A more frustrating game overall that has a lot of good gameplay elements and flare that makes it unique, but it feels too heavily "rockstar" from it's writing and storytelling, it doesn't feel like it works well with the story it wants to tell. Especially with the non-linear angle they were going with.

gameplay is probably what carries the game the most, the level design is basic but the gun fights between enemies is fun, even with some sections being more obnoxious than others.

Also visually this game is exhausting. Graphics are top notch and I wanna say it's aged pretty well, but at the same time what makes it visually unappealing is the visual effects they go into. I get Max is a drunk guy now, but the way they go about it is awful.

very conflicting game from a lot of angles, very hard to get into properly compared to the first two.

it's a lot easier for me to settle with this one since a lot of indie shooters I've played, I kinda accidentally keep comparing them to how DUSK and Ultrakill feel in terms of mechanics. Which is more on me.

that said this is more Doom/Hexen than Quake and honestly it's a really good vibe. Lots of great enemy variety and level design with interesting bosses at the end of each episode. I think what makes it interesting is that you have an upgrade system for your character and weapons which makes it interesting and fun to play around with, especially some of the spells and how useful they can be during combat.

I think my biggest issue is the visuals though, and not so much the art style cause that rocks but more so just how the screen changes from being damaged. I'm not at risk of having a seizure but it does bother my eyes more often than I'd prefer. But I was able to get through the game with ease.

It feels weird to log this at the moment since I forgot to after initially beating it and all the DLC.

That said it's hard not to deny that this is not only a vast improvement over the first Borderlands not just in gameplay and level design. There's a lot of fun to play around with when it comes to it's combat and abilities, and the way some gun function due to their branding is actually pretty fun. I like the different combat encounters where you're not just dealing with bandits, but robot enemies, the wildlife that you encounter and a few random references with other properties.

I also think the story has much more of a punch to it and of course Handsome Jack as a villain is a highlight, a big egotistical guy who's wanting to open the vault wouldn't have been as good if he didn't have such a strong personality, and he does. Especially with taunting and conversing with the player/characters in the story.

The characters themselves also are much more fleshed out to, having much more compelling arcs, personalities and even a good amount of moments that really make them stand out.

That said, a lot of the humor can feel a lot more juvenile and kinda crass in a lot more clumsy ways, and some of the set pieces the game throws at you is a bit much. And how the game handles it's DLC levels feels weird because, unless you're playing on the NG+ difficulty or you're replaying it, a lot of these require you to be low level to utilize their loot and combat engagements, but if you've never played this game before you'll be spoiled on a ton of events. (this is mainly regarding the headhunter stuff and kind of the first two dlc areas you go to, otherwise the balance isn't that bad.)

I still had a fun time with it and it's probably my favorite for these replays I've been doing. For now, Borderlands marathon is on a small hiatus.

Much better than the first game overall, but that's not saying much given it's more or less the second game with a bit more backstory for Jack and how he became the person he is in the second game. and this game having a much more consistent narrative compared to the first but that's really about it.

Enemies are much more competent overall and the gunplay is significantly better throughout, I loved the different weapons you can play with and that the game doesn't exactly force you into a specific play style, you can go about it however you feel and it helps keep the gameplay fresh.

That said I'm not too keen on the O2 system, and I feel there is an issue of most areas sorta feeling the same. But that's more minor, I still feel like bosses are always weird to kinda go against but I do like the final boss in concept but the ending is great honestly and I think that's why it stays at 3 and a half for now.

(playing it slightly in chronological order rather than release so BL2 is next.)

it's a decent starting point to like, a really well known and popular franchise at this point but it's got a lot of issues. Mainly the story and quest structure is awful and it feels like it's lacking a lot of it's charm that made the other games fun to play.

There's a couple of good highlights but it almost feels like you're doing a lot more busy work than needed and it gets to a point where it feels like you're going through the motions in a bland way, it's a very ugly game that I think would've been made even worse if they stuck with the original art style they had from the beginning. (I'm sorry but the realistic look would've killed this game but that's just how I feel.)

The gameplay shines and there is a somewhat decent amount of enemy variety when going through different places. For the most part you fight bandits but there's other alien creatures that help break up some of the monotony and bosses are a good highlight, but also kinda whatever a lot of the times.

Vehicles are kinda alright but the vehicle combat isn't fun to go through, I'm not sure if it's me or just the fact that I'm not always great with aiming but some of this gets a bit annoying when trying to go through certain areas. And it's more annoying in side quests trying to take out vehicles and then having yours being destroyed cause 3 enemy cars were circling you.

The biggest issue I have is that for some odd reason the Fov sucks ass, it feels like you're in a tunnel and it's incredibly hard to gauge enemy distance and how far you are between some of them. I used a mod to fix it but that's more of a patch job.

I kinda dug how the weapons felt, they're ugly but they aren't gimmicky like the other games. This has a much more grounded feel to it that I actually don't mind so much, it feels a little barren but that helps it's atmosphere, and I think in a way does kinda make it stand out just slightly from the other games more comedic edge to it.

I played the OG version mainly cause I'm having issues with the remastered release on PC. I have played it before on PS4 and if anything it's best to get the remastered since it fixes the FOV and I think adds a couple more things. Just don't expect anything grand or spectacular.

7/10 Lilith is best girl.

I guess I technically beat the game which feels incredibly weird but like??? I'll dabble into the dlc when I buy it. The game has a very uninteresting story tbh, the world feels interesting with different alien races and human factions, etc. But it feels like the story just does not do much or support them! It's dumb and frustrating cause my biggest take away is actually "the story is really bland but the gameplay is really solid."

Like the gunplay is really fun, all the weapons you get feel good to play around with and are cool and interesting to look at. the different abilities you get are very unique and the more co op aspect is super good, but like! It's story and characters are just whatever and that feels really weird to me.

(Note: I'm still playing it and I have not done all the season stuff.)

Cool game honestly, really fun to kill bugs and mine stuff with friends and I do like how challenging some of the missions are. It feels different compared to where I last played it (2021 for example) and there's a lot of fun stuff and classes to play around with.

10/10 though for the goblin and kobold mods, even if I'm just dog. Bark.