I don't think it's any kind of surprise or spoiler to say that the real treasure of Tales from the Borderlands isn't whatever Rhys and Fiona might or might not find in the Vault of the Traveler, but rather the friends they make along the way. Rhys has a nifty cybernetic eye you can scan stuff with, and the writing is funny enough that you'll want to scan everything. The vault hunter Athena ( pictured with red eyes, main), for instance, may seem like little more than an unstoppable killing machine in the field, but in Tales' third episode, we see her struggling to balance the job she loves with the woman she loves. Thankfully, the game eventually slows down enough to give all the characters a chance to talk to each other more like real people. For the first two episodes, things move along at such a brisk pace that Fiona, Rhys, and their ragtag crew of impromptu vault hunters rarely get a chance to speak in anything other than sharp witticisms. While Rhys has an uncomfortably close, personal experience with the (sort of) living manifestation of everything Hyperion stands for, forcing him to question the person he thought he wanted to be, Fiona finds her own sense of who and what she can be challenged as she's tossed into experiences that broaden her sense of what's possible. If you ever get to know your corporate heroes, Tales suggests, there's a pretty good chance you'll discover that they're assholes. I got what I deserved one of them retorted saying that they weren't up to much other than discussing how casual misogyny manifests in corporate executives. In one of my favorite moments, my goal was to blend in at Hyperion as an asshole executive, so as I approached two male security guards, I said, "Hey ladies," and asked them what they were up to. He's also an embodiment of unrestrained corporate greed, and Tales is refreshingly critical of corporate culture. Handsome Jack really knows how to get inside Rhys' head.īut Jack is not just a villain. His presence in Rhys' mind ratchets up the tension throughout Tales despite not being corporeal, Jack feels like a very real threat, largely because he does not give even the slightest of fucks about anyone or anything but himself. If you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Jack before, well, trust me he's a megalomaniacal monster that you'll love to hate, and death ( spoiler: he gets killed in Borderlands 2) has done nothing to dull his world-swallowing appetite for power or his razor-sharp tongue. Fiona is street-smart and loves her younger sister Sasha (who is also in the con game), but she doesn't seem to realize that something is missing in her life, until she sees that her life can be more than what she thought it could be.Īs a result of circumstances I won't even try to explain, Rhys ends up with an AI construct of former Hyperion CEO Handsome Jack riding shotgun in his brain. Rhys is kind of a jerk when the game begins his idea of success is climbing the ranks at Hyperion, a corporation which, to put it mildly, puts profits ahead of people. But it's also a journey that changes the people who are swept up in it. Yes, it's full of unlikely events involving strange alliances, adorable robots, Mad Max-style vehicular battles, narrow escapes, unexpected reveals, noble sacrifices, and a whole lot of wisecracks. Through it all, the story careens ahead along the same narrow track, hitting almost all the same highs and lows regardless of your choices.īut the roller coaster is worth riding because it's a bit more than just a speedy series of twists and turns. Dei ex machina abound and the story isn't above killing characters off (or, more often, pretending to do so) just to manipulate you into feeling something. For the most part, they're helplessly carried along by the machinery of the plot. Your characters' motivations and actions have little effect on where things go. At one point in my playthrough, a character exclaimed that they were on "a roller coaster of emotions," and this is a much more accurate description of the story that Tales is telling. But it's worth noting that, for all its surprises, the story largely is what it is you're encouraged to believe that your choices have a significant impact on how things play out, as the game constantly informs you that this character or that character will remember something you said or did.īut it's not really true. Its twists and turns, double- and triple-crosses should be discovered as you play the game. Tales' plot is full of surprises, which is why I don't want to say much about it. She's the cutest little spherical robot this side of 'The Force Awakens'.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |