Dear Crypt hunters, pack of misfits seeking fortune, Pandora is back in your worthless and well-armed hands. The saga of Borderlands back to arrogance on the screen of the Nintendo home console. After collecting hits on Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 4, Mobile, PlayStation Vita, Borderlands finally lands on Nintendo Switch - without losing a drop of polish - with Borderlands legendary collection, a remastered featuring Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, complete with DLC and extra content.
The Borderlands saga certainly needs no introduction: everyone knows one of the craziest and most adrenaline-pumping FPS RPG elements ever, and everyone enjoyed fast, brutal gameplay packed with devastating and unlikely weapons.
Everyone has followed the extravagant follies of a ClapTrap inviting us to carry out the most disparate missions in hostile territory and teeming with any mentally ill or absurd animal you can imagine and everyone has enjoyed the chance to tear apart enemies in a sea of blood.
Borderlands Legendary Collection is all of this and more - the boys of 2K Games e Gearbox Software have packed a greedy and inviting package that lands in a restored version on Switch bringing a wave of action and madness that fans will certainly appreciate.
First of all it should be noted that although the price cannot be said to be content given that we are talking about dated and heavily discounted software on other platforms, what the Borderlands Legendary Collection offers on Nintendo Switch is a mass of exceptional content. We are talking about hundreds and hundreds of hours of gameplay, between different titles, DLCs, extra contents, always provided you try your hand at all the secondary quests, a practically obligatory choice to level just enough to be able to follow the main story.
The selectable characters are all those present in the classic series including those that were originally "sold" separately. The approaches to adventure therefore become multiple and suitable for any style: from hunter to tank passing through assassins and soldiers, every facet is treated in detail, in bonuses and skills that can be developed through tokens or skill points.
The size and variety of weapons then marked a turning point in the FPS genre, remaining at very high levels even today. Apart from the type itself (sniper rifle, submachine gun, SMG, revolver, rocket launcher etc.), each weapon is different from the others in terms of fire rate, power, magazine capacity and reload speed. In addition there is also the manufacturer that differentiates the weapons by intrinsic characteristics giving the player the possibility to choose his style down to the smallest detail and not only to equip the weapon that has the highest damage.
A sniper rifle that does 260 damage but which has lower scope, low rate of fire, and slow reload rate can serenely overshadow to make room for 180 damage correlated from high optical zoom a higher rate and a nice capacious charger. If you then add the elemental damage that some weapons have, the package is complete: corrosive, explosive, electric and incendiary elements are some of the possibilities offered that allow you to prefer one weapon over the other.
And don't forget grenades, mods and shields with the most disparate characteristics. The weapons sector combined with the possibility of obtaining different damage depending on the affected area offer a complete, adrenaline-fueled and engaging FPS package as much today as yesterday.
The attention to detail is the same as the original title also for what concerns the enemies and their characteristics: the variety of beasts and misfits that you will meet on your path always offers exciting ideas bypassing the monotony of having to face the same areas for different quests. The same can be said for the settings that are almost always original and which encourage complete exploration, also thanks to a reduced loading of the various areas.
The waiting times in Borderlands Legendary Collection are shorter than in the original title and not particularly invasive.
But let's see what specifically what the Borderlands Legendary Collection offers in terms of remastering. First of all, let's talk about resolution and frame rate. Borderlands Legendary Collection is designed to deliver 1080p in dock mode and 720 in portability with a frame rate capped at 30 fps.
Let's say thought because, although the work is truly remarkable, perfection is not absolute. In portable mode both Borderlands and Borderlands 2 offer 720p and 30 fps almost granite, without wavering in any context; in dock mode some slight drop is noticeable in the most hectic situations but to be honest nothing that can affect the final result which still offers a real and solid 1080p at 30 fps, a situation that Switch has rarely seen.
Where Borderlands Legendary Collection lacks a bit more, without getting nerve-wracking or burdensome in terms of gameplay, is on Borderlands The Pre-Sequel, which suffers from a few more drops in frame rate in moments full of onscreen activity: we would like to clarify that these are subtleties that do not undermine the experience and that the writer reports only for the record.
What we liked the least is the Pre-Sequel's clean-up graphics. In the other two chapters of the Borderlands Legendary Collection everything is sharper, vivid and clear, almost as if the fluidity is greater, while in the prequel it seems a less optimized thread. Luckily the guys at 2K Games are attentive and don't skimp on patches, so we're sure things will improve as soon as user feedback highlights the anomalies. In any case, don't think you have an incomplete or disappointing product because that's not what the Borderlands Legendary Collection offers.
By popular demand of motion control fans, Borderlands Legendary Collection also offers this feature, which we didn't appreciate. In our opinion, such a fast gameplay does not lend itself well to motion control, but these are personal tastes: we appreciated the TV mode with Pro-Controller. The peculiarities of online and multiplayer remain unchanged, which not only allows two players to try their hand at the adventure in local co-op, but which also allows online multiplayer, free to everyone, to friends or by invitation only, up to a maximum of 4 players.
The Borderlands Legendary Collection experience played in company is nothing short of exceptional, even if the lack of an integrated voice chat really feels a lot.
Borderlands Legendary Collection offers an incredible package with a well-done remaster and an impressive amount of content. The minimalist and cardboard graphics, the good RPG sector and the exceptional FPS gameplay offer a rich, fun and satisfying title today as yesterday, aged very well. We also report the possibility of buying the first chapter, Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, or to buy Borderlands: The Handsome Collection which includes Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-sequel. If, on the other hand, you want to fill up, Borderlands Legendary Collection is a purchase that deserves the money spent: a remastering of a milestone of FPS that still conquers and fascinates today.
