Tales from the Borderlands is (all together now!) an episodic point-and-click adventure game developed by Telltale and based on Borderlands, Gearbox’s popular FPS RPG series. The Borderlands series is fast-paced and entirely combat-focused, with its comical world and quirky characters acting as a foil for the action.

Fortunately for Telltale, the brutal planet of Pandora and its ludicrous inhabitants provide great source material, and all they had to do to create a story-focused game based on Borderlands was expand the lore and maintain its iconic, anarchic tone.

The game is split between two very different protagonists. The first is Rhys, a Hyperion bureaucrat who gets screwed over via a humiliating demotion by his instantly detestable boss Vasquez. Upon hearing the aforementioned antagonist negotiating a deal for a vault key, Rhys and his vertically-challenged accountant buddy Vaughn decide to steal the deal from Vasquez to get revenge.

However, the duo seriously underestimate the ferociousness of Pandora, and every aspect of the deal goes horribly wrong, which leads them into contact with the second protagonist. Fiona is a skilled con-artist who, alongside her little sister Sasha and their adoptive father Felix, makes a living out of scamming gullible Pandorans.

Along the way, the characters meet one of the protagonists from Borderlands 2 (CAN YOU GUESS WHICH ONE?!), a lunatic who looks like Hunter S. Thompson on a particularly bad trip, and a bandit leader/DJ called ‘Bossanova’ who has a speaker jutting out of his stomach.

Obviously the first episode is designed to set up the following four, as is the way with Telltale’s episodic methodology, but even as a standalone story in its own right, Zer0 Sum is fantastic. The world of Borderlands has always been massively influenced by Mad Max, but never more so than in Zer0 Sum. The climactic action sequence, which involves a cut-throat bandit race with motorbikes and trucks, feels like it’s been ripped right out of Mad Max 2.

That’s no bad thing. It had me on the edge of my seat, and if it wasn’t for the fact I was manipulating events with my controller, I’d have been munching down popcorn at a rate of knots. The games industry has often tried to replicate the big screen, but never before has a game felt so much like playing a pulpy action-film. It’s also consistently funny, ranging from provoking warm chuckles to full-on belly laughs. I found the ‘Loader Bot’ to be especially humorous.

Whilst setting, source material and tone may differ with each Telltale series that comes along, the gameplay remains largely unchanged. The majority of the episode consists of cut-scenes with interactive conversation choices and the occasional quick time event to keep the player on their toes.

I suppose Telltale’s attitude is ‘why fix what isn’t broken’, and it’s true that Zer0 Sum’s gameplay doesn’t seem lacking at all. I feel as if the QTEs have perhaps got easier this time around, as I didn’t even come close to missing a single one, but perhaps they’ll increase in difficulty as the episodes progress.

That isn’t to say that Telltale haven’t changed anything. There’s a few token additions to gameplay. Rhys has the ability to scan certain objects and characters for information, in a manner reminiscent of Metroid Prime.

It’s a mechanic with promise, and it does deliver with laughs and intrigue on occasion, but it’s under-utilised as there’s a very limited number of things that can be scanned in each area. It’ll be interesting to see if Telltale develop the idea in future episodes.

Fiona has her own unique mechanic in the form of money. There are several opportunities for her to gain money, which is stored in her inventory. Sometimes during conversations, extra options are available to the player based on the amount of money they’ve gathered.

Again, it’s interesting and could be used to great effect, but it feels tokenistic in Zer0 Sum. I put effort into hoarding money, assuming that they’d be some pay-off (if you’ll pardon the pun). Then, towards the end of the game, I was given three options (I won’t spoil) based on how much money I had. I assumed the expensive option would lead to some positive change in the outcome as a reward for having that much money, but it turned out to make no real difference whatsoever.

Apart from the example above, Tales from the Borderlands handles the ‘difficult choice’ element of gameplay pretty well. Instead of having the earth-shattering ‘this is the important choice of the episode’ moment which characterised Telltale’s previous games, Zer0 Sum’s choices are interwoven subtly through-out the episode, resulting in a more satisfying outcome based on a series of smaller choices rather than on just one pivotal moment.

Supplemented by humorous vocal performances from Troy Baker (Rhys) and Patrick Warburton (Vasquez), the first episode of Tales from the Borderlands manages to adequately introduce the main characters and set up a wider narrative whilst also delivering an exciting, complete story. Other introductory episodes to Telltale series have relied heavily on the promise of future episodes, but Zer0 Sum completely stands on its own merit, from its comical introduction to its ‘and another adventure is on the horizon!’ ending.

9/10

 

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