You’d think that I’d be sick of Borderlands 2 by now. I’ve played it through 3 times already on different systems but still ended up buying it on Switch as part of the Legendary Collection and I’m glad I did.
2K’s surprise announcement a few months ago has given us three of their big franchises appearing on Switch in one go. While Bioshock and Xcom 2 are great, it was the Borderlands Legendary Collection that had me sold. The game comes either as a cartridge with the first Borderlands game on and Borderlands The Handsome Collection as a download (which, incidentally, you can play without the cartridge) or as separate downloads or even as a full purchase to download the whole thing. Choices, choices.
After the famously poor Vita port, I was slightly worried about this being only the second time the franchise had appeared on a handheld format. Thankfully, my playthough has shown that these fears were unfounded. The games run flawlessly at 30fps (down from the other current gen versions’ 60fps but still very smooth). The original Borderlands looks the most dated but even this benefits from having a cel shaded art style which still looks pretty good both docked and handheld. Borderlands 2 and the Pre-sequel both look fantastic, which isn’t surprising as they’re using the assets from the newer gen versions.
I’m not sure I can add to the thousands of words already written about the gameplay in these three games, it’s Borderlands and you need to play it on at least one format in your lifetime, so if you’ve not picked it up elsewhere then this is a great place to start, especially if your only consoles have been Nintendo ones. The games come with all their DLC, save for the most recent addition to Borderlands 2 that links it to Borderlands 3 (which I’d love to see a version of on Switch). The mix of open world shooter, RPG style upgrading and the grind to get bigger and better weapons still feels like a perfect mix. The characters, story and humour throughout are still great, though it really shows how much the developers upped their game for Borderlands 2 when you play through the first and second games again.
If I have one niggle it’s that the aiming system feels a little off, but this may well be more down to hardware and the Switch’s analogue sticks that the game. There is gyro aiming and it works well but means that you lose the auto-aim when turning it on, so it’s a compromise either way.
It’s great to see this solid trio of games on Switch, especially as they’ve been so perfectly ported to Nintendo’s system. For anyone who hasn’t played the games before, it’s a must have and even for those of us who are veterans to the series, the Borderlands Legendary Collection is a solid package well worth your time.
Borderlands Legendary Collection
Pros
- Smooth frame rate
- All the original DLC included
- Solid gameplay on all three titles
Cons
- Huge downloads even on cartridge
- Aiming isn't as good as other versions
