“Tales From The Borderlands: Episode One – Zer0 Sum”; 8 out of 10; Rated M for Mature; Available on Windows, OSX, Playstation 4, Playstation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, iOS and Android.
I don’t know much at all about the Borderlands lore. Sad to say, I don’t get into first person shooters as much as the next person so I have never played through any of them. One, 2 or the Pre-Sequel. I might have to revisit my FPS convictions and give the loot driven adventure a go after getting through Tales From The Borderlands: Episode One – Zer0 Sum.
Instead of a open world cooperative shooter, Tales From The Borderlands is an interactive drama. It puts emphasis on story, player choice, and as little actual game mechanics as seemingly possible. That formula has done wonders for the Telltale games so far. The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us have raked in the cash and critical acclaim. The Borderlands universe is ripe for the picking for this treatment. The setting is unique, the characters are wacky, and there’s really no limit to what you can do. As odd as it may sound, this amalgam is a match made in heaven.
Zer0 Sum is all about introducing these characters and putting them into the crazy world of Borderlands. What makes this whole thing work is the strong writing. While not “likable” per se, the main characters Fiona and Rhys, are well fleshed out and interesting. They’re not simply archetypes played up for comedic effect. I can’t decide if it’s an adventure with tons of comedy. Or a comedy with tons of adventure.
Tales From The Borderlands maintains the visual benchmarks that we’ve become accustomed to from Telltale. With its hand-drawn art style and complementary cel-shading, it stands out and looks very crisp overall. It also sounds pretty great, thanks to impressive writing, hilarious dialogue and homages to its popular license (from what I’m told). That, and a talented voice cast, which includes the likes of Troy Baker, Laura Bailey and Patrick Warburton.
In Zer0 Sum, there are some big choices to be made. These pop up during certain moments in the story, and pause the game to let you carefully choose how you wish to proceed. When this happens, there are only a couple of choices. For example, Fiona carries a small pistol with just one bullet. A couple of these big choices ask you whether or not you want to use that bullet. Again, these choices don’t seem to affect the story at large, but do allow you to role-play a bit.
Occasionally, you’ll be allowed to move around and explore. When playing as Rhys, you can press L1 to use his cybernetic eye. This allows you to scan various items for flavor text. When using Fiona, she can keep track of her bank account. There are points in the story when you can spend money to equip different accessories.
Tales From The Borderlands starts and ends well. The emphasis on puzzle-solving is gone but with what’s taking place in this game and universe, I’m okay with it.
Telltale does a superb job at keeping a player engaged and involved, in particular when it comes to the moral dilemmas players have to make. The studio has made these games not only fun to play but also fun to watch. These games are a cinematic experience, and especially in the case of the licensed games, feel like a true extension of the source material. I GET the Borderlands universe now. The thing with Telltale games is that they have pretty much eschewed as much gameplay as possible in favor of storytelling. The trick is that the story has to be worth telling. With Tales Of The Borderlands – Zer0 Sum, it has it in spades.
-Dagobot
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