Borderlands 3 Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

- UPS -

6. Weapon Handling Is MILES Above Anything Gearbox Has Done

For the longest time, I wanted to love Borderlands "more".

Yes, I like the animated Mad Max stylisation and sure, the late 2000s comedy was fine enough, but gunplay always felt that little bit too "light"; that bit too twitchy or lacking in momentum. Essentially, it felt more like you were aiming a viewpoint at someone, rather than a weapon or object.

Thankfully, no more.

Borderlands 3 has that same level of locomotion, tactility and heft the likes of Destiny and Call of Duty have perfected.

There's a reason Bungie retained a playerbase for Destiny despite the game having literally nothing else to offer, and it was all down to the gun handling.

In Borderlands 3, Gearbox have finally caught up to their contemporaries.

Titanfall-style knee slides, mantling up the environment, kickback from shotguns and hand-cannons - NPCs are sent ragdoll'ing by blasts and pinwheeling through the sky from grenades. It's a robust expansion of that core gameplay feel you didn't realise was missing.