Catch a Friend. And Some Bullets.
Each episode of Telltales' "Tales from the Borderlands" series can be viewed as its own little story, with its own villain, plot, and even minor conclusion. When all of the episodes come together to form the series as a whole, however, something magical happens. All of the stories click into place, forming a beautifully coherent plot that actually makes sense, complete with the classic humor that has become such a staple of the Borderlands series. The newest episode of "Tales from the Borderlands" worked on solidifying each of our four protagonists' relationships with each other, and even managed to form a little bit of a romance arc (which may or may not end up coming to fruition). Granted, that arc possibly only formed because of my own choices within the game, but it was nice to see nonetheless.
*Warning: Synopsis may contain spoilers*
Our story continues by introducing a brand new character named Vallory, a vicious gang lord who serves as a primary antagonist for this episode (and possibly the rest of the series). She carries an enormous rocket launcher, and chases our heroes on the hunt for Gortys (the cute little robot you see in the banner photo above). She, like every other character in the Borderlands universe, is after the "Vault of the Traveler," a legendary vault that constantly shifts around different portions of the universe, and obviously has to hold some form of untold riches.
Our story continues by introducing a brand new character named Vallory, a vicious gang lord who serves as a primary antagonist for this episode (and possibly the rest of the series). She carries an enormous rocket launcher, and chases our heroes on the hunt for Gortys (the cute little robot you see in the banner photo above). She, like every other character in the Borderlands universe, is after the "Vault of the Traveler," a legendary vault that constantly shifts around different portions of the universe, and obviously has to hold some form of untold riches.
Luckily, our heroes blow up Vallory with her own rocket launcher and escape just in time. They flee as Gortys leads them to her next upgrade, supposedly located in a remote Atlas terraforming facility. There, they meet a strange hermit named Cassius, who informs them that the upgrade is located somewhere in the vast jungle outside of the facility. Our heroes decide to split up- Athena accompanies Fiona to the upgrade, while Rhys and Sasha go to work on the security measures protecting the Gortys upgrade. It's at this part where a couple of our characters have some real development opportunities (given you've made the right choices up to this point).
As Rhys and Sasha trek the dangerous jungle, they encounter a few perils, and there comes a specific point where they seem to be close to falling to their deaths, with Sasha barely hanging onto Rhys's leg. Rhys (through my personally chosen dialogue option) expresses his personal fear of losing Sasha, where it's humorously revealed that they were a mere few feet off of the ground. This relationship is given a couple more opportunities to flourish somewhat, and I hope that the developers allow us to blossom this even further in future episodes.
I have to admit that I'm mildly surprised at how fantastic this game series is turning out to be. Taking the shooter-looter that is Borderlands and turning it into a dialogue-driven, character developing series didn't seem like the greatest idea, but combining it with the stylish comedy and bloody rampaging post-apocalyptic action that is so well known in this series made it better than I possibly could have imagined. Of course, Handsome Jack is the funniest character in the game, and there are moments of awkwardness and parts where the humor just didn't seem to fit in well. But, for the most part, it's turning into a well-rounded series that exceeded my expectations.
92% (Liked it a lot!)
"Catch a Ride" is probably the most important episode in the series thus far, not only because it begins to see things nicely wrapped up into the penultimate episode, but also because the four protagonists' relationships with each other are becoming so well-rounded. Combining the tried and true Telltale formula with 2K Games and Gearbox Software's most well-known series would seem like a no-brainer to fans of both publishers, but my own personal expectations were completely shattered. Sure, some of the humor seems a bit awkwardly shoehorned in and almost unworthy compared to the hilarity from Borderlands 2, but that doesn't mean I hate it. The series as a whole has definitely turned out to be a fun ride, and I always find myself anticipating the next episode. Perhaps I'll even end up going back and making different choices than I did on my first playthrough. Maybe the series will end up having a completely different resolution when I make completely different choices. Choice-driven games like this one are always a lot of fun to play and replay, it makes you feel completely in control of what happens to which characters, and it's one of my favorite gameplay styles around today. If, for some reason, you still haven't gotten into this series (whether Telltales' series or the original shooter), now is definitely the best time to start. Countless hours of fun and adventure are waiting at your fingertips.