Article written 04/07/2017
An analytical review of 'Tales from the Borderlands' by Greg Barclay
This game is better than it has any right to be, I'm going to be as spoiler free as possible but if anything slips out then apologies.
Telltale Games formula and the Borderlands IP shouldn't mesh and yet it does. At no point does Telltale try to emulate the gameplay or formula that served as the backbone for the franchise’s first and second outing. Instead, they rely on the characters and world that was created to build an interesting narrative told throughout 5 episodes with an eclectic cast of characters, inspired choice of music and most a true sense of pathos.
Borderlands, a series mainly centred around running and gunning whilst collecting massive amounts of loot has never veered towards a story. The first entry in the series uses a narrative as window dressing for the gameplay. The sophomore entry within the series masterfully uses world building and character development to create a unique and interesting world but the gameplay always took centre stage. It was going to be a huge gamble making a game like this considering what Telltale had done before. Announced at the 2013 Video Games Awards it was one of the few genuinely surprising announcements of the night, something that was much needed considering Geoff Keighley and Joel McHale as hosts were dreadful and sandbagged the entire event.
Like any Telltale game since 2012's stellar 'The Walking Dead' the gameplay revolves around QTE-esque dialogue and action based situations.
Every now and again the player will be dropped into sections of gameplay in which you must walk around the given environment as either Fiona or Rhys (whoever is progressing the storyline at that point in time) and interact with objects and other characters with some genuinely humorous results.
This is standard 'point and click' fare from a developer whose team is largely comprised of LucasArts alumni.
The gameplay doesn't always hit its mark however, the Telltale engine is starting to show its age and hardware limitations with numerous visual glitches throughout. During my playthrough, they were but not limited to: Crashes, music dropping in and out, lack of sync between character models and voice acting, Fiona being trapped in front of a table requiring a restart of the game.
Additionally, the Telltale formula has never been amazing, to begin with, and this game is no exception regardless of how great it is. This may feel like an easy target for a studio that doesn't carry massive production values but it does bear mentioning.
So, what's the story? As mentioned earlier we're going to be as spoiler-free as possible here. The game is essentially about two very different people from two very different walks of life who handle situations in two very different manners. Rhys is a Hyperion (the franchises equivalent of The Empire from Star Wars meets Apple) desk jockey who idolises Borderlands 2's antagonist, Handsome Jack. After failing to receive a promotion and being demoted to janitor by his corporate rival, Hugo Vasquez voiced by the delightfully devilish Patrick Warburton, Rhys and his pencil pusher co-worker Vaughn flee to Pandora when they find out Vasquez is involved with a massive money deal involved with a 'Vault' (El Dorado for guns basically).
On the other end of all this is a petty thief, Fiona and her adopted sister Sasha. They've only ever known a life of hustle and petty crime. They two are after the same Vault as Rhys and Vaughn.
Fiona and Sasha must take part in an exchange of money which has been set up by their mentor/father figure, Felix.
When things come to a head our two parties comprised of Hyperion and thieves meet and must overcome their differences to find the vault one way or another. Loyalties and mettle are tested in what can be described as basic storytelling fair. Or if you're a sentimentalist or those guys who come up with tag-lines for movie posters: “The Adventure of a Lifetime”.
As mentioned earlier the game has amazing unexpected pathos. It's hard to imagine a game with mostly characters you've never met prior could elicit such a guttural emotional response from you as the player. Telltale has a knack for this and they continue this trend with some of the most genuinely funny, endearing, heartbreaking and for lack of a better term epic moments in gaming. Remember when the word “epic” wasn't just thrown around and it actually meant something large/grand in scope, almost godly? Yeah...
The voice acting is second to none with Laura Bailey, Troy Baker, Dameon Clarke and Patrick Warburton as Fiona, Rhys, Jack and Vasquez respectively knocking it out of the park. Other standouts include Ashley Johnson as the GORTYS and Raison Varner as Loader-Bot who's purposefully stunted and robotic delivery help provide great comedic relief when the player watches these two AI's interact.
Nolan North, Chris Hardwick and Erin Yvette tie everything together as supporting characters August, Vaughn and Sasha respectively.
