Tales from the Borderlands proves that its not a genre that defines the game but the people behind it.
Taking place after the events of Borderlands 2, you play as Rhys and Fiona. Two dirty lying cheaters who come from polar opposite ends of the societal class system. Rhys being an ex-Hyperion executive (more on that in a second) and Fiona being a swindler living on Pandora, two two meet through trying to screw different people over and being forced to work together to meet a common goal.
Rhys' motivation stems from having recently lost his job at Hyperion, trying to get the recently deceased Handsome Jack's job. After being conned out of it by his nemesis Vasquez, Rhys' plans to get back at him by stealing the Vault Key Vasquez is planning to buy. However when Fiona interrupts the deal and the money is stolen by a bandit boss, Bossanova; Rhys, Fiona and their various acquaintances must join together to get back what they all want...the money.
I cant really delve too much more into the story as Fiona's motivations are treading into spoiler territory and as usual with Telltale games, its all about the story. But Tales provides one of the best starts to a Telltale series to date and also a great expansion to the Borderlands universe.
Its recommended you are a Borderlands fan when going into Tales as many events from previous games are brought up and have quite a significant impact on the story. However if you are a newcomer things are explained reasonably well enough for you to be able to follow what's going on.
Tales will feel very familiar for those of you who have played a Telltale game before, specifically The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. You move your character around with the left stick, move your cursor with the right and interact with the face buttons. Tales is also action sequence heavy so expect to see more of them QTE's and fast paced cursor movement.
Alongside this are new gameplay additions specific to Tales. First up you have Rhys' ECHO Eye, this allows him to scan objects in the environment and interact with computer terminals. He also has a mechanical arm which allows him to interact with various Hyperion equipment including the Hyperion mainframe and loader bots.
Fiona can loot cash from loot crates and dead bodies and then spend that dough on various story related objects, the fancier the object the more expensive it is.
None of these new abilities, besides perhaps the ECHO eye is explored much in this first episode and therefore does make their inclusion seem questionable as they don't add much to the experience, hopefully however this will change in upcoming episodes.
Tales from the Borderlands retains the series trademark cel-shaded visual style, though this has been common place in the last three Telltale games, it does come off as more Borderlands than Telltale. Tales is also the most reliable Telltale game in terms of technical performance in a long time. Yes there are still frame rate hiccups and yes the lip syncing is still miles and miles off where it should be. But the loading times are significantly smaller and the frame rate dips are a lot less frequent and nowhere near as drastic as they were in previous titles.
That being said, there has been no graphical upgrade from TWAU & TWD, meaning its still running on that same engine it has been for the past few years now.
Putting the technical hitches aside, the sound design is good. The characters vocal performances, from both new and returning, is superb and the background music is nice to listen to, really helping to add atmosphere. There were times however when the action started getting a bit hectic where the sound would cut out for a few seconds or become distorted, so make sure your volume isn't up too loud on your fancy new speaker system.
For a first episode, Tales from the Borderlands does nearly everything right. With its only setbacks being that the new mechanics weren't introduced enough and that the same technical issues Telltale have had for years are still plaguing new games. Besides that and the fact that returning character only seem to be there for fan service rather than actual plot development, Tales from the Borderlands could be one of Telltale's best series yet.
The Borderlands franchise has been something of an accidental success, from a simple RPG/FPS hybrid that simply existed to mock itself it has become one of this generations most influential new IP's, allowing itself to evolve into new areas each instalment and not afraid to take risks when making a new entry, and Tales reflects that kind of attitude perfectly.
Turning a series famous for its open world shooting and dungeon crawling style loot based gameplay into a linear point & click adventure game must have been no easy task but the opening chapter to Tales from the Borderlands proves that its not a genre that defines the game but the people behind it.
Taking place after the events of Borderlands 2, you play as Rhys and Fiona. Two dirty lying cheaters who come from polar opposite ends of the societal class system. Rhys being an ex-Hyperion executive (more on that in a second) and Fiona being a swindler living on Pandora, two two meet through trying to screw different people over and being forced to work together to meet a common goal.
