Borderlands: The Handsome Collection - Xbox One

This is next-generation Borderlands and a spectacular. I every game in the Borderlands family from the console to my Mac. So I had to buy the Handsome Jack Collection just to experience next-generation a.k.a. current generation console gaming. I am not disappointed in the least. The graphics look as good as they did on my Mac and a lot better than they did on my PS3 and Xbox 360. My favorite part of this update is how fast the game loads when you're switching areas. I do have a 7200 RPM hard drive in my PS4 and it's gone from 10 to 15 second load times to down to three or four second load times when you fast travel. This is great for farming bosses for loot. If you're new to the Borderland Series of give you a few tips. The game is basically about finding the best loot all the while engaging in a very wacky and humorous story. I would recommend playing Borderlands2 first and then playing The Pre-Sequel afterwards. Borderlands tips: I recommend playing as Axton or Salvador when first learning the game the reason being that both of their action skills save you ammunition. When I first was playing ammunition was relatively painful to come by until I learn how to take out enemies effectively. For The Pre-Sequel I chose to play with Wilhelm because he has 2 aerial drones that save ammunition in the early going. Most of the bosses that you face drop legendary loot the epic guns/shields so playing them over and over again is known as farming. It's one of the cornerstones of getting good gear in this series. Every time you face and being a boss type character (they're usually want to have a character introduction video) you can then restart the game and fight them again and again and again. Be warned it can sometimes take near 50 tries before they drop their good orange gear. When Grandpa Burps Patrick Obeys… Or White, Green, Blue, Purple, Orange this is a rarity colors given to loot so that you can know what is the most common a.k.a. white to the most rare orange. When you see something that is orange picking up right away. If you get stuck at a spot that you can't give bikers are getting beat up/killed a lot go back to the last area that you cleared out and played over and over again. I do this just the level of my guy so I'm on par with the enemies of fighting. In borderlands if you go in under level against hard enemies you will get destroyed. You can get a lot of golden keys from the Internet. Golden keys are used on a special chest in both Sanctuary and Serenity the main towns in both games. The golden key chest gives you purple rarity gear that can be used to help you fight enemies. It's always level to the same level as your character which is great. I'll put a link in the comments to a Website where you can find keys for both borderlands 2and The Pre-Sequel. I hope that helps and I hope you enjoyed this game.

Borderlands the Handsome Collection is great for gamers who have yet to play the Borderlands Series. Although the game does not include the first Borderlands, it does include both Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel which give a coherent story behind Handsome Jack (you'll quickly see who he is). I can't say enough good about the game. Not only is it an amazing single player experience but its magnified by its multiplayer aspect as well. Trading and fighting with friends make the game somewhat more interesting when playing with others. The ability to have literally millions of different weapons based on their characteristics keeps the replay aspect of the game high. Additionally, the crude humor is a nice change of pace from those first person shooters that take themselves too seriously. The vast open world you're allowed to explore has enough baddies to keep you occupied but enough places to visit where you don't have to worry about fighting as well including a large cast of characters that bring even more levity to the game. The upgrades for each character over both games not only adds a new dynamic to the RPG/FPS genres, but a comical one as well. I would definitely not recommend the game to a younger audience, but I'd expect the older kids and adults will really enjoy this. If you want to fight alien creatures and psychotic criminals on distant planets all while having a good laugh with friends, this is a game you shouldn't miss!

Quick review - Buying this game on sale for $22 was worth the purchase, especially since it was an impulse "oh it's a great deal" kind of buy. But if you guys are on the fence about it especially at full price, I'm sure you'll be fine without this game. If you like the open world adventures, plenty of quests, have friends to play with, and missed out on both titles when they first came out, this may be worth checking out. If you're not interested in another open world RPG with a go here, kill this, loot grind type of game, then this might not be for you. Pros - Solid gameplay, multiple characters with different skill trees to choose from, the amount of different weapons, weapon types, playing with friends is a blast, playing with friends on a 4 player split screen like the old days... even better! Have kids and don't mind them blowing off the heads of enemies? This will keep them busy Cons - Having no friends to play with... Seriously though, this game is meant to be played with others, not saying that it can't hold it's own as a single player experience, but grinding for loot and traversing the open world can get pretty boring at times, just like many other games of this type. I'd like to say the story is decent but that's just my opnion, as is everything else in here.