A nice addition of fan service for long-term fans of Telltale's works is that the characters Finch & Kroeger are voiced by Dave Fennoy and Adam Harrington who previously played the leading roles in the last two Telltale games: 'The Walking Dead' and 'The Wolf Among Us'.
The choice of licensed music within each episode is used to perfection.
'Busy Earnin' by Jungle is used within the first episode to accompany a scene of Rhys and Vaugh arriving on Pandora. The song has a nonchalant attitude which is personified in our characters behaviour being used to juxtapose against the harsh unforgiving Badlands of Pandora.
Episode 2 provides Shawn Lee's 'Kiss the Sky' during the intro which sees a slow-motion sequence where our protagonists are caught up in a vehicular Rakkhide attack. The image of Fiona losing her grip as Rhys slowly falls out of the caravan whilst Vaughn is holding his leg as they tumble into the wasteland is a thing of pure beauty. Episode 3 (My personal favourite) brings about a road trip vibe to the series as we see a montage of our characters journey across the planet. A perfectly synced musical visual story is told to the audience. The progression of not only distance to the planet but the friendship and dynamics of the characters is conveyed to the audience. 'Pieces of the People We Used to Know' by The Rapture accompanies this scene. Episode 4 uses Twin Shadows 'Back to the Top' in an 'Armageddon'-esque parody that is as every bit cheesy and amazing as it sounds. The ending sequence of the episode includes a glitched out version of this track as the character Handsome Jack cackles in the background. Truly immense stuff.
Finally, episode 5 opens with James Blake's 'Retrograde' a dour track to fit the mood and ambience on screen. His haunting vocals echo across the screen as debris from a space station hurdles towards Pandora.
The finale concludes with First Aid Kit's 'My Silver Lining'. A road trip song if ever there was one. This ballad plays over the credit sequence, animations of the characters and events from the last five episodes are shown on the screen. The guitar and vocals give off connotations of the old west or route 66. In essence pure Americana, which is what Borderlands kind of is. Guns, Insanity and tolerating people who are different from you. The song leaves the player in an optimistic mood. If there is never a Season 2 or continuation in the main series of games then that is fine. The story is, for the most part, wrapped up in a nice wee package. Our characters achieved their goals and have come out stronger for it. Good has defeated evil (assuming you chose to save Jack which you totally should have because he's the best character in the franchise despite his villainous nature).
Another praise on the audio front for this game is the score by Jared Emerson-Johnson who has worked on the entirety of the Telltale games catalogue. His score for the game meshes well with the world and could be easily incorporated into the prior games without noticing any differences. The score sounds familiar in a good way and not in the sense that it sounds like Borderlands. His score resembles his prior works on the likes of Sam & Max, The Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us etc.
I can't tell if he's using similar audio beats and queues or equipment but it's a nostalgic/warm feeling of familiarity. His scores for The Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us served as the soundtrack to some of my most poignant, intense and heart-breaking moments as a gamer and this is no different.
The orchestral piece that plays over the menu for the game sounds rather out of place in the world established by the games, it is bombastic and cinematic. Eerily reminiscent of a Hans Zimmer track.
Regardless it is an impressive piece of music and despite the fact it doesn't click with the rest of the game it does inform the player that what they are about to play will be an epic adventure. Kudos to Jared Emerson-Johnson for this.
Jesper Kyd who had previously worked on the Hitman and Assassins Creed franchise provides many of his works from the Borderlands 2 to be used to round out the soundtrack of the game. Hearing his works again is an absolute treat to the ears as it not only provides a healthy dose of nostalgia but it helps reinforce that this game is part of the larger Borderlands world and lore.
If you couldn't tell, I would firmly recommend this game to anyone with a current gen console or PC. That being said, it does help to play the previous games in the series first just to get a feel for the lore, setting and recurring characters/themes. You could jump into this right away having never played any of the other games in the franchise and enjoy it but that would be a massive disservice to the game. I'm annoyed I never played this game sooner as I’ve always been a fan of the Borderlands IP. The series has been out now for two and a half years and I only recently played it at the beginning of the year, what a fool I was. Paid £15 for it digitally too, not too shabby. That was until I found out the boxed copy with everything pre-installed on it was only £4 in my local GAME.
All I could think of in this moment of sheer and utter disappointment was Rhy's lament in the first episode of the series “Oh my god, who called in the whaaambulance?”
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