Publisher 2K Games and developer Gearbox Software have made a name for themselves in the Borderlands franchise. In 2009, Borderlands was released and set the world on fire by giving players an awesome first-person shooter with cool characters, a vibrant/colorful world and tons of guns. Ever since the first entry’s release, Borderlands has gained a huge fan base and that’s why this third installment has us here at Honey’s Anime locked and ready to unload on a new set of enemies in the Wasteland! Borderlands 3 returns players to Pandora to once more find the coveted Vaults and procure the riches within. However, a new system of control has engrossed the Wastelands and with that change of control comes a change of power. Yet, here’s the ultimate question to be asked. Is Borderlands 3 worth re-entering the struggles of Pandora? Find out below in our full review of Borderlands 3 for the Xbox One!

Borderlands 3 gives players a new set of Vault Hunters this time around and millions of more guns to unlock! Drop down on Pandora once again to fight off tons of bandits and psychos all while grabbing as much loot as possible! With 4 new hunters to use and various new guns with new “alternative” modes of fire, you’re sure to create some mayhem that will make Pandora quake in fear. Play alone or with friends via co-op—both online or offline—to enjoy chaos together! Can you stop Pandora from becoming even more corrupt than it already is? Probably not, but you can earn some good loot and gear which will deepen your Vault Hunter pockets just a bit more!

Pandora has lost two powerhouses, Handsome Jack and the Hyperion Corporation. With these two forces gone a new entity has risen thanks to two rather camera happy individuals. These two have taken the bandits of Pandora and created a cult called—conveniently—Children of the Vault to search for the other Vaults around the galaxy and gather riches beyond imagination. Lilith—one of Borderlands’ original hunters—isn’t standing quiet. With her skills, Lilith has bought back the Crimson Raiders and has begun a mission to find the Vaults herself to prevent a possible galaxy ending event. In dire need of assistance, new Vault Hunters have been chosen and that is where you fit in. Assist Lilith in stopping the Children of the Vault and possibly gain some nice money in return. Sounds like a deal worth risking your neck for right?

Borderlands 3 is the prime example of when to not change something too much—since it works—but also make sure to add just enough to create a game that feels a bit different. If you’ve played any of the main Borderlands games before then we don’t have to remind you what to do. Control one of 4 Vault Hunters, create mayhem with a huge assortment of abilities and weapons, take on hundreds of quests and gain enough loot to make a small in-game fortune. Borderlands 3 doesn’t go against what made the sequel—and in some ways the original—great but also knows fans wanted some changes in this latest installment. Let us discuss each new element of Borderlands 3—why it works and doesn’t—and see if this newest entry in the franchise is worth your hard earned cash. Time to jump right into our review of Borderlands 3 for the Xbox One!

The first thing that should be seen as a big difference in Borderlands 3—and we don’t mean the visuals but we’ll get to that later—is you aren’t going in with the same Vault Hunters from the last outing. There are four new characters to play as in Borderlands 3 and surprisingly they play quite different than our last batch. Amara, FL4K, Moze and Zane are our new champions this time around and they ooze with some rather odd—but cool—abilities/personalities. Beginning our new crew we look at Amara who is the latest Siren and is easily one of the cooler characters of the bunch. Amara has various powers that allow her to do insane amounts of damage on multiple targets or a singular opponent thanks to her Siren arms that manifest from nowhere. Plus, Amara can help the team out immensely by taking enemies and confining them in multiple ways.

FL4K is the so-called Beastmaster and he earns the nickname with his trusty—and scary—robot companions. FL4K acts as an all around fighter with the ability to hurt enemies with his summons or boost his own stats. Moze is very similar to Gaige from Borderlands 2 but even more butt kicking. Moze is able to go inside a giant mech and use a ton of weapons/skills via her skill tree. Moze is a behemoth when she’s in her mech and is best for a party as a primary tank when things get rough! Lastly, we look at Zane who in many ways is like Cable from X-men fusing with Zero from Borderlands 2. Zane is all about the assassin life barely talking, often using decoy that can be summoned and even unleashing machines that offer heavy damage outputs. Zane is a very sniper-specific class, but we love his abilities and how customizable they are.