Rhys' motivation stems from having recently lost his job at Hyperion, trying to get the recently deceased Handsome Jack's job. After being conned out of it by his nemesis Vasquez, Rhys' plans to get back at him by stealing the Vault Key Vasquez is planning to buy. However when Fiona interrupts the deal and the money is stolen by a bandit boss, Bossanova; Rhys, Fiona and their various acquaintances must join together to get back what they all want...the money.
I cant really delve too much more into the story as Fiona's motivations are treading into spoiler territory and as usual with Telltale games, its all about the story. But Tales provides one of the best starts to a Telltale series to date and also a great expansion to the Borderlands universe.
Its recommended you are a Borderlands fan when going into Tales as many events from previous games are brought up and have quite a significant impact on the story. However if you are a newcomer things are explained reasonably well enough for you to be able to follow what's going on.
Tales will feel very familiar for those of you who have played a Telltale game before, specifically The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. You move your character around with the left stick, move your cursor with the right and interact with the face buttons. Tales is also action sequence heavy so expect to see more of them QTE's and fast paced cursor movement.
Alongside this are new gameplay additions specific to Tales. First up you have Rhys' ECHO Eye, this allows him to scan objects in the environment and interact with computer terminals. He also has a mechanical arm which allows him to interact with various Hyperion equipment including the Hyperion mainframe and loader bots.
Fiona can loot cash from loot crates and dead bodies and then spend that dough on various story related objects, the fancier the object the more expensive it is.
None of these new abilities, besides perhaps the ECHO eye is explored much in this first episode and therefore does make their inclusion seem questionable as they don't add much to the experience, hopefully however this will change in upcoming episodes.
Tales from the Borderlands retains the series trademark cel-shaded visual style, though this has been common place in the last three Telltale games, it does come off as more Borderlands than Telltale. Tales is also the most reliable Telltale game in terms of technical performance in a long time. Yes there are still frame rate hiccups and yes the lip syncing is still miles and miles off where it should be. But the loading times are significantly smaller and the frame rate dips are a lot less frequent and nowhere near as drastic as they were in previous titles.
That being said, there has been no graphical upgrade from TWAU & TWD, meaning its still running on that same engine it has been for the past few years now.
Putting the technical hitches aside, the sound design is good. The characters vocal performances, from both new and returning, is superb and the background music is nice to listen to, really helping to add atmosphere. There were times however when the action started getting a bit hectic where the sound would cut out for a few seconds or become distorted, so make sure your volume isn't up too loud on your fancy new speaker system.
For a first episode, Tales from the Borderlands does nearly everything right. With its only setbacks being that the new mechanics weren't introduced enough and that the same technical issues Telltale have had for years are still plaguing new games. Besides that and the fact that returning character only seem to be there for fan service rather than actual plot development, Tales from the Borderlands could be one of Telltale's best series yet.
+Great New Characters
+Still Retains the Borderlands Humour +Looks the Part +...Just Borderlands -Technical Issues |
9/10 Ben Hughes @potatoes351 |
Episode 2: Atlas Mugged
It's been an agonising wait for the second episode to Telltale's Borderlands game but boy oh boy was the wait worth it. Episode 2, Atlas Mugged presents what is a refreshing change of pace for Telltale games in quite some time. What it presents is a seamless blend of action and story without dramatic pacing changes every few minutes.
The episode opens in the bunker that episode 1 finished in, with our heroes...or should I say crooks, Hyperion suit Rhys and street swindler Fiona, in possession of a map showing the location of a new Vault on Pandora and information on an Atlas project called the 'Gortys Project'.
Over the next two hours you'll spend your time helping Rhys and Vaughn get out of a sandy situation and understand why the ruthless Handsome Jack is appearing as a holographic vision to Rhys. As well as aiding Fiona and Sasha to escape a group of bounty hunters after their heads.
Expect a few new faces as well as some old ones, including Janey Springs from the Pre-Sequel.
Ultimately I cant delve into much more detail as that's where the secrets to this episode lie and that's what makes it so good, but rest assured that it all leads up to an exciting and pule pounding cliffhanger.
