Borderlands 3

 Xbox One
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 520 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 275 out of 520
  2. Mixed: 50 out of 520
  3. Negative: 195 out of 520
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  1. Drayden
    Sep 16, 2019
    6
    I'll start with the good. The gun variety is excellent and feel great in action. Gun play is vastly improved over Borderlands 2. Everything else is pretty much meh. The story is pretty boring, and I just don't really care about any of the characters. The maps feel overly large. Vehicles are encouraged, but driving them isn't much fun. Performance is lacking as well, running the gameI'll start with the good. The gun variety is excellent and feel great in action. Gun play is vastly improved over Borderlands 2. Everything else is pretty much meh. The story is pretty boring, and I just don't really care about any of the characters. The maps feel overly large. Vehicles are encouraged, but driving them isn't much fun. Performance is lacking as well, running the game on an Xbox One X still sees dips in framerates on performance mode, and 4k mode goes below the 30 fps mark. I also experienced multiple game freezes, some clearing up after 30+ seconds and others requiring force quitting the game. I have experienced crashes to the dashboard as well.

    If farming for crazy weapons to shoot things to get more crazy weapons is you're thing, this is a serviceable game. Just don't expect a smooth experience.    … Expand
  2. muttsy13
    Sep 28, 2019
    7
    Was waiting 7 yrs for this didnt think it was the best borderlands felt the bugs and story where very poor but the gameplay when not buggy was fun for me and my friends if your a borderlands fan its a must buy
  3. BoostedBandCamp
    Nov 2, 2019
    7
    I'm writing this review as a true Borderlands fan, having played the last two games multiple times alongside all the the DLC's released (yes, even pre-sequel). This games has more hits than misses, but those misses are huge. The first major miss here the story. The antagonists are one dimensional, even when the plot seems to give them room to expand they remain static and boring.I'm writing this review as a true Borderlands fan, having played the last two games multiple times alongside all the the DLC's released (yes, even pre-sequel). This games has more hits than misses, but those misses are huge. The first major miss here the story. The antagonists are one dimensional, even when the plot seems to give them room to expand they remain static and boring. Performance on the Xbox One (regular) is sub-optimal, and the decisions to consistently nerf items so soon post-launch sets a dangerous precedent for the rest of the game's life cycle. What saves this game from disaster is the gameplay and improvement to movement & customization. Shooting, movement, and customization a huge step up from last time. Overall, B3 is a good game that was almost great, if not for a sloppy story and concerning balancing philosophy.… Expand
  4. CubanCriminal
    Sep 15, 2019
    6
    More of the same stuff here with literally 0 quality of life improvements. It's nice that you can cycle between missions on the main screen but a diamond at the edge of my minimap doesn't say a whole lot. If you want to see which mission is closed to you, you have to flip between to tabs in the pause menu which gets excruciatingly painful. Add on top of that the the harder difficulty isMore of the same stuff here with literally 0 quality of life improvements. It's nice that you can cycle between missions on the main screen but a diamond at the edge of my minimap doesn't say a whole lot. If you want to see which mission is closed to you, you have to flip between to tabs in the pause menu which gets excruciatingly painful. Add on top of that the the harder difficulty is locked behind one playthrough and it was enough to get me to stop playing. Last of all, the endless amounts of weapon variations isn't attractive when you all you receive the first 8 hours are shotguns and assault rifles with 9 round magazines. Every looter shooter wants to be an fps Diablo, but none offer the same amount of fun grinding for gear as Diablo. Skip purchasing and wait to get it at a deep discount. With Ghost recon out in less than 2 weeks, COD and so many other great games coming soon, definitely worth skipping this reskin of what feels like a game from 5 years ago.… Expand
  5. sewsable
    Sep 14, 2019
    5
    For single player I'd give this a high score, but that's not what I bought it for. I bought it for vertical split screen co-op to play with my husband. Horizontal split screen should be outlawed, it's horrible, the fonts are so small as to be illegible without sitting way too close to the TV and the lag in big fights or when accessing menus is awful! I'm not ditching the game as IFor single player I'd give this a high score, but that's not what I bought it for. I bought it for vertical split screen co-op to play with my husband. Horizontal split screen should be outlawed, it's horrible, the fonts are so small as to be illegible without sitting way too close to the TV and the lag in big fights or when accessing menus is awful! I'm not ditching the game as I expect patches will improve most of it over time, but they really need to add vertical split to the co-op.… Expand
  6. Qasmoke
    Oct 18, 2019
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game had so much potential but, Gearbox and 2K don't like their fans because, they squandered the established continuity. Eva is a **** character that is shoehorned into being a siren; Tannis being a siren seems stupid. Gearbox hates you and nerfs all the legendaries the game still a month after release, the performance has not been improved but sure, write it off as more borderlands 50 hours in it kinda sucks.… Expand
  7. Shatterhavok
    Sep 14, 2019
    6
    BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: If you're on the fence about buying this game now or waiting, I suggest you wait until some issues are hopefully fixed, all the DLC is out, and a lower price.

    Long time Borderlands fan. Multiple playthroughs of BL1 & 2. Only played the Pre-Sequel once. Solo player on Xbox One. Keep in mind this is a very early review. Level 10 right now, however I have issues with    BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT: If you're on the fence about buying this game now or waiting, I suggest you wait until some issues are hopefully fixed, all the DLC is out, and a lower price.

    Long time Borderlands fan. Multiple playthroughs of BL1 & 2. Only played the Pre-Sequel once. Solo player on Xbox One.

    Keep in mind this is a very early review. Level 10 right now, however I have issues with the game already. I just completed a new playthrough in BL2 prior to BL3 release, and BL3 just feels different, and not in a way I like. So maybe I'm not far enough removed from BL2, but in my opinion when I pick up a new sequel it should feel like an improved product. It feels like they've tried to make the gameplay (and the backpack menu) to be like other shooters instead of sticking to their successful formula. I do not want a more realistic game. I've enjoyed BL all these years because it was something different than all of the other bland shooters out there. It was a colorful and exciting shooter experience. 1. Movement and gunplay does not feel as smooth and crisp as previous titles. Gunplay just feels like you are farther away from the action. Targets seem smaller and off in the distance unless they are right up in your face. 2. I think my biggest gripe right now is the new backpack menu. I HATE the new menu. It is almost painful to sort through my backpack now. Not sure why they switched to a side by side menu for your unequipped items. The text is smaller, the weapon stats display is boring now (and hard to read), and comparing weapons is just not user friendly nor visually appealing. This whole menu is just ugly. I hate it compared to BL2. I loved the old menu. Also not sure why we need the character model in the middle of the menu to further break up item information and make your eyes scan back and forth across the screen. Also do not like the new interface for the vending machines.

    3. The text is too small ALL OVER the place. Mission info on the play screen, item/weapon info, and the menus. Oh and small change I hate that others might not care so much as i do, but i really liked seeing how much exp you get after downing an enemy. It let you know WHEN you downed an enemy and was useful in knowing how strong your enemies were. Now we have to look way down at the bottom of the screen at our exp bar to see how much exp we received. Oh and the exp displayed is super small text too. Imagine that. They do show a red X in your reticle now when you down an enemy, but I feel like there is a lag for this. I preferred the old way. Soon as I saw that exp pop up, I knew I could move to a new target. 4. Pretty sad they couldn't pony up a few more dollars (or whatever the problem was) for the original Claptrap voice actor. It IS noticeable that it's not the same voice. (Once again, maybe I'm not removed enough from BL2 yet)

    5. I do like the alternate firing modes for weapons. Pretty cool.

    6. Not crazy about the map in the menu. It's always rotating depending on which way you're facing. Maybe it's just me, but I like my maps to stay with a fixed north position. It's nice they added elevation to it though. Mini map is ok. At least they give you an option for the mini map to rotate or not, so it's your preference on that one.

    7. FL4Ks pet can make it difficult to pick up loot. Like I've said a few times, maybe I'm not removed enough from my last playthrough of BL2 to get a more fresh perspective on this new entry. However I think going straight from BL2 to BL3 should give the the same/better feeling while playing. BL3 so far for me falls short of the normal BL experience that I used to enjoy. Seems like the makers were trying to make this new entry similar to other current popular shooters instead of remaining true to their fresh and original take on shooters. I've always like Borderlands because it was different.

    So in summary, I wish I could get my $$$ back and wait about a year until some things are fixed/improved and most of the DLC would be out. Did I mention how much I HATE THE BACKPACK MENU! NOT USER FRIENDLY!    … Expand
  8. DiccDastardly
    Sep 23, 2019
    5
    Gameplay has been hampered a little by how dark the game is in certain areas but otherwise enjoyable.
    By far the biggest issue is the lame storyline. The Calypso twins are incredibly annoying.
    I was hoping for a Borderlands 2 expansion pack style game but I understand the need to modernise but it's not worked, for me, and for that reason I give it a lowly 5 stars. Let's hope they get a    Gameplay has been hampered a little by how dark the game is in certain areas but otherwise enjoyable.
    By far the biggest issue is the lame storyline. The Calypso twins are incredibly annoying.
    I was hoping for a Borderlands 2 expansion pack style game but I understand the need to modernise but it's not worked, for me, and for that reason I give it a lowly 5 stars.
    Let's hope they get a decent set of writers in for the DLC.    … Expand
  9. Oscarsnow95
    Sep 23, 2019
    5
    Horriblemente mal optimizado en XOX. La Consola da para más. Más después de Gears 5. Es una pena que el juego caiga a 23 fps.
  10. omgitsdiscojim
    Sep 14, 2019
    5
    Gearbox: "hey we made a great game to keep the Borderlands series going! Just don't worry about the lag in split screen, the tiny unreadable text, the bugs, the glitches, the crashes... Besides all that it's a great game"
  11. GabeYaBabe
    Sep 19, 2019
    7
    Basically just a modernized Borderlands 2 with atrocious writing and humor.
    Gameplay feels good when the game isn't falling apart at the seams.
  12. OpposingForces
    Sep 24, 2019
    7
    The game play has taken a step forward by adding better movement to the borderlands formula. this comes in the form of mantling and sliding, two new movement abilities long overdue. your overall movement feels better compared to the previous titles. the vehicle combat is also much improved and there's now a sudo looting scheme for vehicles. hijacking enemy vehicles might net you new partsThe game play has taken a step forward by adding better movement to the borderlands formula. this comes in the form of mantling and sliding, two new movement abilities long overdue. your overall movement feels better compared to the previous titles. the vehicle combat is also much improved and there's now a sudo looting scheme for vehicles. hijacking enemy vehicles might net you new parts for your rigs, if you can get the car back to a catch a ride station.
    the shooting feels better then the previous titles as well, which is a good thing for a looter "Shooter" (looking at you anthem). the new vault hunters have more personality than previous titles as well. they actually talk, respond and react to the events and NPCs around them. this makes them feel more like actual characters then some half mute puppet.

    these improvements come at a cost though; Story is weaker than BL 2's tale. While i feel the twins could have been a compelling antagonistic Duo, the writing fell short. leaving them as more annoying than anything else really. game is short, at least it feels that way. granted, 2 felt like it went on for just a bit too long, but 3 feels short and the fact that you can play through multiple times isn't a good justification for a short story campaign. the menus lag, textures fail to load, and item info panes stay on screen even after your out of the menus. also the button prompts disappear constantly. game doesn't run well any where, but even on my xbox one x in performance mode, the game stutters and drops frames like crazy. the new vault hunters feel a bit lack luster and a few struggle in boss fights as their only viable builds are kill skill based. game feels rushed over all. probably could have gone with another few months of dev and polish time.

    if your thinking about buying the game, i'd suggest you wait. give it a month and see if patches fix some of the issues.    … Expand
  13. BeenjaminPepka
    Sep 17, 2019
    6
    Just more BorderLands........................................................................................................................................................................
  14. Tharduz
    Jun 26, 2020
    7
    I was very excited about this game, B1 and B2 were really fun games, but this.. feels different, not that fun, something is missing, maybe it was created by different people than the original, I was dissapointed
  15. MarvelJoe
    Sep 13, 2021
    5
    This was my anticipated game of 2019 and the hype was real. Unfortunately, this game lands flat where no one expected. The graphics and gameplay has greatly improved from the last entrees, but it falls short on storytelling and characters that it promised to deliver. As good as the game plays, it is rarely replayable for me and other fans of the series. The game seems 'too easy' for me andThis was my anticipated game of 2019 and the hype was real. Unfortunately, this game lands flat where no one expected. The graphics and gameplay has greatly improved from the last entrees, but it falls short on storytelling and characters that it promised to deliver. As good as the game plays, it is rarely replayable for me and other fans of the series. The game seems 'too easy' for me and not really that challenging to be awarded with multiple powerful weapons. At this point, this game feels like a cash-grab after the failure of Battleborn rather than an actual sequel that can push the Borderlands series forward.… Expand
  16. Yobyoni
    May 26, 2021
    7
    This was 100% one of my most anticipated games for years. Did it live up to my expectations? Kind of. If you're a fan of the other Borderlands games, you will like this. It isn't all that different. Sure, there are quite a few new features and things that were improved upon, but overall, it more or less plays the same as Borderlands 2/Pre-Sequel. Once I finished my first playthrough, IThis was 100% one of my most anticipated games for years. Did it live up to my expectations? Kind of. If you're a fan of the other Borderlands games, you will like this. It isn't all that different. Sure, there are quite a few new features and things that were improved upon, but overall, it more or less plays the same as Borderlands 2/Pre-Sequel. Once I finished my first playthrough, I wanted to play through again with a different character, but I quickly remembered just how boring Borderlands games are for replays. There isn't anything to really gain from replaying the game.… Expand
  17. J3PDK
    Sep 22, 2019
    7
    Postives:
    Great gunplay
    Loot is awesome Great replayability Coop Cons: Poor optimization Local coop is unplayable Horrible story Horrible dialogue Randy Pitchford Take Two Day 1 season pass Conclusion: This game could have been a great sequel to Borderlands 2, but instead we have got a rushed game, which has a laughably bad story and horrible villians. But i still enjoyed    Postives:
    Great gunplay
    Loot is awesome
    Great replayability
    Coop

    Cons:
    Poor optimization
    Local coop is unplayable
    Horrible story
    Horrible dialogue
    Randy Pitchford
    Take Two
    Day 1 season pass

    Conclusion:
    This game could have been a great sequel to Borderlands 2, but instead we have got a rushed game, which has a laughably bad story and horrible villians. But i still enjoyed this game, because of 2 reasons.

