DOWNLOAD NOW
I can’t help but feel just a little bad for the folks at Iron Galaxy. In many ways, porting the excellent Borderlands 2 to Vita could be considered a fool’s errand of sorts, but they’ve pulled it off as well as anyone could have expected. If that sounds like conditional praise, it’s because it is. The Vita version of Borderlands 2 is remarkably content complete, right down to the two DLC character classes and all the major expansions, but that means very little given how deeply and consistently its technical issues compromise the moment-to-moment gameplay that’s supposed to form the core of the experience.
Few games have had a longer train
of substantial DLC add-ons than Borderlands 2 has, and getting it all crammed
onto the Vita is an impressive feat by any measurement. Of course, corners have
been noticeably cut in order to make that happen – sound has been compressed,
and many textures and effects have been simplified to make weight as well. Even
on the Vita’s beautiful screen, Borderlands 2 lacks the color and crispness of
both its console brethren, and more importantly, other games on the platform.
Cross-Save functionality is a boon to be sure, as is the ability to play
online, though the drop to two players from four is another example of the
watering down that had to be done to make portable Borderlands a reality.
These compromises are the least
of this port’s worries though. Borderlands 2 has never been about visual
splendor, but about fluidly placing bullets or blades between the eyes of all
Borderlands 2 is the epic sequel
to the ultimate four-player role-playing shooter loot fest. Combining invention
and evolution, Borderlands 2 features all-new characters, skills, environments,
enemies, weapons and equipment.
Killzone: MercenaryGravity
RushUncharted: Golden Abyss manner of monsters and bandits. At its best,
Borderlands 2 on Vita plays like your Vault Hunter is fighting underwater with
dumbbells strapped to their ankles; at its worst, it’s a nearly unplayable slideshow.
Even during rare stretches where it maintains a constant framerate, it’s well
south of 30, and it hitches at random like playing an MMO on dial-up. The
“limitations of hardware” excuse just doesn’t apply here. Killzone: Mercenary,
and Uncharted: Golden Abyss both managed solid performance and stunning
visuals, making Borderlands 2’s showing a disappointment by Vita standards.
The coup de grace is the ungainly
control scheme, which hurt my hands about as much as the flickering framerate
hurt my eyes. On console or PC, Borderlands 2 uses every button available, so
it’s only logical that getting it to work on the Vita would require some
compromise, but placing vital gameplay functions like sprint and melee on the
unresponsive rear touch pad was not the way to go. Aside from being painfully
awkward to reach, the rear panel just flat out doesn’t work half of the time.
Sure you can remap the controls, but no matter which way you slice it, two
functions are always going to be unreliable, and that’s two too many.
The sum of these compromises is
simply too hefty, making just about every firefight feel like a chore. The fact
that I know just how great those very same encounters can be when I’m not being
forced to slowly hobble through them just makes playing this version of
Borderlands 2 that much more frustrating.
THE VERDICT
Surely, there will be people who
are so hungry to play Borderlands 2 on-the-go, that they’ll be willing to put
up with the Vita version’s issues, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t there.
Borderlands 2 is a great game, full stop. But very little of what’s made it a
blast to play over the last couple of years hasn’t been poisoned by this
version’s technical issues. Its compromised visuals rob it of much of its
bombastic charm, while its erratic performance and unreliable touch controls
keep the gameplay from shining like it has in the past.
No comments:
Post a Comment