Is Tales From The Borderlands One Of The Top 50 Games Of 2015?

Telltale has continued to expand its adventure game empire with new IP, taking on multiple projects simultaneously in 2015. Of those series, Tales From The Borderlands was a particularly unexpected pick. Does it have what it takes to make our Top 50 Games Of The Year list?

Learn more about the Game Informer Fight For the Top 50 Challenge 2015.

I reviewed all five episodes of Tales From The Borderlands for G.I. and felt the series got off to an extremely slow start. The humor, story, and gameplay in the first couple episodes offered little reason to keep going, resulting in three below-average review scores. However, my opinion was in the minority. Lots of people heaped tons of praise on what I felt like was shaping up to be a formulaic and subpar Telltale adventure.

It wasn't until episode 4 that I felt the story hit its stride, leading to a satisfying – and at least partially redeeming – finale. I ended up with a generally positive opinion of the series; Tales From The Borderlands is far from perfect, but Telltale managed to right its wayward ship and deliver an adventure that I was happy to have played. The fluctuating quality of the series made Tales From The Borderlands a good candidate for the Top 50 Challenge. For a second opinion, I chose Jeff Cork, who played through the entire series. Check out our conversation below to see how he whether he thinks Tales From The Borderlands deserves a spot on our list.

Jeff M: So Cork, we've discussed Telltale games before in the past, and I think we're both in the same headspace at this point...

Jeff C: That they're basically running on a template at this point? "Jam A until you have to press X?" "Move cursor around one of four highlighted objects to see next cutscene?" "Character X will remember this?"

Jeff M: "Even though they totally won't?"

Jeff C: I think we're of like mind. I'll say that I think it's a perfectly fine template, but it's a template nonetheless. I like the Lego games a great deal, but you'd be blind not to notice that there's a lot of overlap from entry to entry. I look at Telltale's games much the same way.

Jeff M: Yeah. Basically, I think we've both seen through the smoke and mirrors, and once you're used to the conventions, the "choose your adventure" aspect doesn't have the same impact. What was your first impression when you heard Telltale was doing a series in the Borderlands universe?

Jeff C: I thought, "Oh, now they can't get away with the same quarter-assed action sequences, since Borderlands is such a well-known action franchise." I thought the gunplay would be playing a larger focus, since I don't think of character development when I'm thinking about Borderlands. Feel free to disagree, Borderlands superfans.

Jeff M: I'm not surprised you felt that way – Telltale talked up a number of Borderlands-centric mechanics that they wanted to incorporate into the series, including the action and abundance of loot. We should mention that we are both huge Borderlands fans – we played through the first game together along with all of the DLC for it. But Telltale's pitch to add those components into one of its narrative-driven adventure games had no appeal to me whatsoever, and their implementation of both was pretty abysmal.

Jeff C: They just don't have the capabilities to deliver interesting action. Picking on Lego again, it would be like if TT Games tried to do a survival-horror game with their current engine. It doesn't work. When the most action-packed sequence in the series – from a pure mechanics standpoint – comes via a hacking minigame, you know that you can't really claim to have much in the way of action. And that's fine. Just don't try to mislead people into thinking that they'll be playing anything different from the usual QTEs and "Move the cursor on the circle" gameplay we've suffered through in every Telltale Game so far. I know we're sounding really down on the game, but it's important that we kind of get that stuff out of the way from the start.

Jeff M: Definitely – Tales From The Borderlands was a five-part series, and I was really down on the first three episodes. There was just very little to pique my interest, and even the things that did – like the some of the episode-ending cliffhangers – didn't go anywhere in the first half of the story. But the reason I think it makes for a good Top 50 challenge game is I started to come around to the adventure in the latter half, to the point where I'm happy I played it. Before we get to that though, what were your other impressions of the first couple episodes. Did anything stand out to you in a positive way?

Jeff C: I'm a sucker for unreliable narrators, and Tales From The Borderlands has two of them. Part of the fun is trying to figure out what did and didn't happen, though it's usually quite obvious – the other character will usually call B.S. when things start getting off the rails. I thought the writing was pretty sharp overall, too, and it made fun of some of the Telltale conventions from time to time. I should point out that I had the benefit of being able to play the game straight through, without having to wait for the next episode. I think that went a long way in being able to overlook many of the lulls in the story –of which there were plenty. That's the way I prefer to play these kinds of games, anyway. The novelty of their episodic nature has run out for me; just release this stuff all at once so I can play it when I have time.

Jeff M: Definitely. Especially when a series starts out slow like this – it's a real buzzkill to have to wait so long that you can't remember what was going on the last time you played, and a quick, narrated recap doesn't fix it. That said – and this may sound like a weird, backhanded compliment – for Tales From The Borderlands at least, the musical sequence during the opening credits was always one of the highlights of every episode, so you'd lose those without the format. Like I said, not the greatest compliment. So what were your initial impressions of the characters?

Jeff C: They were totally adequate. Rhys is the classic "Jerk with a heart of gold," and Fiona is the classic "Con artist with a heart of gold." There's always the illusion of choice, but I never felt like I was shaping them very much during my playthrough. I had to replay a section thanks to a technical issue, and I made different choices. None of them really mattered; I just got to hear different jokes. Quick aside: I was surprised at how many weird tech issues I ran into. I played on my Xbox One, and it stuttered along in several sections, and it has a shocking amount of loading sequences, both in the frequency and length. They seemed strategically placed to defuse any tension or momentum that may have built up. Bummer. Anyway, I know humor is tricky to pull off in games – what did you think? Did it make you laugh?