    1: i'm a huge Borderlands fans
    2: The gunplay and loot is probably the best gaming has ever achieved.

    6/10    … Expand
  18. Doite
    May 30, 2020
    7
    Ok. We were so sure of this game we pre-ordered the big pack that included all the DLC. We thought there was no way Borderlands could go wrong. They had a winning model and a ton of backstory and a million ways to take this game.

    So the good: Hammerlock's plot in this was fantastic. Lots of fun to play. The guns are great, the combat system is great. It's a bit weird to change    Ok. We were so sure of this game we pre-ordered the big pack that included all the DLC. We thought there was no way Borderlands could go wrong. They had a winning model and a ton of backstory and a million ways to take this game.

    So the good:
    Hammerlock's plot in this was fantastic. Lots of fun to play.
    The guns are great, the combat system is great. It's a bit weird to change midget's to tink's but ok. The generic enemies are ok. All the sound effects and graphics are lots of fun and satisfying. Overall, the game side of things is what I've rated here. It's a 7, I'm rating high.

    The bad:
    The #1 problem with the game is the writing. They butchered a lot of old characters. You see this with Moxxi the most. In Borderland's 2 she was a 'best served cold' businesswoman. She handled her business and did what she liked, but when she went after people you really felt it was deserved. She was someone that you didn't want to cross. But she wasn't cruel and a **** about it. In this game they took her over the line and she becomes really unlikable. I think they were going for her dominatrix-style but they've never met a dominatrix before and just have a really poor understanding of what that is.

    She's only one of the many characters who had a personality change. This is pervasive with almost all the returning characters.

    The plot plain isn't good. Imagine if someone handed the writing department a bunch of basic character profiles and told them to write from that. That's what it seems has happened here. I agree with the other commenter that the bad guys weren't terrible, they were just more vaguely annoying than actual bad guys you wanted to fight. They lacked an A to Z character development that they did so well with Jack. Where at first they're just fun and evil and then you really want them to die.

    Remember in Borderland's 2 (spoilers) where certain characters died? You were sad right? Maybe you cried? You FELT that.

    You don't feel anything in this game. Nothing. We laughed at the ending. Not a genuine 'we're enjoying this laugh' but the way you laugh at bad movies. Where it's just so ridiculous you can't believe someone made it. Again, it's the writing. We noticed how rushed it felt and, while we don't know how things went down for the development team, the fact they were running around having fun and wasting time months before this ever came out, and that there were 7 years tells us they had no business rushing the game.

    Lots of empty space with nothing to fill it on the maps.

    It seems like...not a lot of work went into this. And it's a shame. Because if another one comes out later down the line, I don't know if I'll buy it. I can't recommend it. Even rating it higher than I should.    … Expand
  19. doublestar
    Sep 21, 2019
    7
    It's a good game and great fun but it's annoying when you are trying to do some of the missions and then it bugs out on you to where you can't finish the mission.
  20. Guilao2020
    Jul 18, 2020
    6
    Jogo divertido para jogar com os amigos, porém tivemos Muitos problemas de performance. Fps cai com frequência, jogo fecha as vezes, Loadings longos e etc.

Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best Xbox One Game of 2019
9
#9 Most Discussed Xbox One Game of 2019
33
#33 Most Shared Xbox One Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 25 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 25
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 25
  3. Negative: 0 out of 25
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Oct 13, 2019
    80
    Borderlands 3 may not be clever, but it is very big – and above all else, the source of a vast well of over-the-top shooting fun and mayhem. Be thankful that Gearbox refused to reinvent the franchise just for the sake of it. [Issue#183, p.73]
  2. Easy Allies
    Oct 10, 2019
    85
    Rather than trying to latch on to current trends, Borderlands 3 stands confident in the fact that there’s still no other game that does exactly what this series does so well. The sheer creativity and inventiveness presented in its arsenal is hard to match, and while the humor may not be for everyone, it keeps the gameplay in perspective as we’re all just here to have a good time. It isn’t as big of a leap forward as Borderlands 2, but it’s well-refined and there’s a lot to experiment with to keep you coming back for more.
    Read full review
  3. TheXboxHub
    Oct 9, 2019
    90
    It delivers on its promise and then some, and if you’re someone who enjoys playing video games alone or with friends, and likes having fun whilst doing so, in that respect, Borderlands 3 is perfect.
    Read full review
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