Tiny Tina's Wonderlands (2022)

A bit caveat at the start of this review: I'm not a big shooter guy nor do I have any interest in Borderlands. Which is, perhaps, what allowed me to enjoy Tiny Tina's Wonderlands for what it is, rather than have any expectations placed on it. Because while my experience with Borderlands is limited, this feels like a whole other beast, taking Borderlands' distinctive snark and visual aesthetic and plopping it into the realm of a fantasy RPG.

Set in the Borderlands universe, we see a shipwrecked crew bored and looking to burn time. So Tiny Tina--one of these shipwrecked wretches--devises a bit of tabletop tomfoolery. So Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is set within this tabletop RPG (an obvious spin on Dungeons and Dragons) where you play the role of Fatemaker (the hero) of this DnD experience that Tina acts as dungeon master for.

Make sense?

As such there are two levels to the game:

1. An overworld that looks like someone's homemade tabletop map. A very deluxe one, which probably took more time to construct than anyone would ever put into a DnD sesh, but nonetheless.

2. There are points on the overworld--which basically acts as a world map--that you can enter into full first person maps where the majority of the quests take place. It's in these maps where you do your shooting, your looting, your EX gaining, etc. And it's in these maps--which dominate the game's content--where the Wonderlands' fun blend of fantasy and FPS gameplay takes place.

So you've got the addicting sort of character creation and building that you expect from an RPG mixed with the sort of frenetic looting you expect out of a Borderlands-style looter-shooter (or, since I don't play looter shooters, it reminded me more of Assassin's Creed Odyssey, where there's a ton to loot and what's good and not good depends a lot on the build you're going for).

The downside to such an overflow of loot is they mixed it with a very restrictive inventory, such that you have to figure out mid-quests whether you'd rather drop lower-tier loot, or backtrack to town to sell everything. They tried to make it fairly non-punishing (with a menu option to return to town, and a portal in town to spit you back at the nearest checkpoint to where you'd been), but it's still kinda cumbersome. IMO, if you're going to have us do all this looting, at least give us a proper amount of backpack space. But I digress.

Like I said, I'm not much of a shooter guy, so I loved the combat in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. I've learned that if I love combat, people who love combat dislike it. So, you know, I make no guarantees that you'll enjoy it. But it finds that really nice balance between handling well enough that a bad gamer like me can enjoy battling foes without feeling like I'm being punished, while also being just frenetic enough that it does force me to examine my loot to figure out what my ideal loadout will be.

Loot pops out at various rarities (common, uncommon, rare, epic, and legendary) and everything is numbered to match your skill level. IE, if you're level 20, a level 164 gun might be feeling a bit underpowered, a level 200 gun will be about right, and you're going to be feeling pretty good with a 220 gun. Unfortunately, about 3/4ths of the way through the game I felt like my weapon levels stagnated; I'd be level 44 and be getting loot at level 375 or something. I mean, I never struggled during those later stages of the game, so it's not like it was affecting my ability to advance, but it's also not a lot of fun to loot when you aren't upgrading anything. (I suspect that this is because I did all the side quests and, as such, leveled up a lot outside the main storyline.)

Anyway, if you're in the mood for a fantasy-themed shooter with some fun RPG mechanics in the background, I found Tiny Tina's Wonderlands to be pretty delightful.

Rating 4/5

I am a big borderlands fan, I've played 2, some of 3 and 1 and Pre-sequel and this one is like Tiny Tina DLC times 500. It has way more content, the fights were interesting and fun(as long as coop in most parts) I dont like how some force coop to make it passable but I think goal was maybe D&D board game with friends. Im excited to finish 100%ing this game and the DLCs. If you like D&D and you like borderlands, I definitely recommend this! Also the best class I found would be Spore Warden and Spellshot class to make you feel like a true mage!!

I have tried playing other Borderlands games and the one shot tiny Tina game but I have failed to even get passed the first mission.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands came to me for free, so I figured I would give it a shot because I've always liked the D&D style. The game played very smoothly, and the combat was pretty fun (especially if you get lucky enough to get a legendary weapon early on). I had some tough moments, but nothing that made me want to turn off the game and take a break to resume it with a clear mind. The story isn't anything special, and I recommend playing this with a friend for more fun. Solo doesn't always hit the same after co-op.

