As someone with nearly 500 hours in Borderlands 2, this game would've had to have done a lot more wrong for me to outright hate it. As it stands, it's still fun, just somewhat disappointing.
B:PS is just spread so thinly. Everything feels smaller than the last two games; this is definitely a game to get on sale. There just isn't much variety. I never understood why everyone kept wishing for the moon base to be an area in the last installment. Lo and behold, it's a horrible slog through the most boring, dry area of the game. Even the animal habitat is relatively dull.
The game shines in its playable characters, however. They're all colorful in both design and personality. The way the game has far more dialog for them than the last two is also a step up and helps bring them to life a little more than the previous Vault Hunters.
Unfortunately, the writing for the non-playable characters varies from "boring" to "completely bugnuts." Jack gradually grows into his usual self we remember from Borderlands 2, but there's an obvious prequelitis problem here. The only surprise is how many familiar characters are involved in his descent into madness, and that's not enough to carry a story arc we already know the end of. They tried way too hard with the Merriff and the outright comic relief characters encountered in various places.
Then there's Janey Springs.
This character exists for one thing; to fulfill a diversity quota. Did you know Janey Springs is a lesbian? You will. The game is terrified you'll forget. We are apparently still not at a point where a character who belongs to a minority can be anything other than a neon sign telling us how progressive the writers are, instead of being an actual character who just happens to be (in this case) gay. It's all the worse after they did this just fine with Hammerlock and Axton in Borderlands 2. The double standard in the way Janey Springs is aggrandized is almost comical; the way she 'pursues' Moxxie would be instantly called out as stalking if she were a man, and it is. It's cringe-inducing and as a homosexual, it's laughable and offensive.
It's really not a bad game. The guns are still a blast, the main characters are still fun to play. It's just a step down from Borderlands 2, and it didn't need to be.
VideoGame Borderlands: The Watered-Down Part
As someone with nearly 500 hours in Borderlands 2, this game would've had to have done a lot more wrong for me to outright hate it. As it stands, it's still fun, just somewhat disappointing.
B:PS is just spread so thinly. Everything feels smaller than the last two games; this is definitely a game to get on sale. There just isn't much variety. I never understood why everyone kept wishing for the moon base to be an area in the last installment. Lo and behold, it's a horrible slog through the most boring, dry area of the game. Even the animal habitat is relatively dull.
The game shines in its playable characters, however. They're all colorful in both design and personality. The way the game has far more dialog for them than the last two is also a step up and helps bring them to life a little more than the previous Vault Hunters.
Unfortunately, the writing for the non-playable characters varies from "boring" to "completely bugnuts." Jack gradually grows into his usual self we remember from Borderlands 2, but there's an obvious prequelitis problem here. The only surprise is how many familiar characters are involved in his descent into madness, and that's not enough to carry a story arc we already know the end of. They tried way too hard with the Merriff and the outright comic relief characters encountered in various places.
Then there's Janey Springs.
This character exists for one thing; to fulfill a diversity quota. Did you know Janey Springs is a lesbian? You will. The game is terrified you'll forget. We are apparently still not at a point where a character who belongs to a minority can be anything other than a neon sign telling us how progressive the writers are, instead of being an actual character who just happens to be (in this case) gay. It's all the worse after they did this just fine with Hammerlock and Axton in Borderlands 2. The double standard in the way Janey Springs is aggrandized is almost comical; the way she 'pursues' Moxxie would be instantly called out as stalking if she were a man, and it is. It's cringe-inducing and as a homosexual, it's laughable and offensive.
It's really not a bad game. The guns are still a blast, the main characters are still fun to play. It's just a step down from Borderlands 2, and it didn't need to be.