"Little Tina's Fantasy Land" review: Brush tired, it is better to make up a story to play

I don't even know who I am, where I am, I just know that I'm going to kill.

Honestly, after hastily completing Borderlands 3, I felt that this unique game series had come to the end of its life. Despite the guarantee of GearBox, the game's shooting feel is still outstanding, and the equipment is still ingenious, but for the old players who have followed the entire series so far, this recipe is still too old.

The magic of equipment drive is limited, and first-person shooting itself does not support the core experience of a game very well. If you strip away the random elements and judge the Borderlands series purely by the standards of an FPS, it may seem a bit barren. Just like if you strip away the blockbuster story experience, you won't be able to figure out the call of duty algebra.

Because of my age, I have not been able to experience the online fun of "Borderlands" with my friends like in the college dormitory. And it is certain that such opportunities are unlikely to become more and more elusive in the foreseeable future. And opening the game alone and repeatedly brushing the equipment has long since changed from sleeping and forgetting to eat at first sight, silently becoming a kind of asceticism.

However, it is very strange that "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" almost hits every of the above pain points, it changes the original's circular dependence on shooting and brushing, and adds a third stable fulcrum that can open up the gameplay -

Mission and narrative driven.

The adventure begins, calm and peaceful

To be precise, the Borderlands series has always had a rich worldview and backstory, but as far as previous canon works are concerned, the player's main experience is not here. Even in "Borderlands 3", the game's plot experience and character shaping have become a very obvious shortcoming, which has a lot to do with the multiplayer mode that the series has always emphasized.

You'll find that Borderlands doesn't encourage, and doesn't allow, players to fully immerse themselves in the game's worldview. Borderlands reminds the player at every moment that you are playing a less serious game character, playing freely and happily. This is a good explanation of why borderlands 3's plot is so unsightly.

It not only wants to push the entire series towards a positive ending, but it is completely unable to solve the problem of the player's sense of substitution as a tool person, which leads to the lack of indifference and fragmentation of the story experience.

Fortunately, this biggest lightning point was perfectly taken by "Little Tina's Fantasy Land", and it was transformed into the biggest feature of the game. This time, players don't need to pretend to play any tool people anymore. You are you, you are here to fight monsters and pop up and watch stories. You are not only a participant in the whole adventure, but also the "fate determines the person" who determines the direction of the story.

You are part of this game

After learning the lessons of Borderlands 3, Little Tina's Fantasy Land puts the player's first-person perspective on the main grid of the narrative. Unlike in the past, this game no longer sets up a fixed character tied to the class, but provides players with a customizable custom pinch system.

In a way, "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" is a Meta game, which will break your expectations of the game world from some unconventional angles, so that you have a strong desire to interact and explore.

Obviously, this is due to the special theme of this work - "running group".

As the most popular DLC in this biography, the "Little Tina Storms the Dragon Castle", which is also themed on the running group, is also shaded by this aspect.

"Car Card" section

Of course, the running group culture in the domestic audience is relatively thin, before playing "Little Tina's Fantasy Land", you do not need to contact the running group culture. As long as you know that the running group is an imaginative collective creative activity, a figurative extension of the solidified real world in the human brain, it is almost enough. More crudely, you can understand the running group as a more mature "passer-by".

In Little Tina's Fantasy Land, you're participating in a running group game organized by Little Tina , "Bunkers and Villains". However, the basic rules of the game are similar to Borderlands: you take the task from the NPC, and then in the process of completing the task, shoot a strengthened platoon of goblins, zombies, mushrooms, etc. enemies, and then snatch the equipment that bursts out of them.

Explosive equipment is still cool

As for why, bare-handed zombies suddenly burst out guns and other things, this is where the organizers of the game, that is, little Tina, needs to be flexible. In other words, in fact, the previous Borderlands canon itself has always been a little more nonsensical than other traditional FPS. Its unique comic art style, along with unconventional graphics rendering patterns, has turned many of the bug-like phenomena that appear in other games into a feature of Borderlands.

This "not yet loaded" rapid rendering mode makes it possible to perform many large-scale scene changes

But players can always play without thinking, after all, these unreasonable places are just simple game mechanics. After a long period of edification, we have a systematic understanding of the internal logic of video games, and we will no longer make a fuss about these small things. And in Little Tina's Fantasy Land, through the face-to-mouth of two other members of the running group, Valentine and Fayeti, you may recall the real momentum when you first entered the game world.

Valentine and Fayeti represent two typical types of player personalities.

Seriously

Valentine is a human pilot who is usually adventurous and likes to break the rules. Therefore, he often works in the game, always inducing players to adopt a chaotic and evil style of acting; Fayeti is an accounting robot who likes to play in a disciplined and stable way, and she is always critical of Tina's crazy hosting style and Valentin's abusive behavior.

Specifically reflected in the game, Valentine and Fayeti represent the player's diversified story experience. Although there are not many branches of this kind of plot experience, generally there are only two kinds, but compared with the previous killing, killing, shooting, "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" has completed a qualitative leap. In this game, the battle cycle of brushing and shooting is finally no longer the only content filler.

In the game, players can selectively use different ways to complete a variety of strange tasks. For example, you can seduce a Lich King who has just woken up from a long sleep, or patiently listen to it and finish the pretentious lines, and the final result may vary depending on your character. Of course, you can use the old way of pasting its face before it says the third word.

It's not a display error, it's just so long that there's even a big paragraph behind it

If this kind of plot branch is only reflected in the solution of the mission, then "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" may still be just a regular work with a running group background. What makes it really good is that it integrates the jokes and deconstructions of traditional game routines into almost every aspect of the game.

In this game, players will wander around the world map handmade by Tina Jr., control the two-headed chess pieces of the protagonist's image, interact with NPCs, and solve various terrain puzzles. Among them, there is no shortage of interesting small tasks of a "ready-made" nature. For example, once, little Tina accidentally dropped a "magic meteor" on the map, blocking the player's way. Although this is an off-site emergency, the player still needs to pass the battle identification to remove this uninvited guest.

In the battle map, this unreliable sense of humor has not diminished in the slightest. For example, you can try seducing a suspension bridge to see if it will let your guard down. Or jump in line in the game and trample on the city lawn with your feet to see if your bad behavior can attract the attention of the devil.

You may even stray into the high-dimensional realm of Creator God

In short, compared with the previous "Borderlands" series, the plot experience of "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" is exceptionally chewy. It could even be said that the game has initially completed the transition to mission-driven gameplay - at least, in "Little Tina's Fantasy Land", I will hardly have the sense of aimlessness of brushing for the sake of brushing.

On the contrary, the first time I reach an area, the first time I touch a certain mission line, there is always a strong, non-combat desire to explore, occupying my main point of interest and becoming my first driving force when playing. The density and interest of these points of interest are far greater than any previous "Borderlands". Even if you have little interest in the running group culture, you can still smile in the wanton deceit of little Tina.

As for those fans who originally liked "Little Tina Storming the Dragon Castle", there is no reason to miss this grand carnival. Here, you can not only admire the beauty of Her Majesty the Queen of the Ass Stallion in high-definition reproduction, but also witness the classic prophecy of the grumpy bard Tog - I XX will blow up the sea!

Blowing up the ocean is a task that Tog promulgated in "Raid on the Dragon Castle", but because of his low maneuverability, he is eventually cut down by Tina Jr

Of course, this game is not a story-like work like Borderlands: Legends, while offering a juicy plot, "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" inherits the excellent combat experience that the series has always had, and unsurprisingly, expands it to a new level.

First of all, I think it is necessary to talk about the combat experience of Borderlands itself.

GearBox has enriched and expanded the traditional FPS gameplay to the greatest extent in the "Borderlands" series. Specific to the value of the gun, the ballistics, the attributes, and even the basic operations such as changing bullets and cutting guns, they have all been played out by Borderlands. For example, you've probably seen swearing guns, walking guns, calves guns, and so on in the series.

In addition to these specific varieties, the guns in the game will also be divided into several basic categories according to the manufacturer's OEM. For example, some weapons have unlimited cartridges, others can switch design modes, others can throw them out to deal damage when changing bullets, and so on.

In terms of the variety of equipment to play, Borderlands 3 has reached a certain height, and it is difficult to find a second FPS with such a rich shooting experience on the market. "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" naturally did not abandon this fine tradition, and the game still retained a large number of different styles of firearms.

At the same time, "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" will play a richer trick with the critical hit income of "Borderlands".

Critical Hit Gains has always been an important design for the Borderlands series to differentiate it from other traditional FPSs. Due to the RPG numerical framework throughout, the critical hits in Borderlands cannot simply be designed as a headshot instant death mechanism, but are disguised into a 100% triggered critical hit damage gain. In terms of the specific trigger effect of critical hit revenue, in addition to the numerical value, Borderlands has also made a lot of tricks.

In fact, the shooting interaction of this game has many other uses outside of combat

For example, some weapons will deal scatter damage to all enemies around the bullet point when triggering a critical hit, or a limited-time buff other type of damage during critical hits, and so on. This diversified design can not only balance the shooting fatigue brought by the "bullet sponge", but also encourage players to pursue more accurate hit operations under the premise of numerical drive.

Continuing into "Little Tina's Fantasy Land", the operation logic of firearms is basically the same, and the critical strike effects of its firearms have become more popular and diverse, which makes the feedback sense of accurate operation further enhanced. Of course, the excellent shooting experience is only the passing line of the entire series, and the new experience of Tina's Fantasy Lands in the battle system is mainly due to the additional spells and melee slots.

As a new equipment type added to this game, melee weapons are one of the core buildings of some classes. For example, classes like Frost Warrior have active skills directly linked to the damage of melee weapons, while the skill cycle of sword warlocks directly requires the alternating use of melee and ranged weapons to provide additional BUFF damage.

Melee weapons also have as rich entry effects as ranged weapons. Even some orange melee weapons will get more powerful effects due to the slower frequency of shooting. For example, some melee weapons can summon a battery minion in situ after hitting an enemy, automatically attacking nearby enemies.

Battery minions spawned by melee attacks

Unlike the additional melee weapons, spells directly replace the original grenade slot.

Compared with the previously limited number of grenades with effects, spells not only have more flexible release CDs, but also have more specific effects. Some spells can generate buff barriers in situ, some are the most traditional arcane missiles, and there are also body skills similar to damage auras. When these various spells, combined with rich gun effects, combined with melee and active skill combat performances, the entire battlefield becomes unparalleledly lively.

Even if you're the only one who ventures out on Little Tina's Fantasy Lands, you can play like a circus in battle. Compared with the FPS experience of pressing the left button to shoot the sore index finger, the combat gameplay of this game is obviously much richer.

Of course, in addition to the specific brushing and shooting experience, "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" also retains a class skill system for players to build different character genres. The specific skill tree design of this game is not qualitatively different from the past, and the biggest change point is that the skills of each class no longer have three branches. After cutting down many of the bells and whistles of the craft, each class left only an unpretentious skill tree. Instead, players can select a secondary skill tree for other classes after reaching level 20, create a mixed class, and switch the four active skills of the two classes at any time.

This crossover Build model across professions has spawned a richer range of genre options than ever before. For example, the Frost Warrior, known for its high health, combined with the Grave Son skill that sells blood damage, will create a killing machine that can resist and fight.

After reaching level 40, the game also unlocks additional myth levels

And when the skill genre, brush assembly, shooting experience and other gameplay elements are ready, it is the turn of the level design, boss battles and other important gameplay to give the player the feedback they deserve.

In fact, the level design of Little Tina's Fantasy Land has made great progress compared to the previous works in Borderlands 3. Many of the maps are very three-dimensional, providing players with a rich battle terrain and making exploration a little more fun. It is worth noting that the collection in this game, the golden dice, is directly linked to the player's equipment explosion rate, which gives me absolutely sufficient collection power. Even better, most of the dice are not too, and some of the environmental puzzles are not too noisy. Guided by the linear task, the overall exploration process is quite smooth.

There is a dice behind the waterfall

In addition, I can feel that the map design and enemy configuration of this game are carefully calculated. Compared with the previous game, scene props such as explosive barrels are not only exceptionally numerous, but also obviously much easier to use. Enemy pathfinding AI is also more inclined to actively cooperate with players to achieve some combat skills other than sudden attacks. In addition to cooperating with the player's performance, the enemy will also actively use the terrain such as the high platform to suppress the player in many ways, forcing the player to constantly change the combat strategy.

And these features also keep the boss battle of this game at a certain level of fun. However, the FPS boss battle – you probably understand that "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" has not been able to get rid of the old problems of lack of interaction and bullet sponge. But fortunately, as a series feature of the "cool" BOSS appearance, it is still very jubilant.

All of this makes the combat experience of Little Tina's Fantasy Land quite interesting—at least, in the early stages.

After all, in essence, this game is still based on equipment numerical drive gameplay, and it will still inevitably embark on the road of seconds and seconds in the later stage. This is also the curse of the fate of this type of game mentioned earlier - once you think about the ultimate proposition of "why brush", all the operations at hand will become boring. In fact, in addition to the momentary climax of the box burst, the focus of the entire "Borderlands" gameplay has not been that result, but in slowly improving its own brushing process and upgrading process.

As a stand-alone player with no long-term content updates, the series has always lacked a mature endgame goal, and Tina's Fantasy Lands can't fundamentally solve this problem — or rather, all equipment-driven games can't solve this problem. But fortunately, Little Tina's Fantasy Lands does a little — at least players get a good enough and unique adventure experience in the process of slowly improving themselves. Whether the experience comes from a unique shooting feel or a script performance that doesn't lose many narrative-driven games.

Cool!

In short, as a fake fan who has not played Borderlands for many years, "Little Tina's Fantasy Land" has allowed me to find the first time I came to the planet Pandora and rolled off the bus in the wind and dust. Everything is strange and lawless. At that time, I would not talk about the game and try to dismember the internal organs of the game.

It is a pleasure for little Tina to create this strange, unexpected fantasy land for players. Here, I don't even know who I am, where I am, I just know that I'm going to kill.