Borderlands 3 - Review

It has now been 3 years since I reviewed Borderlands 3 and then many of the games DLCs. Since the game first released, Switch owners were treated to the existing shooter games in the series going their way, then the Tales from The Borderlands games made the jump, but there was still no word on if Borderlands 3 would hit Switch. Well it has now done so, was the wait worth it?

Given I have already reviewed the game when it first released, I won’t go to much into the story here, it is the same now as it was then. You are a new Vault Hunter, for my playthrough this time I went with Moze and upon arriving onto Pandora, you are quickly recruited/kidnapped into joining the Crimson Raiders. It seems there is a new threat around the place in a group called the Children of the Vault, led by the twins Tyreen and Troy Calipso. This pair are part of the space streaming generation and have taken in all the bandits on Pandora, in order to bolster their ranks. They have a simple goal, gain access to all the vaults and your goal is to stop them, rather than just focusing on Pandora, the story will have you blasting across the galaxy. If you are new to the series, that is fine as they still explain who characters are when you meet them, via those flashy title cards, but if you already know them that is fine as well. The story being the same means the same issues I had the first time through are still here, but let’s not dwell on that, it’s time to talk gameplay.

When Borderlands - the original one, hit Switch it ran great and looked just as nice as the original release did, the sequel and pre-sequel also looked good, but were showing signs of not being as great. Borderlands 3 is a mixed bag at the best of times, the game runs very well, even in the most hectic situations, but it sacrifices a lot for that. Let us begin by talking about the games systems, everything from the other versions is here, as well as the DLC you can download at your own pace. The first time you enter a bandit base to start taking out those that call it home, you will get a good feel for how it plays. The shooting is just as solid as the other releases, but the Switch has one nice addition, motion aiming. You can opt to have it on when looking down the sights of your weapon or at all times, just be aware that the guns have a lot of sway and with motion enabled you will be constantly fighting that. Outside of that, everything else is the same, the guns that have alt firing methods can be swapped with the d-pad, the class power can be activated by pressing L and even sprinting and jumping just works.

The problem comes with the visuals, namely just how odd they are at times. The game uses a layered system, so textures and objects only load in when you get close to them. Sticking with textures that means that from a distance the texture of a sign will be super low resolution, but as you get closer to it, the texture will be replaced by a better one and each time you get closer still, the texture will get nicer. In open spaces, this is not a massive issue as the textures for rock work or far away buildings are generally ok regardless of distance, but shacks, barricades, trees and anything else that you can stand next too, gets that treatment. If you are not paying attention to it, you will just notice a lot of pop in with textures and it can be pretty distracting at times, thankfully not during fights. The series is known for having some insane boss fights and Borderlands 3 is no different, thankfully when you are in a fight as the action is focused around the big bad, the background drops out of focus.

The lack of texture detail is not a massive issue, other games in the series struggled with it on Switch as well, but the biggest problem is the draw distance itself. As I said before, from a distance you get lower resolution textures, but it’s the object draw that is the bigger problem. Object draw distance is literally how close you need to be for items to spawn in, these are not big items like cars or buildings, but rather barrels, loot chests and even enemy weapons. Yes weapons, I can’t begin to count the number of times that I broke out the sniper rifle, had an enemy lined up in my scope only to see them firing at me, but without a gun in their hands, as they were outside of the draw distance. Now things drawing in when you get closer to them, is nothing new it happens in every single game, but sometimes the game would forget to load items in, until I was right on top of them, it was a more common issue when I was in a vehicle, but it still happened on foot.

All of the graphical decisions that have been made, in order to get the game running on Switch, might seem like a series of bad calls, but the end result is that the game plays very well. I was able to run and shoot, jump and climb, before suiting up in my mech suit and then powering through all the enemies I could and the game never suffered in performance. The games load times into the main menu and between zones boarder on 30 seconds as the average, but dying and being reborn is as instantaneous here as it is in other versions of the game.

If you have not played Borderlands 3 on any other platform, or you own the others on Switch and want to complete the set, then this is a great addition. The inclusion of all the DLC, including Directors Cut content means that for the asking price, you will be gaming for month and months to come. The technical issues are annoying, but given they are a concession to having the game run on Switch, it’s a trade off I don’t mind, but your milage may vary. Borderlands 3 on Switch is not the prettiest game, but it plays great and is loaded with plenty of content, so it’s a great end to the trilogy.

The Score

8.0

Review code provided by 2K

The Pros

All the content included means there is a lot to do and it will keep you gaming for months

The game runs fine, even in the midst of massive battles, it never had any issues…

The Cons

… the trade off to have that work was of course visual quality and it will take some getting used to

Loading into new zones and even the main menu takes around 30s if not longer