Review: Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands

destructoid.com:

Borderlands is a fascinating series, in the sense that there always seems to be a game (or DLC) in the works for it, and they all kind of bump up against one another. There are iterative differences for sure, and tiers of quality, but when I hear the word “Borderlands,” it’s hard to think of a pivotal moment in franchise history that helped it break through into the zeitgeist. Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands doesn’t offer up a striking historical moment like that either, but it’s par for the course, which is mostly good news if you’re looking for another looter shooter.

Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands (PC [reviewed], PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S) Developer: Gearbox Software Publisher: 2K Games Released: March 25, 2022 MSRP: $59.99

So, it’s Borderlands, but Tiny Tina is narrating everything with a fantasy/D&D tint (much like her DLC for Borderlands 2) and can bend the narrative to her will (from a meta-thematic standpoint). There’s guns, classes, and lots of loot to enjoy and laboriously sift through, but now you can “roll” (choose) your own character instead of playing as one you can buy an action figure for.

Since classes are intrinsically important to Borderlands, I’ll briefly go over all six gimmicks:

There’s a good spread! Of course, everything uses guns, and there’s a dual class mechanic, which significantly widens the build system. For my “main” character, I went Clawbringer and Spore Warden for the double companion action, which was a ton of fun, but naturally other combos exist. Once you select your initial class, you can choose your body type/look, pronouns, voice, background (things like “raised by elves” or a “recovering hoarder,” which mainly grant stat bonuses and spreads), and excess stat distribution.

During all