Technically Tales from the Borderlands is on par with the last episode. On current gen systems the game runs fine with few hiccups and reasonably good loading times. On last gen however its the same old story, hopefully this is one of the last titles to use the current Telltale engine as its in dire need of an upgrade.
On a whole, Atlas Mugged is a great follow up to an outstanding (and arguable one of Telltale's finest) opening episodes. Its funny, its action packed and its choc-full of story not only in terms of Rhys and Fiona but also in terms of the larger Borderlands universe.
As always, its just such a shame we have to wait for the next episode, hopefully there will be less of a wait this time round.
The episode opens in the bunker that episode 1 finished in, with our heroes...or should I say crooks, Hyperion suit Rhys and street swindler Fiona, in possession of a map showing the location of a new Vault on Pandora and information on an Atlas project called the 'Gortys Project'.
Over the next two hours you'll spend your time helping Rhys and Vaughn get out of a sandy situation and understand why the ruthless Handsome Jack is appearing as a holographic vision to Rhys. As well as aiding Fiona and Sasha to escape a group of bounty hunters after their heads.
Expect a few new faces as well as some old ones, including Janey Springs from the Pre-Sequel.
Ultimately I cant delve into much more detail as that's where the secrets to this episode lie and that's what makes it so good, but rest assured that it all leads up to an exciting and pule pounding cliffhanger.
Technically Tales from the Borderlands is on par with the last episode. On current gen systems the game runs fine with few hiccups and reasonably good loading times. On last gen however its the same old story, hopefully this is one of the last titles to use the current Telltale engine as its in dire need of an upgrade.
On a whole, Atlas Mugged is a great follow up to an outstanding (and arguable one of Telltale's finest) opening episodes. Its funny, its action packed and its choc-full of story not only in terms of Rhys and Fiona but also in terms of the larger Borderlands universe.
As always, its just such a shame we have to wait for the next episode, hopefully there will be less of a wait this time round.
+Excellent Pacing
+Tons Added To The Borderlands Universe +Bro! -Still Held Back By Dated Game Engine |
9/10
Ben Hughes @potatoes351 |
Episode 3: Catch A Ride
Its been 3 months since the last episode of Tales from the Borderlands and I have to admit, I actually forgot what happened in the last episode so bear with me if this review is a little...well not great.
So yes finally we have hit the mid-season point of Tales from the Borderlands (7 months after the first episode might I just add) which began with Fiona and Rhys in a bit of a sticky situation regarding the Gordys project.
So upon retrieving a spherical device and escaping and Atlas facility they are attacked by a lady known as Queenpin Vallory, August's mother. Once greetings are given in the usual Borderlands fashion the team learns that the sphere is Gordys itself and it will guide them to the vault they seek, but first it needs an upgrade...which is where episode 3 comes in.
In all honesty if there is such thing as downtime in this series I haven't seen it yet and I like that. Much like Borderlands it never takes a moment to sit back and let it sink in, before you know it you're on the move and doing something equally explosive and exciting. However also in Borderlands fashion, the excitement is over far too quickly and the episode comes off as short, being only an hour and a half in length. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting hours upon hours of gameplay here but we waited 3 months for barely 90 minutes!
Luckily the episode is good, very good, and also extremely funny much like its predecessors; this could shape up to be Telltale's best series yet however this does not excuse the simply unreasonable release schedule.
The episode ran relatively flawlessly though, with only minor frame rate hiccups entering and exiting loading sequences. Which for a Telltale game is almost unheard of, so perhaps the longer development time did some good in the long run.
As a whole this episode not only provides a continuation to Rhys & Fiona's dangerous hunt for the Vault, but it also provides existing Borderlands fans a lot more incentive to play the game thanks to various appearances from existing characters and some pretty major events that affect the whole Borderlands universe.
Tales from the Borderlands is shaping up to be something special, but its rocky release schedule holds it back from being superb. You would think that by now that Telltale would have managed to work out regular release schedules for its games.
So yes finally we have hit the mid-season point of Tales from the Borderlands (7 months after the first episode might I just add) which began with Fiona and Rhys in a bit of a sticky situation regarding the Gordys project.
So upon retrieving a spherical device and escaping and Atlas facility they are attacked by a lady known as Queenpin Vallory, August's mother. Once greetings are given in the usual Borderlands fashion the team learns that the sphere is Gordys itself and it will guide them to the vault they seek, but first it needs an upgrade...which is where episode 3 comes in.
In all honesty if there is such thing as downtime in this series I haven't seen it yet and I like that. Much like Borderlands it never takes a moment to sit back and let it sink in, before you know it you're on the move and doing something equally explosive and exciting. However also in Borderlands fashion, the excitement is over far too quickly and the episode comes off as short, being only an hour and a half in length. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting hours upon hours of gameplay here but we waited 3 months for barely 90 minutes!
Luckily the episode is good, very good, and also extremely funny much like its predecessors; this could shape up to be Telltale's best series yet however this does not excuse the simply unreasonable release schedule.
The episode ran relatively flawlessly though, with only minor frame rate hiccups entering and exiting loading sequences. Which for a Telltale game is almost unheard of, so perhaps the longer development time did some good in the long run.
As a whole this episode not only provides a continuation to Rhys & Fiona's dangerous hunt for the Vault, but it also provides existing Borderlands fans a lot more incentive to play the game thanks to various appearances from existing characters and some pretty major events that affect the whole Borderlands universe.
Tales from the Borderlands is shaping up to be something special, but its rocky release schedule holds it back from being superb. You would think that by now that Telltale would have managed to work out regular release schedules for its games.
+Absolutely Hilarious
+Action Packed +Lots of Returning Characters +Excellent Pacing +Good Technical Polish -Too Long A Wait For Too Little |
9/10
Ben Hughes @potatoes351 |
Episode 4: Escape Plan Bravo
Well I certainly didn't expect to be writing this review quite so soon after the last one, I was thinking Christmas at the earliest judging by the simply awful release schedule this game has had, but no Tales from the Borderlands sneaked in under the radar to our digital marketplaces with barely a whisper of it's announcement, wonder why that was eh Telltale?
It's getting to the point now where it feels like Telltale seem to not care about it's Borderlands baby as much as it did it's other children and whilst this isn't a bad episode, nor have we had one so far, by this point in the series it absolutely feels like something is missing in TftB.
So after the explosive finale of episode 3 and our heroes held at gunpoint by Vallory, it seems she has a proposition for them. Help her access the vault and she will spare their lives; the only problem is the last thing they need to access the vault is a beacon that is being stores all the way up on Helios station in Handsome Jack's office.
So it seems our team must build a space ship, fly up to Helios, infiltrate Jack's office without being noticed, steal the thingy and run on back to Pandora...piece of cake right?
Now whilst the story is certainly exciting and well written, not to mention a great expansion of the Borderlands universe...it has never quite managed to really grab your attention and hold it there. Escape Plan Bravo does try in some significant ways to try to hold your attention, not to mention attempting one hell of a cliffhanger, but ultimately it leaves you not as excited as you would think, nor do any of the episodes real hard hitting moments actually seem hard hitting. Some would put this down to borderlands humour killing the mood, but as we have seen from Borderlands 2 and some sections of the Pre-Sequel, it is completely possible for Borderlands to have these more touching moments that Tales from the Borderlands seems to fail pulling off.
In comparison to the other episodic series I'm currently playing, Life is Strange, I am simply not that fussed about Escape Plan Bravo having ended or the events that occurred in it, but during LiS' 4th episode I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire running time, cried and even shouted at the screen in anger during the final scene. It appears that TftB lacks the weight that other episodic games currently have, including previous Telltale titles such as The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead.
The episode runs relatively smoothly with only small frame rate issues and few loading times, the standard affair we expect from the Telltlae tool.
So how will our adventure end? Will we open the Vault of the Traveller? What will Vallory do to us? What will the A.I of Handsome Jack do next? And most importantly, who is the guy interrogating Rhys and Fiona for the information in the first place? Well, looks like we have to wait to find out and sadly, I'm not on the edge of my seat in anticipation.
