Borderlands 2 PS Vita Review - Handsome Slack

[Jimothy Sterling]

Borderlands 2 PS Vita Review - Handsome Slack

An ambitious - and admirable - port job, but one plagued by problems.

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[Hazy992]

Damn, that's really disappointing. It was never going to be the definitive Borderlands experience, and I knew concessions would have to be made, but I really wanted it to compliment the main game. Being able to jump into a couple of missions on the train or something sounded really tempting, but there are just too many issues for me to even consider this.

 

[themilo504]

Should have made a spinoff instead of a port, or mabye tried to port borderlands 1 first.

 

[Jason Soler]

Got it with the bundle, and it's really kinda OK. I played through the game on the 360 originally, but I'm actually having a pretty good time playing it on the Vita as well. Certainly, it isn't the definitive version of the game, but it's not total garbage either. My biggest complaint would be hand cramps and an overly sensitive rear touch screen, but they are really just minor issues. There is also a lot of menu lag and the sound is also as laggy as Jim said. The graphics are ok though ... Everything still looks like Borderlands. Overall I think if you bought the bundle and got this for free you should be very happy. If you can pick it up on sale, you should be happy as well.

 

[RedDeadFred]

I'm confused. So far, the limited critical response as been been quite mediocre for this game. However, the user score on Metacritic is rating it as great (and I usually value user score just as much since it's from a wider source and the trolls and fanboys tend to balance each other out). The discrepancy is kind of surprising... Are reviewers going in with too high of expectations (expecting it to run and look exactly like the original -no way that's happening on a portable) or are the users just really forgiving of the technical issues? I'm assuming a bit of both.

I don't have any plans to get this since I already own it on 360 and don't have a Vita. I'm just curious.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

fuckin' called it

when you get game previews that are so full of "but"s, you know its not gonna be good

 

[VoidOfOne]

I'm confused. So far, the limited critical response as been been quite mediocre for this game. However, the user score on Metacritic is rating it as great (and I usually value user score just as much since it's from a wider source and the trolls and fanboys tend to balance each other out). The discrepancy is kind of surprising... Are reviewers going in with too high of expectations (expecting it to run and look exactly like the original -no way that's happening on a portable) or are the users just really forgiving of the technical issues? I'm assuming a bit of both.

I don't have any plans to get this since I already own it on 360 and don't have a Vita. I'm just curious.

For starters, the reason the score was high on Metacritic was due to the fact that there were only a few reviews, and one of them gave it a 95 out of 100. You look at it now the score is much lower (63 as of the writing of this post) and from looks of things the reviews are all over the place. Jim's review isn't even the lowest.

I already have Borderlands 2 on the 360 and PC, so there's no point in me getting this game if it lacks what other versions has. Those who enjoy it are entitled to it, but I have no problem with reviewers scoring it as they see fit: it's why we have so many reviewers, as each come from a different perspective. So, I think you're right on both counts.

Personally, this may be the last attempt, or one of the last, to port a AAA game to the Vita, at least the size of Borderlands 2, given the limitations the game has in the first place.

 

[wolfehound22]

I'm enjoying it, but I do notice some of the issues. It does handle a little rough on the vita, much better with a dualshock. There has been little to no frame rate issues for me so far, but I am not that far in. I haven't noticed the issues with the touchpad not working, and if anthing I find myslef doing melee inadvertantly, which isn;t a big deal. It would of course be worse if I was throwing grenades when I didn't want to, but since it is just melee I can live with it. The lack of four player coop isn;t a deal breaker either, at least not in my situation, since I mostly play at work on my lunch breaks, and do not have wifi access. I love that I can play this on the vita, and I am really enjoying myself. Not disagreeing with Jim, just think it depends on your situation.

 

[dumbseizure]

I'm confused. So far, the limited critical response as been been quite mediocre for this game. However, the user score on Metacritic is rating it as great (and I usually value user score just as much since it's from a wider source and the trolls and fanboys tend to balance each other out). The discrepancy is kind of surprising... Are reviewers going in with too high of expectations (expecting it to run and look exactly like the original -no way that's happening on a portable) or are the users just really forgiving of the technical issues? I'm assuming a bit of both.

I don't have any plans to get this since I already own it on 360 and don't have a Vita. I'm just curious.

I think you are right, I am seeing some reviews saying things along the lines of it doesn't run as well as its console counterparts, so I think you are right on that count.

I also read that a recent patch came out that helped quite a bit with the issues borderlands 2 was having, so I would also contribute that to the higher user reviews as well.