Hello, old friend…
The original Borderlands was something special, wasn’t it? The first loot-based shooter with RPG elements that I’ve known and have been yearning to play again. I remember being really annoyed when it wasn’t remastered with the Handsome Collection which contained Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel and Borderlands 2, but after all this time…we finally have a remastered version of the original, including all DLC!
This remaster is enhanced for PS4 Pro, running at a smooth 60FPS and it looks amazing. It even has improvements like a mini-map and it actually auto picks up health, ammo and cash as you walk over it. You still need to open up loot crates for ammo and weapons and hold down square to pick them up, but that’s more so you can decide to pick it up or leave it for a friend if you play in co-op.
I played the entirety of the remastered version in split-screen co-op with my partner and now I’m just moping up the last of the DLC trophies, including the dreaded Mad Moxxi’s arena. But overall, it’s been a blast and has lit a fire under me to go back and finish the Handsome Collection before Borderlands 3 drops.
That’s not to say that the remastered version has solved all the problems of the original, there are still a few buggy side-missions and I’ve got caught in walls and the like to a point where my only salvation has been blowing myself up with a rocket launcher to respawn. Despite this though, there’s been nothing game-breaking apart from reloading an area, but even then, it’s been rare. It would have been nice for them to finally include a button to use health kits in your inventory without bringing up the entire inventory box but considering how quickly you heal towards the end-game, it isn’t the end of the world.
The Verdict
As a remaster, Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition does everything right. It gives us all previous content, looks stunning, runs better than the original and even makes gameplay improvements, plus it’s a steal at £25…I was easily expecting them to charge full price for this and I still would have picked it up. Good to see 2K looking out for its fans with that, the Ultra HD texture pack for the Handsome Collection and the free DLC content for Borderlands 2 on PSVR. Now the wait for September and Borderlands 3 begins…