So you get 2 games that are decent for about 20 bucks. Mechanically, there's a lot to be desired, graphically it's passable, and overall between both games in the collection BL2 is the victor, but that margin is miniscule, as both games are filled to the brim with writing that must have been rejected by the creator's of Family Guy, and unnecessary "edginess" you can't help but cringe at. Some of the motivations characters you are supposed to like are absolutely detestable. The loot system is unsatisfying as ever, the difficulty creates more spongy enemies that don't get any smarter. BLP is altogether just a bad game, horrendous mechanics, antigravity that has some of the worst game feel I've ever experienced, an O2 counter because space gimmicks, no updating whatsoever to enemy AI. More importantly, because it will grate your brain quickly, all of the dialogue and writing will make you wish that you were born blind and deaf, and could read this review and chuckle in braille. You definitely get your money's worth with this bundle, but for 20 bucks you could also get a sweet pizza, and it wont interrupt you with some cancerous internet memes while you're trying to enjoy it.

I've had a backlog of games on my XBOX 360, with Borderlands 2 being one of those, so it was great to have the opportunity to complete the game on the XBOX One (which is what I'm now primarily using). Borderlands 2 appears to be the same game on the XBOX 360, but with the graphics being a bit crisper and frame-rate a bit smoother. One great feature is the ability to migrate your XBOX 360 character to the XBOX One version thus allowing for continuation of play where, if you're like me, you left off on the 360 version. I haven't tried the Pre-Sequel Borderlands yet, but it's also nice that I can play that on the newest console vs. having to buy the game for the 360 which I don't use as often any longer. Bottom line: If you liked Borderlands 2 on the 360 you'll dig it on the XBOX One, and if you never finished the game previously, you can import your character and continue where you left off!

The description already explains what the game is about, so I won'd dig into that. Instead, I'll dissect some pros and cons based on my experience with it. PROS: * If you like guns, you're in the right place. They literally come in all sizes and colors. * Tons of content, as you get 2 complete titles, plus all of the DLC released for both games (all of the additional playable characters, level cap increase, and every single expansion. The main story line on each game alone is several dozen hours of gameplay, so you won't ran out of things to do for a while. * You can import your saves from last gen consoles. * Very funny moments from cast of characters. * 4-way split screen same couch co-op. CONS: * A few glitches in the Pre-Sequel. * Pacing could be better in some side quests. * Going back and forth between the maps can be a drag.

I purchased this as a pre BDay gift for my Bestfriend. We both enjoy shooting games, he enjoys 3'rd person perspective and he doesn't do the X-Box Live so we're limited to certain games for co-op (which this game covers all these bases). It took forever to download the game (but in all fairness I've experienced that all these newer consoles and their games seem to share that). The game itself has a color shade style of graphics which is pretty cool, tons of customization features (from weapons to appearance) which is also cool but can take a little while to get use to. It's a long game with plenty of side missions to accomplish for rewards and story progression. It's definitely fun with friends not sure if it would be so in single player.

I said I wasn't going to buy Borderlands 2 on 4 different systems, and sure enough, I did. Borderlands 2 is an excellent game either with friends or playing on your own. The story is great, the main villain Handsome Jack is excellent, and the game is straight up fun on a bun. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, while not as good as Borderlands 2, is still great, and teaches the players the origin of Handsome Jack. I recommend playing Borderlands 2 first, as the Pre-Sequel will spoil some things. This collection not only has two very big, very satisfying games, but also all the DLC that was ever released for both games. At the price it sells for now, it's a steal just for one of the complete games, and this collection gives you two.