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Tiny Tina's Wonderlands - First Impressions
Developed by: Gearbox Software

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is one of those games I've had on my radar for quite a while since its release, and up until recently, hadn't jumped in to experience it for myself. All I really had to go on was a few screenshots, video clips, and some of the reviews that go along with it. And...well, if you go in solely based on the reviews, you won't be setting yourself up for a good time. Best to go in fresh and play the game when you feel the timing is right. And so that's what I did. And...well, I'm enjoying the hell out of it.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands as far as I can tell follows a lot of the trends that we've come to know and love from the Borderlands games yet still manages to add a few twists and turns that make it its own. I mean, from the very start of the game you're introduced to yourself and your team that are all sitting around a table getting ready to jump into a fantasy ridden session of dungeons & dragons. And yes, you will be controlling your character that is going through this very dungeons & dragons adventure, but with that wonderful Borderlands / Gearbox style that we've come to know and love for so long. We're talking RPG elements, tabletop board game elements, random encounters, different enemy types and of course, guns!

I decided to run a class for my first playthrough that focuses on dexterity and arrow / crossbow based weapons, but even with the few hours that I've put in the game, you can still move away from your preferred weapon set and try out whatever weapons you choose to go with. And some come with some special effects much like you should already be used to with Borderlands in general. Ice based attacks, fire, etc etc. The big difference that I noticed right off the bat is the magic taking place of grenades and lemme tell ya, the magic spells are ****ing awesome. I'm still using one of the starter spells and when I shoot it out, it travels to 3 or more enemies at a time setting a freeze status effect on them. That combined with some clever melee attack maneuvers makes for some really chaotic and rewarding enemy encounters. And while the combat at first may seem like it doesn't work all too well, just give it a little bit of time to sink in since although it does share similarities with Borderlands, the combat system is still all its own and unique to Tiny Tina's Wonderlands which should be seen as more of a positive instead of a negative.

Now, I'll talk very briefly about this as I don't want it to take up most of the dialogue I'm going for here but, evidently, this game is different. Not in the way that takes away from the fun and fantasy of it all, but if you're expecting a full on new revamped Borderlands, put that expectation aside and go into this with an open mind. I think what happens is we get ourselves to expect certain things and then we are unable to accept new ideas. Gearbox is going for its own unique taste with this game and I think it should be rewarded and not flooded with negative reviews. However everybody is different and everyones opinion is valued however I think this game got a lot more flack than it deserves. At least in my opinion. Now back to the fun talk:

All the characters that I've met so far are either unique or fun to talk to, and while you go through the game whether it's in a mission or in the overworld map, you'll hear conversation exchanges between the other people sitting at the table which immerses you even more into believing that you are controlling a character in a dungeons and dragons game, which to me is really neat and something I hope Gearbox evolves on more. Sometimes you'll just pass by the conversation going on and sometimes it is really funny to listen to. But all in all, the most fun I've had with the game of course is the combat sections, most importantly the way the guns work etc, which is also fantastic.

I'm not always the greatest with first person shooters but I've always had a love for Borderlands because of how much fun they make the shooter aspect. And instead of it feeling like a Call of Duty close, Borderlands and the games following after it all felt fresh and new and just simply fun to play. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands still has all of that, for me anyway, while like I said, maintaining the ability to add new things into the old style that work in its favor instead of against it. I didn't really know how I would like the tabletop overworld type map but I've gotten used to it and actually find it quite interesting to traverse. So far each missions while feeling the same combat wise all have different vibes to level design and different rewards to get for completing them making it even more fun to just jump in and take on waves of enemies. As much as I was anticipating running through a vast world in the same way as Borderlands, I honestly do like the way this game does it since it absolutely fits well with the whole dungeons and dragons theme they are going with. I'm all for it.

I've also always thought one of the stronger points of Borderlands and now Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is the comedy and the way the developers are not afraid to make fun of pretty much everything in their games either from what enemies say while in combat to simply the names of NPC's you'll run into. It's all campy fantasy and my god it works so well in a dungeons and dragons adventure. I'm obviously planning to finish this game at some point as I'm really enjoying the time I'm putting into it right now. However I don't know if I will end up 100%'d it as there seems to be a lot of collectibles. But we'll see.