Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 1-2 Co-Op (Local Wireless, Online)

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Review:

(Note: This game is included in Borderlands Collection: Pandora’s Box, along with Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition, Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Tales From the Borderlands, and New Tales From the Borderlands.)

When Borderlands Legendary Collection was released on Nintendo Switch in 2020, I was absolutely ecstatic. Here were three outstanding First-Person Shooters that I felt were a perfect fit for Nintendo Switch, but also really good ports that preserved what was so great about these games to begin with. The Borderlands series has always excelled at its Diablo-style campaign with players picking up guns from downed enemies and potentially finding a new favorite to add to their arsenal, or perhaps something to sell at the vending machines so you can afford something better. What’s more, these games had wonderful co-op play that seemed perfect for a game platform that celebrates multiplayer play.

At the time, I noted that the one mainline series game that wasn’t included in the collection was 2019’s Borderlands 3, but this was understandable – Borderlands, Borderlands 2, and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel were all released on previous-generation consoles and good candidates for a direct port. Borderlands 3, meanwhile, was released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, making use of the power of that generation of consoles. This meant that porting the game to Nintendo Switch would require cutbacks that the other games didn’t need to make.

So the Nintendo Switch not getting Borderlands 3 seemed reasonable, and unlikely to happen. Yet, despite these challenges, Borderlands 3 has indeed released on Nintendo Switch in 2023, in an Ultimate Edition that includes all expansion content released for the game. And while it’s a pleasant surprise to receive a port that I think most series fans weren’t expecting, the natural question this leads to is “how well does the game work on Nintendo Switch?”

Well, I feel the answer to that is, “It’s a mixed bag”. Graphically, Borderlands 3 definitely looks advanced beyond its predecessors, particularly with its more detailed textures and level geometry. However, this comes at a great cost on Nintendo Switch. Terrible aliasing, texture pop-in, reduced lighting and shadow effects, long load times, an overall low resolution (sorry, I don’t have numbers for this), and framerates that may occasionally be pretty good (even going as high as 60FPS at times), but that frequently shudder to the point where I felt it actually affected the gameplay. There were definitely some “slide show” moments here. What’s more, I had this game outright crash on me no less than three times while I was playing it.

Also, the stereo sound in this game on Nintendo Switch is just all kinds of wrong – things that are far away sound close, things that are in front of you sound like they’re behind or off to the side… it’s an odd problem I don’t think I’ve ever encountered in another game, and I have no idea why it’s present here for me. It really messes up the gameplay too, because when you hear an enemy attacking, you’re deprived of an important cue as to where they’re coming from and how far away they are.

However, even with all of these downgrades and issues, one of my biggest complaints about Borderlands 3 on Nintendo Switch is what happened to the multiplayer. Split-screen has been removed from the game entirely so the only way to play it in multiplayer now is via local wireless or online play. And even if you’re playing it this way, the multiplayer has been slashed in half from four players to two. I feel like this cut, more than any other, really cuts to the heart of what the Borderlands series is about.

I suppose, to this game’s credit, I can at the very least point to one area where it has improved somewhat – the Nintendo Switch version of the game features full gyroscopic motion controls, with multiple options to adjust when this happens and how sensitive the motion control is. Definitely something to add to the dwindling “positives” category.

As for the game itself, Borderlands 3 makes adjustments to the gameplay of the series in numerous ways, such as giving players multiple special moves to choose between rather than just one per character, weapons with alternate fire modes, ledge-grabbing to add flexibility to platforming, and numerous other changes. The number of changes here is actually really impressive, but I don’t think there’s any one that jumps out to define this entry in the series. Still, almost all of these changes are for the better.

Does that make Borderlands 3 the best game in the series? As with most fans, I’m gonna’ have to say “no”, and much of the reason why goes to personality. Oh, don’t get me wrong, Borderlands 3 continues the great whimsical post-apocalyptic spacefaring Wild West-inspired theming that has been a staple of the series, but many of the “clever” lines characters spout this time just seem like an artificial attempt to be meme-worthy rather than something grounded in character. It’s subtle, but it makes a lot of difference – The psychos from prior games were bizarre, for example, but their often meat-obsessed insanity had a familiar consistency to it. Meanwhile, the lines this game’s psychos spout often seem like they could be about anything.

However, one of the other elements that makes this feel like a step backwards is that Borderlands 2’s villain is just an impossible act to follow. Handsome Jack was the perfect mix of hateable, charismatic, and hilarious, with his taunting the player throughout the game making him one of the greatest videogame villains ever created (Two words: Butt Stallion). By comparison, this game has you fighting against a pair of twins who are… this universe’s version of media influencers? Seriously?

It’s really frustrating… with all of the improvements to the Borderland series’ gameplay, Borderlands 3 should have been the pinnacle of a great First-Person Shooter series. Instead, it was for many players a disappointment. And on Nintendo Switch, it’s an even bigger disappointment, as this port ranges from being very competent sometimes, to being a shoddy mess at other times. If you’re a fan of this series absolutely desperate to play the game on the Nintendo Switch no matter the compromises it had to make to get here, I still think you’ll find this is a highly-enjoyable First-Person Shooter that has a lot of what makes this franchise great, and even more! Just be aware that “no matter the compromises it had to make to get here” feels a bit like a monkey’s paw wish come true.

tl;dr – Borderlands 3 on Nintendo Switch finally sees the fourth (yes, fourth) mainline entry in the “looter shooter” First-Person Shooter franchise make it to Nintendo’s handheld, but the game itself is something of a disappointment, and the Nintendo Switch version is heavily compromised, with the multiplayer drastically cut back, the visuals having numerous issues including some nasty framerate drops, and even occasional game crashes. This is still at its core an enjoyable game, but nowhere near as good as the Borderlands Legendary Collection.

Grade: B-

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This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2023 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Worst Port/Remake, Most Disappointing

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