Tales from the Borderlands Review

[dropcap]I[/dropcap]t was with great excitement that I snatched up a heavily discounted copy of Tales from the Borderlands during the Christmas sales; I loved The Wolf Among Us, and The Walking Dead had me on the verge of tears with its magisterial tragedy. Another title from Telltale Games was most welcome, and collaborating with Gearbox would surely put another feather in both companies’ caps.

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The launch of Borderlands in 2009 sparked great interest from gamers, mostly for the trailer’s pledge of “87 bazillion guns”. Set in the deadly world of Pandora (not the one from Avatar), we were treated to an action packed, four player co-op “role playing shooter” experience.

Three years later, Borderlands 2 surpassed its predecessor in every aspect, and brought a solid narrative to the polished gameplay. So surely in the hands of the master storytellers, Tales couldn’t help but be a success? Of course, the shift into a Telltale story game means a sacrifice of any gameplay beyond point and click complexity. But the world provided by the Borderlands franchise has always felt big enough for more stories, and so it is that we join Rhys, a Hyperion middle-manager with ambition and a grudge, and Fiona, a Pandoran con artist going for a big score, as they recount an adventure worthy of the greatest of vault hunters to a masked stranger who holds them captive.

the world provided by the Borderlands franchise has always felt big enough for more stories, and so it is that we join Rhys, a Hyperion middle-manager with ambition and a grudge, and Fiona, a Pandoran con artist going for a big score

Starting with the botched business deal-come-scam that throws them together, the unlikely pair and their allies are thrown around by events far out of their control; racing with psychos, fighting the many monsters of Pandora, and battling a digitised and terrifyingly handsome inner demon.

Four vault hunters from the original games make reappearances, along with a host of other characters, as the tale ricochets through Helios and Old Haven on a winding route to an intriguing finale. I have to say that when compared with previous Telltale games, Tales is a lot kinder on the heartstrings. It’s not without emotional moments, but this journey goes more for gags than for gloom.

As a fan of the Borderlands series, I enjoyed visiting old characters and having more interaction with the world than is available through the business end of a gun. However, when gameplay is limited to dialogue trees, quick time events and object hunting, the story is all that the player has to focus on. I don’t mean to say that it’s bad, far from it; but there are shortcomings.

A few too many cameos from old characters, enjoyable as they were, have gotten in the way of bonding with the main characters – something key to the success of a plot centred game such as Tales. This weakened connection becomes apparent as characters grow through the story.

The Walking Dead had me hooked because of the weight of every decision – my choices there had clear and often quite visceral consequences – but in Tales I never felt quite so involved.

The common complaint with any Telltale game is that your choices don’t ultimately affect the plot. Although perhaps true in part, I find the heart of these stories comes from a real investment in the characters, and watching how they are changed through my actions. The Walking Dead had me hooked because of the weight of every decision – my choices there had clear and often quite visceral consequences – but in Tales I never felt quite so involved.

Perhaps it was because of the choice to have two playable characters, both with different interests, but the developments in character felt less personal than in previous games, as though I were watching from the sidelines. All that said, I really enjoyed playing Tales.

The story is well written and immensely entertaining, and the tone of the Borderlands franchise is carried over wonderfully. The violent Pandoran lifestyle is seen through the eyes of the more ordinary citizens, rather than through the scope of a powerful vault hunter, and this lends some weight and difficulty to the more mundane tasks. Combined with the epic world created by Gearbox, this allows for some truly brilliant comedy – shouts of support from a bandit you are trying to throttle, and the red hot burns of a robot’s attitude are just some of the many experiences in store for you.

I don’t think Tales will be considered in the same class of story as The Walking Dead, and nor should it. Equally, as a gameplay experience, it will never compare to the rest of the Borderlands franchise. Those looking for bleeding-from-the-eyes non-stop action will have to go elsewhere; but anyone looking for another trip to Pandora is welcome, and will be richly rewarded by a knockout comedy about a fight for control and survival in a world with other plans. Come on, Catch-A-Ride!

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