The new hunters in Borderlands 3 are truly incredible. Each class allows players a nice assortment of ways to tweak what skills they obtain via leveling up and how to help the entire party. Honestly, Borderlands 2 was a bit weaker in its various classes as most used the same two and others fell to the wayside. In Borderlands 3, we can see many gamers trying out all the classes and equally finding use out of all of them regardless of their playstyle. This makes it quite easy to build strong teams regardless of who you play with.

Aside from the hunters, Borderlands 3 has undergone some gameplay changes, too. The hunters in this newest outing seem to be a bit more nimble on their feet. Players can now slide while shooting—which is truly so much fun—and even climb various ledges/platforms by grabbing on to the ledges. These simple changes might not scream new game, but equally, it makes Borderlands 3 feel different. Traversing the lands of the Wasteland don’t have a stiffness to them anymore, instead the world feels more kinetic. There’s nothing better than sliding through a hail of bullets and then jumping on to a ledge to get the upper hand on some tricky bandits. Driving also returns but once more, vehicles feel a bit off and you should expect plenty of car flips and slamming into rocks/boulders…as well as the occasional beast.

Co-op—which almost escaped our thoughts—also returns with a rather interesting new twist. Once more players can go split screen or join with three others online for 4 player co-op and try to gain as much loot as possible with each character getting their own loot. Borderlands 3 has added a twist though with competitive co-op which means yes, you are working together but loot/drops are based on who is faster on the uptake. See a shiny gold gun in the distance? Better run gamer, otherwise your friend might nab it before you and leave your friendship in tatters! No, you probably won’t lose friends from the new competitive mode, but it will make you question who is greedier in the group.

The last big change in Borderlands 3 comes in the form of the guns. No, you can still get a bajillion guns—seriously there are a lot of guns in Borderlands 3—but many weapons now have an alternate firing mode. Pistols might shoot normal bullets and then have a secondary mode that blasts mini rockets! Now one gun can almost feel like two and that’s adds even more variety to an already huge armory of guns.

What hasn’t changed—and that’s a good thing—in Borderlands 3 is the solid first-person shooting and the huge amount of quests to take in Borderlands 3. No matter what gun you end up with, you’ll never hate how they handle. Machine guns to shotguns, all feel incredibly solid and useful in various situations. One of the hardest things to do while playing is to figure out which guns we’d sacrifice for a new gun we found. One minute a revolver would be out favorite weapon and the next a revolver that fires several shots in a second would overthrow the original.

Visually, Borderlands 3 looks truly gorgeous and runs usually well. Once again, Borderlands 3 takes an almost comic-book like theme and even after several games, we haven’t grown tired of this style. Borderlands 3 does at times suffer from strange frame rate drops—especially in split screen where it becomes horrible—that can throw even the best players off a bit. We did die a few times when lag hit hard and caused our screens to slow down leading us to a few seconds of not knowing where were and then seeing our hunter on the ground in second wind. Thankfully, this is a rare issue and only is noticed during some of the bigger moments in game.

Borderlands 3 might look like the last game but the changes truly are numerous and alter the game overall. Borderlands 3 feels and plays better than the last main entry—and significantly better than Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel—which makes us quite happy. While Borderlands 3 does suffer from occasional fetch-quest issues—we didn’t make note of it above since every adventure game has this problem nowadays—and isn’t always running perfectly smooth, Borderlands 3 offers so much new content that the experience feels great. Will Borderlands 3 win game of the year? Probably not but it will definitely be a game we’ll be playing for a while here at Honey’s Anime. If you consider yourself a fan of the series, then here’s what you want to hear. Borderlands 3 is amazing and worth every cent! Heck, even newcomers should pick up Borderlands 3 because it’s a great title all around!

The Borderlands series should have gotten stale after several games of the same style have released but it really hasn’t. Borderlands 3 changed only so many elements but just those few new additions have given it new life. Traversing the Wastelands of Pandora has never been better and we’re sure fans—and possibly new players to the series—will love what Borderlands 3 offers! Are you currently playing Borderlands 3 or plan on picking it up soon? Comment below to let us know! For even more game reviews—and anime related articles obviously—be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime!