Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition Review (Nintendo Switch OLED)

by Jim Smale · October 11, 2023

For this Borderlands Collection Pandoras Box Review, we blast through multiple worlds as one of four Vault Hunters—the ultimate treasure-seeking badasses of the Borderlands, each with deep skill trees, abilities, and customization. Play solo or join a friend in a two-player online co-op to take on deadly enemies, score loads of loot, and save your home from the most ruthless cult leaders in the galaxy.

Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition Review Pros:

Decent cell-shaded graphics.
Download size.
Looter shooter gameplay.
Controller settings – Invert axis and sensitivity sliders, rebind controls,deadzone sliders, press up to the vault, button scheme, stick scheme, driving button scheme, and driving stick scheme.
Ongoing tutorial pop-ups as you play.
The map fills in as you play and explore.
Guns galore with so many variations and buffs on top of them. I doubt you will ever see every game.
Vehicles can be fully customized and new chassis can be unlocked.
Includes all DLC –

Moxxi’s Heist of the Handsome Jackpot

Guns, Love, and Tentacles: The Marriage of Wainwright & Hammerlock

Bounty of Blood

Psycho Krieg and the Fantastic Fustercluck

Designer’s Cut

Director’s Cut

Own in-game challenges that pop up as you fill the bars and get rewards.
Loot is everywhere and anything with a green tag/light can be looted.
Loot rarity levels including for shields and health.
A big open world that you are free to explore.
A lot of memorable characters.
Exp bar down the bottom of the screen.
The second wind mechanic is when you get downed, instead of dying you have a short window to get a kill which revives you, you can of course still die out or just press a button to die.
Many environmental hazards from flaming barrels to geysers, jump, and fire.
Full vehicle system, at a stop you can spawn a vehicle and customise it. Handy respawn vehicle option so you can get a vehicle quickly. Over time you can unlock new weapons.
Fantastic voice work.
Unlock and find new player skins, skins for your items, and even vehicles.
Massive boss fights with full-on boss intro sequences.
Many secrets to find.
Buy and sell everything at the many vending machines.
Easy to see if a weapon is better thanks to a red or green number system.
A lot of humor throughout.
Familiar controls.
Drop in and out co-op for up to four players.
Main quests with many optional side missions.
Full mission management system.
The map fills in points of interest.
Unlock fast travel points.
Constant checkpoints.
100s of hours of Borderlands gameplay.
RPG elements.
Can redeem shift codes as in the Nintendo Switch shows on the redeem website and the game has them.
Motion control support.
Gore – censored or uncensored.
Two difficulties – easier and normal.
You can play Moxxis Heist and Guns Love and Tentacles straight away with a pre-made character.
The group mode can be set to operation or competition.
Four characters – Amara (siren), Fl4k (beastmaster), Zane (operative), and Maze (gunner).
Can skip cutscenes.
Runs well in docked.
Character customisation booths – body, head, skin, color, emote, echo the theme and respect your stats.
Minimap along with fullscreen.
Unlock fast travel points.
Each character has three action skills and you can freely swap between them.
In-game cutscenes.
Earn EXP and level up to increase health and get skill points.
With three action skill trees, it leaves a lot of customisation.
Big massive boss encounters.
Local play connection option.
Online party options – public, friends only, and invite only.
Does have an offline mode.
Clear map markers.
You have main and optional side missions along with bounties and other miscellaneous missions.
Full mission management system.
Events can be enabled and disabled – Bloody Harvest, Hearts Day, and Revenge of the Cartels.
Buy and sell items at vending machines.
Picking up weapons/shields can be automatically equipped.
Second wind is when you go down but not out and get a kill, you revive with a small bit of health.
Total freedom to play and do what you want.
Enemies will respawn over time.
Twin stick driving controls.
Sanctuary is your ship that houses quests, DLC, your room, storage, and many shops.
Your room can be customized as you can buy and earn decorations.
Weapon charms can be had and dangled from your weapon.
Elements play a part as you can freeze, burn and even spray toxic goo over enemies so they take persistent damage.
All enemies have a rank and health/shield bars showing.

Borderlands 3 Ultimate Edition Review Cons:

You will still get notifications and pop-ups about buying the Pandora Box version in every game despite owning it.
The humor of Borderlands is very childish and it can get very grating in the shooter games.
It is very easy to feel overwhelmed with all the quests and events popping up.
The mission markers or guidance in general are not always clear or helpful.
With so many guns it is hard to get to grips with one in particular.
A lot of guns are actually not that great.
Long initial load each time, a good 3 to 5 minutes.
All the DLC is a seperate download adding an additional 10 GB.
No touchscreen support.
The driving takes some getting used to.
Few ugly textures in places.
The graphics do look a bit blurry.
Detail pops in after time.
Slowdown happens and it can be when you aim down sights or when explosions go off.
There is a ridiculous amount of everything from encounters to enemies to loot to space. It may sound good but it gets too much and dampens the thrill of loot.
The general. The gameplay is not as snappy as it needs to be and is with the other versions.