Tiny Tina's Wonderlands' Best Mission Is About Killing Smurfs

thegamer.com:

I wanted to like Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands a lot more than I did. I love Borderlands, and I love Dungeons & Dragons, so this should have been a lock. Unfortunately, it’s not really the mix of the two that was promised, but feels more like a half-baked Borderlands dressed up as a goblin for Halloween. A goblin with a typical Borderlands sense of humour, so he probably calls himself a mindgoblin, and whenever people ask what a mindgoblin is, he says “Mindgloblin deez nuts lmao gottem!” then dabs, downs a can of Rockstar, and dabs again. There is one major redeeming factor though - the Smurfs.

Part of the reason Tiny Tina’s Wonderland’s never felt like it was truly Dungeons & Dragons is the lack of player creativity. In D&D, you can approach situations however you want. There are rules, especially in head to head combat, but there are ways to make the game work for you. One of the characters in the party I play with can project thoughts, but only if he’s looking at you. Once, we set up an elaborate system of mirrors allowing him to see us as he hid out of sight, letting him continue to communicate. You can cast fireballs into a lake to create mist of steam to obscure yourself. If you can outthink the game, you can beat the game. This is harder to achieve in video games, but Tiny Tina doesn’t even try.

Related: Tiny Tina Wonderlands Review

While there are occasionally some meta references to this, with pre-scripted characters changing quests right before your eyes through dialogue you have no control over, there is nothing you as a player can do. Just sit back and let the game play itself, and then kill things. That’s all you ever do - shoot enemies over and over again. This is a shooter game, and so that’s to be expected. I