The boss fights are fun as well though some are lack luster. over all I give the game a 7.5/10 or in this case 3.5/5

This review was done without doing any of the DLC content.

To preface, I am a fan of the Borderlands series. I haven't taken the time to play Borderlands 3, but I have played 1, 2, and the pre-sequel, all to completion multiple times. The humor/writing and references aren't for everybody, but I think the comedy in this series is hilarious and enjoyable. Yeah maybe a joke or two doesn't stick the landing or is borderline "cringe", but I love these games. Now you take that and put it in a D&D setting, and this was a must buy for me.

At first I wasn't sure what to think. When I played the Tiny Tina's fantasy DLC years ago, I encountered a few glitches that ruined the experience for me. I like fantasy, but I didn't know if this was going to be a cheap re skin of something else or a well thought out game. I'm glad to say that while some things are face-lifted straight from Borderlands, it's different enough and unique that I couldn't help but have to play this game to completion.

This game sells itself on a very simple loop. Get crazy, wacky guns with a slight fantasy twist, go kill lots of things, and get more wacky guns + gear. This is Borderlands thru and thru. That means that the bulk of the game is go here and kill these things. There are some very light platforming elements with some side time trial challenges. There are a few "puzzles" but not really. What you are doing in this gaming is looting for stats, so you can kill more things to get better things with more stats. That's the loop, and I found it fun and addicting.

I would be lying if I said it is flawless. I was really hoping the enemy variety would increase by the end of the game, but it wasn't so annoying that I didn't have fun. You have the beasts: shark-dogs, wyverns, and cyclops. Then you have the factions/races which all have variations of the archetypes. The groups include goblin, pirate, skeleton, coiled, etc. The archetypes include grunt (melee), gunner/archer, mage/priest, self-destruct guy, etc. Unfortunately, outside of design they do feel the same throughout. There isn't quite enough to really mix things up, especially considering the because the main villain's thing is raising the undead, so you are fighting them constantly throughout the game. Also the game scales its enemies to your current level, which made things engaging, but never truly challenging, This is especially true after I did most of the side stuff. There are difficulty options so I could have made the game more difficult if I wanted to, but there's no higher or lower level areas, everything is just scaled to the player character.

The locations are fantastical and vary, but also just feel limited. There are only so many playable locations. Some have story relevance, and some are purely side areas. This doesn't include the Overworld, which had lots of charm that I did appreciate. The locations are unique enough, and are easily fully explored when doing the side quests. You have the fields and castles, cemeteries, mushroom forest, deep sea chasm, tropical oasis, frozen mountain w/ caves, etc. They were unique enough, but the game really lacks in its combat arenas which it insists on using all the time for side stuff, and for the entire endgame grind. The worlds were cool, but they really needed some more time to trim them for their side/endgame content.

This brings me to the best part (in my opinion). While the main story is really inconsequential, the writing and storytelling of this game was everything I wanted. The main cast of Tina, Valentine, and Frette are great, and their voice actors do a wonderful job. Will Arnett is fantastic as the villain. But more than the voice work, the writing is on point. The side missions in particular brought me so much joy, such as the Smurf parody, or the mission where Claptrap is trying different voices for negotiations. Everything about this game just brought joy to me, which made the "go here and kill x things, then grab y item" quests, which is really the entire game, never get old for me. The game isn't as long as the other Borderlands games, but that might be why this game didn't drag for me. It seemed well paced and I enjoyed it.

So really that's it. It's the classic Borderlands looter-shooter in the new setting. I feel like you know what you're getting if you buy this. I love this style of comedy and parodying of other fantasy themes, and I find the grind for better loot engaging. I understand why some people don't, but I can't rate their experience only mine and I find this game fantastic and enjoyable. I'm saving the DLC until all of them are out so I can return to play it all at once.

9/10