It's getting to the point now where it feels like Telltale seem to not care about it's Borderlands baby as much as it did it's other children and whilst this isn't a bad episode, nor have we had one so far, by this point in the series it absolutely feels like something is missing in TftB.
So after the explosive finale of episode 3 and our heroes held at gunpoint by Vallory, it seems she has a proposition for them. Help her access the vault and she will spare their lives; the only problem is the last thing they need to access the vault is a beacon that is being stores all the way up on Helios station in Handsome Jack's office.
So it seems our team must build a space ship, fly up to Helios, infiltrate Jack's office without being noticed, steal the thingy and run on back to Pandora...piece of cake right?
Now whilst the story is certainly exciting and well written, not to mention a great expansion of the Borderlands universe...it has never quite managed to really grab your attention and hold it there. Escape Plan Bravo does try in some significant ways to try to hold your attention, not to mention attempting one hell of a cliffhanger, but ultimately it leaves you not as excited as you would think, nor do any of the episodes real hard hitting moments actually seem hard hitting. Some would put this down to borderlands humour killing the mood, but as we have seen from Borderlands 2 and some sections of the Pre-Sequel, it is completely possible for Borderlands to have these more touching moments that Tales from the Borderlands seems to fail pulling off.
In comparison to the other episodic series I'm currently playing, Life is Strange, I am simply not that fussed about Escape Plan Bravo having ended or the events that occurred in it, but during LiS' 4th episode I was on the edge of my seat throughout the entire running time, cried and even shouted at the screen in anger during the final scene. It appears that TftB lacks the weight that other episodic games currently have, including previous Telltale titles such as The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead.
The episode runs relatively smoothly with only small frame rate issues and few loading times, the standard affair we expect from the Telltlae tool.
So how will our adventure end? Will we open the Vault of the Traveller? What will Vallory do to us? What will the A.I of Handsome Jack do next? And most importantly, who is the guy interrogating Rhys and Fiona for the information in the first place? Well, looks like we have to wait to find out and sadly, I'm not on the edge of my seat in anticipation.
+Very Very Funny
+Great Title Sequence +Some Really Good Gameplay Sections -No Emotional Impact From Intended Sections -It's Simply Not Exciting |
7/10
Ben Hughes @potatoes351 |
Episode 5: The Vault of the Traveler
Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands has been one of their most humorous and action packed adventure games in the history of the developer. Forming the unlikely alliance of the classic point & click adventure game genre that Telltale began a renaissance of with 2011's The Walking Dead; and Gearbox Software's balls to the wall role playing shooter Borderlands.
Each episode has consistently proved that despite the scepticism, it was a match made in heaven; however the unreliable and lengthy release schedule has proved to hinder the series greatly and has stopped it from receiving the commercial success it should have received.
Picking up from the shocking finale of Escape Plan Bravo, our misfit gang are in a bit of a sticky situation and things only seem to be getting worse. Vallory has the team at gunpoint to open the vault for her. Fiona, Sasha and Gortys are have been found in Helios station by Yvette whilst just a few floors above them Rhys has been trapped by the digital Handsome Jack, who is now not only circulating throughout all of Helios' systems but also wanting to kill Rhys and steal his body so he can resume life in physical form.
If there is one thing Tales from the Borderlands does right, it's the sense of scale the game has and simply how much it has changed the Borderlands universe each episode. Before the opening credits even roll you are given a significant and huge in scale change to the world of Borderlands, one that the effects of which will be seen in sequels.
The rest of the episode follows suit with very little downtime between action. The episode seems to flow from set-piece to set-piece each of which being more epic than the previous. This does mean that the episode contains significantly fewer big choices for the player to make, but it does give Telltale some breathing room to provide a finale fitting of a Borderlands game.
Some players may dislike the episodes over-reliance on QTE's, but it's a combat heavy episode and it delivers these sections with more than enough Borderlands humour to make them not only bearable but actually very enjoyable.
