''Were the little bits''. Yup. I'm pretty sure no one is gonna get that reference.
Developed: Gearbox
Published: 2K Games
Genre: First Person Shooter
Release Date: Nov 9th, 2021
Platforms: PS4/Windows/Epic/Windows
*Review copy provided to me by 2K Games*
''A Tiny Adventure''
Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep: A Wonderlands One-Shot Adventure is a first person looter shooter developed by Gearbox and published by 2K Games. Originally releasing as DLC for Borderlands 2 as assault on dragon keep, 2K Games decided to bring it back once more to prep for the next big upcoming adventure, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands. But is it worth playing nowadays or should it have just stayed in the past? Only one way to find out. So let's go!
Story:
The Queen's been captured and her kingdom is in peril; only you and your friends have any chance of restoring peace to this eccentric, enchanted land. Blast your way through treacherous forests, spooky crypts, and fearsome fortresses, but beware—your journey can change in an instant on account of Tina's gleefully chaotic whims.
GamePlay:
Tiny Tina One Shot Adventure, yes, that's what I'm shortening it to, is a re-release of DLC of the same name from Borderlands 2. In this title you will be a pawn in the game of imagination, brought on by the very high spirited and hyper personality of Tina Tina herself. By participating in her escapades, you will be take part in a game called ''Bunkers and Bad Asses'' and your host of this whacky world is of course Bunker Master herself, Tiny Tina. If you're familiar with Dungeons and Dragons, then you'll roughly have an idea of how this works. Tina is the Dungeon Master and she's in charge of organizing everything that happens to you in the game, whether it be taking out an enemy that might seem too hard, create characters out of thin air to fit the narrative of her little story or get annoyed by you, and by YOU, I mean me, for not being able to make a platforming jump to her liking and she just builds you a bridge that leads straight your objective. I seriously failed these jumps like ten times and I'm supposed to be a platforming enthusiast, talk about embarrassing. When she's not getting annoyed, she's very rambunctious. Over the course of your roughly 3-4 hour journey, you will be doing everything you loved about the Borderlands series in general, such as, loot, shoot, discover new secrets, tons of side quests to complete and take down hordes of enemies as you push through, guns blazing, in order to save the ''Queen''. Who in the end just ends up being something straight up out of My Little Pony, no joke. It even poops rainbows, gold and weapon loot. I know. I'm extremely immature, but I laughed pretty hard at this because I never played this DLC originally and it was my first time seeing it. It's so freakin random, but awesome nonetheless. The humor and narrative of this fantasy themed dungeons and dragons table top story is the highlight, yes, even over the shooter RPG aspects of leveling up your characters and finding new legendary and epic gear and this is in large part due to the great voice cast interacting with each other. Each actor plays their spot to perfection and while some dialogue by Tina can get a bit annoying at times, cause she rarely shuts up, it isn't over the top enough to drive you nuts. One of the funniest moments in my time playing through the game actually was Clap Trap doing his best impression of Gandalf The Grey from Lord Of The Rings, because in this story, he's a wizard - just not one with very much power though. Shouting the line ''you shall not pass!'', he attempts to stop you from advancing, but you can hilariously walk by him and hurt his feelings. Its sad, but still funny. I know you're not a door, Clap Trap, but I honor wizards and elves and next time I will speak friend before I enter by saying ''MELLON''.
Controlling six different vault hunters with each having their own unique abilities will give you some variety in your game play with the type of weapons you can use at the start of your journey or whether you can use various magic powers too, pick wisely. The games pacing can be really fast paced when you have hordes of enemies swarming you, of all different varieties, but it never feels overly difficult, even when your screen is filled with baddies either, annoying sure, but not rage inducing. At least the first half the game. The first half of this title is an absolute blast with puzzle solving, finding awesome gear, testing out new weapons, fighting bigger sized monsters, boss fights, or even dragons themselves, but the second half is where it loses its luster. Unfortunately, for me, the second half the game, it falls into the trope of running out of ideas and just starts throwing enemy waves at you one after another with annoying arrow shooters who have AIM BOT and never miss, small enemies that crawl, armored up knights who are sponges, and eventually shielded wizards too. It feels drawn out and tedious and a lot of the times you find yourself RUNNING through the level just to get it over with because of how monotonous it can be. It doesn't kill the experience but it can wear you down. Too Long Didn't read version. First Half GOOD. HMM HMM. Second half BAD. HMM HMM.
Overall:
I guess the question everyone wants to know has to be ''Is It Worth it''. Well that depends really. If you have played it previously either via Borderlands 2 DLC or as part of the Handsome collection, then my answer to that question is absolutely not. Not because it isn't fun overall, but because this is the same game you've already played, complete with co-op, both local and online, including mission selections. If you already played it, you really aren't missing too much and the only reason to do so at this point would be if you're prepping for the REAL meal coming next year with the full fledged release of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, which actually looks super good. So what say you to those that have NOT played the original DLC, just like me,, is it worth it? Honestly.. yeah for $10 it is for sure. Its a great way to ease yourself into the looter shooter game play, dungeon crawling, fun narrative and the best way for newcomers to not only get a taste of the Borderlands game mechanics, but to experience the hilarious dialogue and banter than this series is known for and that it does to near perfection. You WILL laugh a lot and sure it can get a bit tedious at times mid game, but there is still fun to be had here, so it is worth a look. So what's the FINAL verdict? well... I'm going to go into this one with the impression that YOU have never played this before, so if I do that, for $10, my verdict is clear, GameNChick Says BUY NOW.
