Tales from the Borderlands is the latest high-octane Telltale adventure game series from the geniuses behind The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us, but rather than creating another spin-off of a popular comic book, Telltale has instead looked to the videogame charts and selected the popular Borderlands titles as its latest subject. And the idea could well prove to be truly inspired, if the first two episodes are anything to go by.
Borderlands 1 and 2 were set in a richly detailed Mad Max-esque apocalyptic wasteland populated by all manner of entertaining characters, from schizo robots to sociopathic bandits. Fans will be pleased to hear that both locale and cast have transferred beautifully from action to adventure, and while it’s great to see some familiar names adorn Tales from the Borderlands’ roster, you actually take control of two brand new characters: down-on-his-luck Hyperion employee Rhys and a sublimely sardonic swindler called Fiona.
Tales from the Borderlands kicks off with Rhys discovering that his biggest Hyperion rival, Vasquez, has taken control of the company and demoted him to janitor out of pure spite. Never one to be outdone, Rhys swiftly hijacks Vasquez’s car along with his weasley comrade Vaughn and takes off to Pandora in search of a vault key, but instead he ends up shackled with Fiona and her spunky sister Sasha, as the four are pulled into an even bigger adventure.
The story is sadly Tales from the Borderlands’ weakest spot, proving - so far at least - to be little more than a reason for the characters to be dragged from one action scene to the next. Sit down and mull over the plot for more than a few seconds and you’ll suddenly realise that it’s filled with more holes than a slab of Swiss cheese.
Gameplay too is far from innovative, doubly so if you’re used to Telltale’s adventure titles so far. Tales from the Borderlands is even more of an interactive movie than previous efforts, with long cutscenes punctuated only by the occasional obligatory quicktime event. Conversations often prompt you to select one of three options to proceed, but all three options are often close to identical, or lead to the same conclusion anyway.
An issue that’s run throughout the Telltale games is how much impact your choices actually have on the overarching story. Walking Dead series two, for instance, played out pretty much the same way no matter who you sided with or how much of a grumpy pants you were to everyone. The only real course-change happened right at the very end, and no doubt that final chilling decision will still be rendered null and void when season three eventually comes along, as the creators skip ahead in time so everyone starts in the same position.
There is a supposedly game-changing choice to make in episode two, where you have to select which town to head to next - but only time will tell if this actually makes any difference to how the rest of the episodes play out. Still, at the very least it adds some replayability.
Meanwhile, action scenes are simply a case of bashing a button when needed or tapping in the correct direction to dodge an obstacle. You’re given so much time to react that it’s pretty much impossible to fail, which is fine by me, as repeating the same stage over and over when you keep mis-hitting buttons is usually an exercise in frustration. And while The Walking Dead usually had chunks of game where you could manually explore your environment, Tales from the Borderland restricts these to tiny minute-long segments where you generally examine an object or two and then leave the room.
However, despite the story being rather patchy and the almost total lack of interactivity, Tales from the Borderlands is still a game well worth playing for fans of the series and Telltale’s titles - because it’s so damn fun.
The characters are well realised and funny as hell and their constant bickering is one of the constant joys of the series. The bulk of the story is told by Rhys and Fiona in flashback, which sets up many of the game’s laugh-out-loud moments, as their version of how things played out are distorted and smacked all out of shape.
Another highlight is Vasquez, brought to life by the unmistakable vocal talents of Patrick Warburton, who is perfectly smarmy and hilariously incompetent as the series’ ongoing antagonist. I’m hoping that he keeps on popping up in future episodes, in his vengeful quest to ruin Rhys’ life good and proper.
Presentation is also perfect, with the series sporting the same cel-shaded graphics of the original games, plus a well-focused and atmospheric soundtrack. This is the first game I’ve played since Bioshock Infinite where I’ve actively searched for a song on the soundtrack.
With three episodes still to go, Tales from the Borderlands has plenty of time to inject extra thrills into the story and hopefully introduce some more compelling gameplay elements. All the same, I’m looking forward to getting stuck into episode three, thanks to the compelling characters and hilarious dialogue.
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