Telltale's Tales from the Borderlands has been one of their mosthumorous and action packed adventure games in the history of thedeveloper. Forming the unlikely alliance of the classic point &click adventure game genre that Telltale began a renaissance of with2011's The Walking Dead; and Gearbox Software's balls to the wallrole playing shooter Borderlands.
Each episode has consistently proved that despite the scepticism, itwas a match made in heaven; however the unreliable and lengthyrelease schedule has proved to hinder the series greatly and hasstopped it from receiving the critical acclaim it should havereceived.
Picking up from the shocking finale of Escape Plan Bravo, our misfitgang are up shit creek without a paddle and things only seem to begetting worse. Vallory has the team at gunpoint to open the vault forher. Fiona, Sasha and Gortys are have been found in Helios station byYvette whilst just a few floors above them Rhys has been trapped bythe digital Handsome Jack, who is now not only circulating throughoutall of Helios' systems but also wanting to kill Rhys and steal hisbody so he can resume life in physical form.
If there is one thing Tales from the Borderlands does right, it's thesense of scale the game has and simply how much it has changed theBorderlands universe each episode. Before the opening credits evenroll you are given a significant and huge in scale change to theworld of Borderlands, one that the effects of which will be seen insequels.
The rest of the episode follows suit with very little downtimebetween action. The episode seems to flow from set-piece to set-pieceeach of which being more epic than the previous. This does mean thatthe episode contains significantly fewer big choices for the playerto make, but it does give Telltale some breathing room to provide afinale fitting of a Borderlands game.
Some players may dislike the episodes over-reliance on QTE's, butit's a combat heavy episode and it delivers these sections with morethan enough Borderlands humour to make them not only bearable butactually very enjoyable.
The Vault of the Traveler seems like the exact polar opposite ingameplay to what Dontnod Entertainment's Life is Strange finalepisode was, both releasing on the same day. Whereas Life is Strangegave players agency over pretty much everything they came intocontact with, allowing them to tailor the finale with numerouschoices and heavy dialogue sections. Tales from the Borderlandsinstead employs the tactic of shoot first and ask questions later,allowing you to take on a digitised tyrant and a vault monster inwell directed, epic action sequences. The final battle brings almostfeels like Borderlands presents Pacific Rim in it's sheer size andabsurdity.
But beyond all of this the story is still tied up nicely, with prettymuch every loose end brought to a close, some returning cameo's fromearlier in the series and the closest thing I have seen to aguarantee to seeing these characters return in another Borderlandsgame in the future, whether that be another Telltalle series oranother main entry from Gearbox.
So is Tales from the Borderlands worth picking up if you've beenwaiting for it to be over before you start it? Without a doubt, infact it will likely be a better experience playing these episodes inone go rather than having to put up with the simply ridiculousrelease schedule that has done nothing but do harm to an otherwiseamazing game.
Tales from the Borderlands is the prime example of what can beachieved by changing up a games genre, but also a prime example ofjust how broken the delivery of episodic games is at this presenttime. Here's hoping the system gets a reform quickly to keep exampleslike this from ever happening again, especially from a developer suchas Telltale Games.
Talesfrom the Borderlands
Episode5: The Vault of the Traveller – 9/10
+Epic,Action Packed Finale
+AbsolutelyHilarious
+BonkersBattle Against The Traveller
-Over-RelianceOn QTE's
