Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

Tiny Tina is sort of a continuation of Borderlands except it's a fantasy WOW type setting instead of a futuristic Mad Max one. This is sort of a standalone that isn't really connected to the other games outside of Tiny Tina being sort of a narrator throughout the game and a few cameos from characters from previous games playing various side characters in this. It sort of plays like an open World RPG, you travel on a overworld and choose which area you want to explore, then you go to the area, complete various quests and side quests for different characters, then rinse and repeat until you face of against a powerful boss. It plays like a typical borderlands except you get magic abilities you can use, you have your typical guns and everything controls very similar, with a similar sense of humor.

I really can't fault this too much, its better than Borderlands 3 and doesn't drag out too long, but it does get a bit repetitive at times. Many quests are similar and go like follow an NPC take on random enemies, continue for 30 or so minutes, then either fight off a mini boss or various smaller enemy horde until you find an item for NPC. Or the other side quest is go to random areas take out random enemies and mini bosses then return to NPC. Either way most of the quests and side quests in this game aren't too interesting. The combat is decent enough, the powers and magic abilities have some variety and offer a change to the typical gameplay style of Borderlands, and there is a variety of guns. But I do feel there are times enemies can tend to be damage sponges, and even powerful guns took a while to kill certain enemies. The other thing is the inventory system is frustrating. You can only hold so many weapons and upgrading your inventory gets really expensive fast, and the game throws weapons at you like candy, so you end up having to leave guns and loot behind.

The other issue I had is the game tends to be on the easier side. I think I died about 3 times total maybe, if you die you can revive by killing a nearby enemy and most bosses have little enemies fight alongside the boss. I could just spam my most powerful guns on bosses and run away when my shield was depleted and it worked for most of the game. The bosses in this game for the most part are a joke and incredibly easy to take out and require hardly any strategy other than occasionally dodge some projectiles then spam bullets and magic into them.

I do like that the game offers different classes you can play as with different ability sets and it does have some cool areas to explore, although a few of the areas look similar. The story of the game is mostly forgettable and just basically boils down to you, Tina and a few friends playing Dungeons N Dragons and the game is a narration of the game you're all playing. I mean if you enjoy Borderlands this will pretty much satisfy your expectations until Borderlands 4 or whatever they do next, but I feel like this is more or less a reskin of previous games just with added magic and overworld system. Its not quite anything I'd call Game of the Year material but I'd put it in terms of quality around the same level as the first Borderlands, its not quite Borderlands 2 level quality but its probably around the same quality as the first game and a little bit above presequel and 3. I just wish this was a little less repetitive and had stronger side missions and a bit more of a engaging story.

I had high hopes for this one, as I still think Assault on Dragon's Keep is the pinnacle of not only Borderlands DLC but Borderlands as a franchise. It had everything 3 should have been (but sadly fell flat). Like many, I thought Borderlands had gone a little stale since The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 3 struggled to keep me interested. It fell into the trap of trying to recreate moments which made the previous entries memorable and ended up being just more of the same without the magic.

Speaking of magic, thankfully, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands sends things back in the right direction. While I wouldn't say it's on the level of its predecessor or of Borderlands 2 as a whole, it's still a very fun ride. The zany humor is there, for better or for worse. At times it gets a little in the way but not as much as in Borderlands 3. A lot of the times it's funny. It just keeps breaking the fourth wall in hilarious ways. I felt like I was listening to that old Dr Demento D&D skit! Of special note, with me being a metalhead, there is a side quest which features a "battle of metal bands" whose names are obviously inspired by real metal band names ("Plaguerat Apocalypse", lol).

Gameplay wise, it's as solid as ever, the guns work, the spells are fun, the locales are mostly interesting and varied. It's got everything Borderlands fans want, with a coat of paint that makes it look more "D&D-ish". It even has a little "overworld" section which is quite different from anything we've seen in a Borderlands game. I like that. Also of note, the classes. I've never had a game where I just couldn't pick a class, much less a secondary class! They all are fun to play as and all feature some fun things about them. Really great job on the dev team for that.

At this time, there obviously isn't anything DLC yet but based off the past, the DLC should be quite entertaining and worth checking out. In the meantime, Borderlands fans will want to get their hands on this and those who don't like Borderlands's usual setting might be drawn to the fantasy theme here. Great fun, likely will make it in my top of 2022 list.