Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

I love the color. I love the creativity. I love the intensity and the barely controlled mayhem. But over it all, there’s no denying that Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is more or less a glittery skin thrown over Borderlands 3. As a DLC maybe (and when I told some of my friends that I was reviewing Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, several of them asked, oh, is that the new Borderlands DLC?) something limited to the 10-15 hour or less realm (and the $20 or less price tag), this might work. But as a new thing, that really isn’t anything different from the old thing, Gearbox really needs to find something to freshen up this formula, and I don’t mean top-flight voice talent.

It’s a game that’s enjoyable in small chunks but not really for a great length of time. And after a while, I felt that I had seen as much of Wonderlands as I needed to. I think at some point even the most die-hard Borderlands fans will simply lift their hands from their keyboard/controller and say, “You know what? That’s enough Tina for the foreseeable future.”

A jovial jaunt through a reskinned Borderlands experience. The humour and references are on point, but the short length left me disappointed…

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is a full-priced offering that seems like it would have been better suited as DLC, like its predecessor. It's still a solid shooter with some whacky characters and a fun story, but it doesn't take any risks or innovate on the established formula, and the multiplayer issues are an annoyance.

Quotation forthcoming.

Tiny Tina's Wonderland is fun but far to repetitive to be enjoyed on the long run.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is a nice spinoff from the main Borderlands Series. While the class system is pretty enjoyable, most of the game is still based off classic Borderlands Title, and as such, there isn't much new stuff to feat on. The overall game is still pretty decent with lots to do, and that lovely sense of humor.

Better than Borderlands 3, but not quite reaching the heights of Borderlands 2 at its best.

Don't be fooled by the imaginative jacket: Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is simply more Borderlands. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, but we had hoped for a little more surprise. The game is hilarious at times, but repetitive battles sometimes ruin the fun.

As a spin-off, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands doesn't reinvent the Borderlands wheel with its shift towards fantasy that bears a chaotic-neutral alignment. Instead, it explores familiar territory that repeats the best and worst of the Borderlands formula and it doesn't venture out of its comfort zone. That makes for a game that is packed with solid first-person shooter action and a competent multiclass system for creating an interesting Fatemaker. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands retreads the same mechanical and narrative ground as Borderlands 3, ultimately creating a chapter in the franchise that's fun but forgettable.

The variety of each of Wonderlands‘ six classes, combined with a deficit in mission variety, means you’ll have a much better experience with friends. While its style of humour and emphasis on mountains and mountains of loot doesn't connect with me, I can see why it would appeal to those who enjoy Borderlands' comedic stylings, charm and systems.

Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is a Borderlands game. It's not a spin-off, it's not inspired by, and it's not a mix of Borderlands and D&D - it's just Borderlands. It's a waste of a great concept, and comes with the typical Borderlands drawbacks of potentially grating humour, way too many guns, way too small storage space, and a lot of always-on characters who aren't given enough room to breathe. It's fun, but it's nothing special. The worst part is it could have been.

The world of Wonderlands and its characters is touching, wacky and wildly imaginative, but the game is filled with unimaginative gameplay. Gearbox has to go back to the drawing board, because Borderlands needs more than just a new jacket and a wizard hat.

Borderlands had its share of bugs, broken abilities and boring levels, but it always made up for it with humor and charm. Not anymore: Gearbox lost its best writers, so in Wonderlands it struggles even with established characters, and new ones fall completely flat. [Issue#260, p.42]

Tiny Tina Wonderland brings the good humor of the Borderlands universe and the chaos of crazy battles with even crazier weapons, but instead of being on a distant planet, we are in a realm of 'futuristic fantasy'. However, the story is not as funny as previous Gearbox games and the world created by Tiny Tina failed to catch me. I believe anyone who is a fan of the series will enjoy having a little more of this universe - and maybe this game is really just for fans of Claptrap's gang.

Slicing through mobs to trade up my weapons is fun, and sometimes an amusing line of dialogue makes everything seem great again. Gearbox could’ve done a lot more with the next installment in the Borderlands' series than this. It all got old, too quickly, and it made me just want to boot up Borderlands 2 with my friends again, instead.

Wonderlands is the safest, most paint-by-numbers, product-of-the-time game I’ve played in a while, and a serving of the same thing Gearbox has been dishing up for 10 years minus the humor. It’s the absolute opposite of avant-garde and simply reuses the Borderlands formula without improving on it in any tangible manner. While it’s more tolerable as a multiplayer game given that you’ll more readily be able to overlook its story and writing, it’s still a disappointing spin-off that takes away more from the source material than it gives back.

The best and worst thing about Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands is that it feels like another Borderlands game. The shooter gameplay is as tight and responsive as ever, the weapons are fun to use, and the writing is a marked improvement over Borderlands 3. The characters are once again at the center of the game’s comedy, and the performances are great (when the actors are actually committing to their roles). But, because this is more Borderlands, a lot of the same annoyances with the series persist, especially when it comes to inventory management and the sheer amount of meaningless loot. Really, Wonderlands’ worst offense is that it can’t get over the series’ legacy of looting and shooting, and misses the opportunity to take real inspiration from the tabletop worlds that it parodies.