Jeff M: The first few episodes were very hit-or-miss with me – mostly miss. Every now and then a joke would get me though, and make me realize that we need more comedic games. I laughed a lot more during the last two episodes, which I think was part of the turning point for me. Also, I have to agree with you on the characters – I thought Rhys was the least-interesting character, and you didn't have much agency in shaping her or Fiona. The secondary characters ended up being more interesting, and I think I got the most laughs out of Vaughn. I think the characters are another example of how the episodic format hurts this series, because it took more than half the adventure for me to warm up or care about the cast.

Jeff C: I was sold on the tone when Rhys tried in vain to choke out a guard, and the guard just kind of eggs him on for a while. Then the eye thing, and the face-pizza stuff – it's all funnier than I make it sound. For real.

Jeff M: Absolutely, those absurd humor moments were the highlight, and some conversation moments were great too, like getting rebuked by an irate guard for being insensitive. There really are some great gems buried in there, and they became more frequent in later episodes.

Coming Up Next: Read on for more story discussion and to find out Jeff Cork's final verdict...

Jeff C: I remember Telltalle talking on social media about how there was this Shocking Moment in the game, and how people were crying and stuff. I kept that in mind during my playthrough. Can we just do spoilers from here on out?

Jeff M: Yeah, let's do it. SKIP TO THE VERDICT TO AVOID SPOILERS.

Jeff C: Were they talking about Scooter's death? I know it couldn't have been Fiona's sister or Gortys or Loader Bot, since all of those are lame fakeouts. I can't take it seriously when a comic-relief character eats it and we're supposed to care when it happens in TV or movies, and it didn't work for me here either. I hope this means I never have to hear that guy's annoying "Catch-a-ride!" catchphrase again. I'm sure Gearbox will bring him back somehow though.

Jeff M: Yeah, it must have been Scooter, and that sequence fell flat for me, because A: You had no agency in the outcome whatsoever, and B: It was the umpteenth time they had to fall back on a member of the original cast in order to evoke a response from the community.

Jeff C: Since we're spoilery now, what did you think of the final act, where you get the band back together on one last desperate mission?

Jeff M: That was one of the reasons I really liked the final episode – they finally changed the format up a bit and gave you some choices. The two episodes before that had your crew dispersed between several parallel threads, so it was nice having everyone together again. I'm a sucker for that kind of ultimate team-up convention.

Jeff C: I thought it was probably the best implementation of your decisions playing out in any of Telltale's games so far. I was pretty lame to Sparks, and because of that, she wouldn't join me. I spared Felix, and he gave me the money I needed to hire the mystery Vault Hunter who was previously out of my price range. Unfortunately, it was Claptrap. I ripped off August, killed his friends and his mother, and he joined me anyway. Oh well. I'm certain that all it did was change who sat in the various Inside Out seats, but it was a nice payoff nonetheless.

Jeff M: Yeah, exactly. If I'm being generous, I'd say that it felt like Telltale built the entire story around that final choice, and it really worked for me. Also, as much as I hated virtually every other QTE action sequence in the game (aside from the finger shootout), I thought the final boss fight was pretty effective and entertaining, even though you were still only playing "Press The Right Button" as things played out.

Jeff C: I ended up enjoying the series more than I thought I would – I wasn't probably going to get around to it if not for the Top 50 Challenge. More than anything, it made me want to play more Borderlands. I ended up pausing the game at one point and bought The Handsome Jack Collection because I forgot how much I enjoy the overall tone and style of the series, even though I wasn't getting any of the gunplay or action in Tales From The Borderlands.

Jeff M: Indeed. I'm going to let you save your final thoughts for the official verdict, but I have one more question I'm interesting in hearing your answer to: Did you at any time care at all about finding the vault you spent the entire game searching for?

Jeff C: I did, in the sense that I wanted to see where the story was going. I assumed that none of the fat loot was going to affect me as a player, which selfishly dimmed my enthusiasm. In a regular Borderlands game, that draw is what keeps you going. Here, they could have been looking for an epic Skag nest, Handsome Jack's daughter, or a big red circle on the ground, and it wouldn't have mattered much. The vault was just a way to get the ball rolling, and I wasn't expecting anything beyond that. "What do the characters in Borderlands like? Vaults? Let's do that!"

Jeff M: It was the quintessential MacGuffin in a game full of MacGuffins, but the story, characters, and weird humor ultimately won me over. Okay Cork, thanks for discussing the game with me; I'll let you weigh in on whether you think Tales From The Borderlands deserves a spot on our Top 50 list in the verdict below!

Cork's Verdict: Tales From The Borderlands is a fun ride, but I don't think I can passionately argue that there's room for it on our Top 50 list. It builds to a satisfying climax, and I'm glad to have spent time with the characters, but it doesn't rise past what Telltale has done time and time and time again. I don't like the idea of putting it on there as some kind of legacy candidate, particularly in a year that brought us Life is Strange and Until Dawn. Despite the fun I had, I don't think Tales From The Borderlands does enough to earn it a spot on our Top 50 list.