The Vault of the Traveler seems like the exact polar opposite in gameplay to what Dontnod Entertainment's Life is Strange final episode was, both releasing on the same day. Whereas Life is Strange gave players agency over pretty much everything they came into contact with, allowing them to tailor the finale with numerous choices and heavy dialogue sections. Tales from the Borderlands instead employs the tactic of shoot first and ask questions later, allowing you to take on a digitised tyrant and a vault monster in well directed, epic action sequences. The final battle brings almost feels like Borderlands presents Pacific Rim in it's sheer size and absurdity.
But beyond all of this the story is still tied up nicely, with pretty much every loose end brought to a close, some returning cameo's from earlier in the series and the closest thing I have seen to a guarantee to seeing these characters return in another Borderlands game in the future, whether that be another Telltalle series or another main entry from Gearbox.
So is Tales from the Borderlands worth picking up if you've been waiting for it to be over before you start it? Without a doubt, in fact it will likely be a better experience playing these episodes in one go rather than having to put up with the simply ridiculous release schedule that has done nothing but do harm to an otherwise amazing game.
Tales from the Borderlands is the prime example of what can be achieved by changing up a games genre, but also a prime example of just how broken the delivery of episodic games is at this present time. Here's hoping the system gets a reform quickly to keep examples like this from ever happening again, especially from a developer such as Telltale Games.
Each episode has consistently proved that despite the scepticism, it was a match made in heaven; however the unreliable and lengthy release schedule has proved to hinder the series greatly and has stopped it from receiving the commercial success it should have received.
Picking up from the shocking finale of Escape Plan Bravo, our misfit gang are in a bit of a sticky situation and things only seem to be getting worse. Vallory has the team at gunpoint to open the vault for her. Fiona, Sasha and Gortys are have been found in Helios station by Yvette whilst just a few floors above them Rhys has been trapped by the digital Handsome Jack, who is now not only circulating throughout all of Helios' systems but also wanting to kill Rhys and steal his body so he can resume life in physical form.
If there is one thing Tales from the Borderlands does right, it's the sense of scale the game has and simply how much it has changed the Borderlands universe each episode. Before the opening credits even roll you are given a significant and huge in scale change to the world of Borderlands, one that the effects of which will be seen in sequels.
The rest of the episode follows suit with very little downtime between action. The episode seems to flow from set-piece to set-piece each of which being more epic than the previous. This does mean that the episode contains significantly fewer big choices for the player to make, but it does give Telltale some breathing room to provide a finale fitting of a Borderlands game.
Some players may dislike the episodes over-reliance on QTE's, but it's a combat heavy episode and it delivers these sections with more than enough Borderlands humour to make them not only bearable but actually very enjoyable.
The Vault of the Traveler seems like the exact polar opposite in gameplay to what Dontnod Entertainment's Life is Strange final episode was, both releasing on the same day. Whereas Life is Strange gave players agency over pretty much everything they came into contact with, allowing them to tailor the finale with numerous choices and heavy dialogue sections. Tales from the Borderlands instead employs the tactic of shoot first and ask questions later, allowing you to take on a digitised tyrant and a vault monster in well directed, epic action sequences. The final battle brings almost feels like Borderlands presents Pacific Rim in it's sheer size and absurdity.
But beyond all of this the story is still tied up nicely, with pretty much every loose end brought to a close, some returning cameo's from earlier in the series and the closest thing I have seen to a guarantee to seeing these characters return in another Borderlands game in the future, whether that be another Telltalle series or another main entry from Gearbox.
So is Tales from the Borderlands worth picking up if you've been waiting for it to be over before you start it? Without a doubt, in fact it will likely be a better experience playing these episodes in one go rather than having to put up with the simply ridiculous release schedule that has done nothing but do harm to an otherwise amazing game.
Tales from the Borderlands is the prime example of what can be achieved by changing up a games genre, but also a prime example of just how broken the delivery of episodic games is at this present time. Here's hoping the system gets a reform quickly to keep examples like this from ever happening again, especially from a developer such as Telltale Games.
+Epic, Action Packed Finale
+Absolutely Hilarious +Bonkers Battle Against The Traveller -Over-Reliance On QTE's |
9/10
Ben Hughes @potatoes351 |