Gearbox Software Game Reviews
Review Borderlands 4 (PS5) - A Chaotic Return That Shoots Straight, Even if Its Performance Stutters
Bold and brash
Any franchise that’s been around for over 15 years and spanned three console generations is going to have its ups, downs, and remasters. Borderlands is no exception, and you’d be hard pressed to convince anyone that things have been looking up after a ho-hum Tiny Tina spinoff, the dreadful New Tales from the Borderlands that...
Review Borderlands 3 (PS5) - Looting and Shooting Is Back and Better Than Ever
Don't forget to like, follow, and obey
Republished on Wednesday, 15th February, 2023: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February 2023's PS Plus Extra and Premium lineup. The original text follows. Borderlands 3 is one of those rare games where you most likely knew if you would be purchasing it or not...
Review New Tales From The Borderlands (PS5) - No Tale, Too Much Borderlands
Fails from the Borderlands
There’s an argument to be made that 2014’s Tales from the Borderlands is actually the best game in the Borderlands series. Now, hold on. Don’t go typing up your angry comments just yet. Hear us out. Sometimes you just want a capital V capital G Video Game that’s about running and jumping and shooting and looting...
Review Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (PS5) - Borderlands Fantasy Spin-Off Can't Quite Find the Magic
No time to dice
If you read our review of Borderlands 3, then you've basically read our review of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, only this game isn't as good. We're just doing it again in different words, and we're a little more weary this time around. Nothing of much consequence has changed between the two games. The budget is lower, clearly, and the...
Dicey Dungeons (& Dragons)
Republished on Wednesday 26th January, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February 2022's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Just in time to gear us up for the 2022 launch of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, one of the best Borderlands expansions ever is back to dazzle...
Review Borderlands 3: Moxxi's Heist of the Handsome Jackpot - Gearbox's Solid DLC Streak Continues
This is Vegas
Despite splitting opinion wherever it goes, there is one thing you cannot deny about Borderlands 3. Developer Gearbox Software consistently goes above and beyond when it comes to post-launch support and its latest looter shooter is no different. Two in-game events have already come and gone since the game's September 2019 release, but...
Review Borderlands: The Handsome Collection - All the Looting and Shooting You Could Ask For
Claptrap compilation
Republished on Wednesday 29th May 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. It's becoming a familiar tale of late: a much loved game from the previous generation shows up on your new and shiny gaming apparatus, dressed up, and...
Review Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition - Back with a Bang
Boom Claptrap
Ten years ago, Borderlands felt like a breath of fresh air. It stood apart from the games that were chasing Call of Duty’s shadow by channelling Diablo more than Desert Storm. Its signature loot mechanic became a selling point, but Borderlands always offered more than that. It was funny, charming, and wholly unique. And in a world...
Review Borderlands 2 VR - A Handsome Adaptation
You don't know Jack
Sony’s not stupid, and it seems to recognise that titles like The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Borderlands 2 VR need to exist in order to get potential PlayStation VR adopters through the door. While headset veterans will accurately argue that it’s the titles like Astro Bot Rescue Mission and Beat Saber that really shine in...
Review Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour (PS4)
Here we go again
Duke Nukem has had a somewhat turbulent past. Even in the 90s, it was a constant uphill struggle for our chauvinistic protagonist, having to compete with shooter behemoths like Quake and DOOM. In more recent times, he's attained notoriety as being overwhelmingly naff thanks to the awful experience that is Duke Nukem Forever. World...
Genre blended meta growth
Back in 2014, Gearbox Software head honcho Randy Pitchford incomprehensibly described Battleborn as an "FPS; hobby-grade co-op campaign; genre-blended, multi-mode competitive e-sports; meta-growth, choice epic Battleborn Heroes". While no one could quite decipher just what he was going on about, it was safe to assume that...
Review Aliens: Colonial Marines (PlayStation 3)
Game over, man
If you’re even remotely plugged into the online gaming ‘ether’, then you’ll be fully aware of the controversy surrounding Aliens: Colonial Marines. Infamously stuck in development hell for several years, the shooter was supposedly passed from pillar to post behind the scenes, and it really shows. One of the first things that...
Review Borderlands 2 (PlayStation 3)
Pandora's box
Borderlands 2 should ship with a health warning crudely emblazoned on its cover: “Warning, may cause the onset of severe obsessive compulsive disorder.” We’ve never been the most laidback individuals, but Gearbox’s latest Diablo-meets-Doom first-person shooter unearths the very worst in our compulsive natures. Only yesterday we...
Review Borderlands (PlayStation 3)
Good question, yo
What is Borderlands all about? Something to do with a Vault and bi-century openings and keys and Skags. Yes, lots of Skags. Look, Borderlands is a co-operative "RPS" (that's Role Playing Shooter if you've been following trends), in which you control one of four character types in a heavily stylised world. Choosing between...
