Until recently, I haven’t played a single Borderlands game, which is weird considering that I’ve owned so many of the games at one point or another. I’ve had Borderlands 2 for the Vita a long time ago but ended up trading it in before I could even play it and at some point in 2020 I bought the legendary collection for the Switch but never got around to playing it. This month I picked up a copy of Borderlands 3 for the PS4 and I finally checked it out.

GRAPHICS: 8/10

I’m a bit indifferent when it comes to the graphics of Borderlands 3. I like the amount of detail that was put into the environment and characters, but I’m not too big a fan of the other aspects, especially the art style. I’ve had some bad experiences with games that look like this on the Vita in the past. There are countless times where the models seem to pop, kind of like a comic book or cartoony style at times. This just isn’t something that I completely enjoy after being flooded with games that use similar styles on the Vita. Other than that, animation and movement is good, and the look is and feel of the game is pretty decent, it’s just the art style that throws me off. Graphics gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

SOUND: 8/10

When it comes to voices, the game did a pretty good job. While playing, I wasn’t like oh hey I know that voice, but later learned that the cast was pretty decent including big names like Chris Hardwick and Ice T. As for the music, I wasn’t that big of a fan. While playing, much of the music worked well with the action and what was going on on-screen, but, but I just found many of the songs to be bland. There were a couple songs that I really liked though, such as The Games Begin. As I was researching the soundtrack, this was a song that I played multiple times because it was really energetic and frantic. Overall the sound was okay-good and gets another 8 out of 10 from me.

ADDICTIVENESS: 10/10

Borderlands 3 can be a lot of fun for a number of reasons. For starters, this is something that you have to have if you’re a fan of first person shooters. To some, this style of first person shooter can be a lot more fun than the standard games in the genre like the obvious Call of Duty and Battlefield. The large number of weapons and items can also make it so that each time you play, it’s very different than the last. Beyond that, the game is even more fun and can be replayed countless times if you’re playing with friends, not online with random people but in a lobby with your friends.

There’s also something fun about collecting loot, checking out different planets, and working on the insane skill tree. You can easily put many hours into the game, whether alone or with friends, and not get bored for a while. As a result, my grade for addictiveness is a perfect 10 out of 10.

STORY: 8/10

The story is a bit complicated for me to explain because of how much there is to the overall Borderlands world and how much has happened before this game, but the game starts off with a search for a map and exploring different kinds of vaults for all sorts of treasure and technology. When it comes to the story points that I’ve already experienced, I wouldn’t be able to fully understand it without playing the previous games but I focused more on the fun gameplay instead of the story. Overall, it’s decent but not amazing, and those who are invested more into the overall series will make more sense of the story. Gets an 8 out of 10 from me.

DEPTH: 9/10

Oh boy does the game offer a lot in the depth department. I already mentioned that there are a lot of weapons. The thing about weapons that I like the most is that instead of just having different types of guns and such, there’s different guns made by different manufacturers. For example the Blastphemy and the Moloko are two different common pistols but the first is made by COV and the latter is made by the manufacturer Vladof. In total, there are nine different groups or manufacturers that make more than 100 different weapons of just common rarity.

In total, there are five different rarities and they don’t only affect weapons, but mods, shields, and artifacts as well, which there there are also hundreds of.

There’s also a very impressive skill system, possibly one of the most complex ones that I’ve seen in a while. The game features a grand total of more than 200 different skills spread out over various trees within each character class. Many of these skills can also be ranked up. The game has so much to offer, just working on fully acquiring and ranking up every skill for one class would alone take up many hours. It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that you could easily get 100 hours out of Borderlands 3 and as such, depth gets a 9 out of 10 from me.

DIFFICULTY: 3

Borderlands 3 can be relatively easy based on how you want to play. Obviously if you’re playing by yourself on the highest difficulty and you just aren’t good at first person shooter games, then you’re going to have a hard time. fortunately, there are multiple difficulties, mostly in the form of easier and normal, which you can change in the middle of the game. So if you find that you’re having a lot of trouble, you can knock down the difficulty a bit and keep playing. In addition, if you’re playing with friends, the game can become even easier at times with some of the weight of the game taken off your shoulders.

OVERALL: 8.6/10

Overall the game has a couple areas that I’m indifferent to but it also has a lot of areas that it just excels in like the level of fun that you can get out of the gameplay or the amount of stuff there is to find, do, and level up. The game is also incredibly cheap so if you’re a fan of the series or you like first person shooter games in general, this should easily be on your list of games to pick up. If you go to Gamestop you can get a sealed copy for only $20 or a pre owned copy for less than $10. That’s a no brainer since you could get 100 hours out of the game, especially if you play with friends.

Plus the game has the added benefit of coming with a free PS5 upgrade. If you ask me, you’re way better off getting this version of the game and getting the upgrade than possibly waiting for a native PS5 version that might cost more. Overall, I think Borderlands 3 is good and gets an 8.6 out of 10 from me.