Fans won’t necessarily mind the departure from the mainline series, as they have now played four games centering around the main story, including Borderlands: The Pre Sequel. The Dungeons and Dragons-inspired Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands will certainly provide that something different from the looks of it. One of the major changes from previous entries in the series is the apparent lack of vehicles. None of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ trailers have shown a vehicle to date, which would be strange if they were present in the game due to their large role in all four previous Borderlands games. While this change may disappoint some fans, it could prove to be a good thing for the balance of the overworld map.
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Borderlands Vehicles Are Underpowered
While certain Borderlands vehicles like the outrunner have become icons not only of the Borderlands series but of gaming in general, some fans may feel as though they can do without. The customizable vehicles in Borderlands are notoriously difficult to control, leading many gamers to prefer to fast travel or simply go to their objectives on foot where possible. While the outrunner of Borderlands has customizable mounted weapons, they simply aren’t worth the effort to some fans of the series. Borderlands often has large open areas that are made for vehicular navigation, yet in many playthroughs, the Catch-A-Ride terminals remain unused.
In addition to being difficult to drive around in, while Borderlands’ vehicles may prove to be great in combat at low levels, they feel very underpowered towards the end game of Borderlands. The mounted weapons that were previously capable of tearing through bandit camps begin to struggle even compared to the player’s own weapons, and the vehicles are in constant danger of being blown up. If vehicles aren’t in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, they likely won’t be missed by many Borderlands fans, as they don’t prove overly useful in most situations despite their iconic status. Vehicles in Borderlands sometimes act more as decoration than a tool for the player to make use of, so leaving them behind could be beneficial.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands Overworld Map
The downsides of Borderlands’ vehicles extend beyond them simply not performing well in-game though. In previous Borderlands games, the worlds can occasionally feel expansive, yet baron. In a bid to accommodate the inclusion of the Borderlands series’ vehicles, the game’s open areas may occasionally feel as though it were made for driving, as opposed to exploring. This is a common issue in gaming, as games are sometimes too big for their own good. Moving away from the trend of ever-expanding open locations, gamers would seemingly prefer smaller open areas packed full of meaningful content.
This appears to be what Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands’ overworld map is striving for, as it looks as though there is little room for vehicles, but plenty for exploration. Featuring a top-down, board game-like map, it is littered with things for the player to explore off the beaten path, like random encounters that transport the player to an arena where they can compete with bosses in order to gain loot and experience. Judging from this, the map of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands will be filled with content to explore, in a way that simply hasn’t been possible in previous Borderlands games due to their wide-open sections. In this way, a lack of vehicles in Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands may help it in the long run.
Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands launches March 25 on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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