{"id":11928,"date":"2022-03-25T16:11:06","date_gmt":"2022-03-25T20:11:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/featured-news\/borderlands-spin-off-tiny-tinas-wonderlands-is-a-fun-time-sink\/"},"modified":"2022-03-25T16:11:06","modified_gmt":"2022-03-25T20:11:06","slug":"borderlands-spin-off-tiny-tinas-wonderlands-is-a-fun-time-sink","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pley2win.com\/?p=11928","title":{"rendered":"Borderlands Spin-Off Tiny Tina\u2019s Wonderlands Is A Fun Time Sink"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Screenshot: Gearbox<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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The best thing I can say about Tiny Tina\u2019s Wonderlands<\/em> is that I regret starting it.<\/p>\n
Not because it\u2019s bad or unenjoyable but because I booted it up fairly late last night and am now more tired today than I\u2019d like to be. Tiny Tina\u2019s Wonderlands<\/em> scratches the \u201cnumbers go up and enemy health bars go down\u201d itch video games have instilled in so many of us. It\u2019s compelling on a primal, easily digestible level. It is a blast. It is hard to step away from.<\/p>\n
Over the course of four<\/span> mainline<\/span> entries<\/span> and approximately 400 additional campaign expansions, the Borderlands<\/em> series has picked up a reputation as formulaic loot shooters, and rightfully so. You use a variety of randomly generated weapons, organized by color-coded rarity, to kill enemies to earn even better<\/em> randomly generated weapons. You traverse cel-shaded sci-environments while suffering through performatively crass dialogue. You know what to expect, though to its credit, the series did genuinely feel fresh when it was first introduced. There\u2019s just been so much more Borderlands<\/em> since then, you know?<\/p>\n
Tiny Tina\u2019s Wonderlands<\/em>, out today for Xbox, PlayStation, and PC, is a fantasy-inspired spinoff of Borderlands<\/em> that bucks (some) of those expectations. Reviews describe a game<\/span> that\u2019s basically \u201cBorderlands<\/em> but make it D&D<\/em>.\u201d (Why don\u2019t we have a full review of our own today? Kotaku<\/em> didn\u2019t receive copies of the game until yesterday evening.) Several hours in, though, I\u2019ve found that consensus to be fair, if a bit short of the full picture. A mere extension of Tiny Tina\u2019s Assault on Dragon Keep<\/em><\/span>, that fan-favorite Borderlands 2<\/em> expansion\u2014in which you and your teammates shoot and loot your way through a game-within-a-game, rendered as typical Borderlands<\/em> with a fantasy reskin\u2014this is not.<\/p>\n
The game is similarly set in a role-playing tabletop game orchestrated by Tiny Tina (voiced by Ashly Burch<\/strong>), which means the plot, so far as I can tell, has no effect on the overarching Borderlands<\/em> narrative found in the main games. You and your party members (voiced by Wanda Sykes<\/strong> and Andy Samberg<\/strong>) are tasked with overthrowing the Dragon Lord (Will Arnett<\/strong>, in an absolute pitch-perfect casting for an absurd villain). A fantasy-inspired setting allows for visually lush locales more imaginative than sci-fi landscapes that, after four mainline games, have started to feel like well-trod ground.<\/p>\n
Sure, the starting weapon, a crossbow, is for all intents and purposes a Borderlands<\/em> pistol with a Medieval respray, which really reinforces the whole \u201cBorderlands<\/em> but make it D&D<\/em>\u201d thing. But Wonderlands<\/em> quickly tees up a bunch of features that haven\u2019t been present in any previous Borderlands<\/em> game.<\/p>\n\n
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The overworld is rife with objects you\u2019d expect to see in an IRL tabletop game night.<\/figcaption>Screenshot: Gearbox<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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A robust character creator presents you points to allocate, ala S.P.E.C.I.A.L. points in Fallout 4<\/em>. There\u2019s an overworld full of random encounters (though no sign of an airship<\/span>). Melee attacks, which see you using swords, axes, and other fantasy weaponry, are actually viable for the first time in Borderlands<\/em> history. These changes don\u2019t radically upend the Borderlands<\/em> blueprint, but they do make it feel different than its forebears.<\/p>\n
In another break from form, Wonderlands<\/em> starts you off with the choice from six classes. (Historically, Borderlands<\/em> games start with four, though have offered two extra classes via purchasable DLC.) I chose the one that gives me a little baby dragon friend who breathes fire on everything in sight. My co-op partner, meanwhile, is followed by a mini litch who siphons health from enemies. We\u2019re a small army of four tearing through the starting areas of the Wonderlands. I\u2019m thrilled to see how various other classes match up across playthroughs.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll of course have more thoughts as I play (and replay) the game and uncover the rest of its quirks. (It\u2019s my understanding, for instance, that you can mix and match classes later on.) But for now, I\u2019m happy to report that Tiny Tina\u2019s Wonderlands<\/em> is some solid, mindless fun, the sort of thing that\u2019s bound to devour every second of my free time in the coming weeks. That\u2019s the dream, right?<\/p>\n
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