Borderlands 2 VR Review

Borderlands 2 VR brings the chaotic world of Pandora to life in virtual reality with impressive immersion, satisfying gunplay, and plenty of customization, but missing features and awkward controls keep it from reaching its full potential.

Gearbox Software’s Borderlands 2, published in 2012, rapidly became one of the most memorable looter-shooters of its generation. The series had a unique personality that was hard to confuse with anything else, thanks to its mix of first-person shooting, RPG progression, hilarious humor, distinct cel-shaded visuals, and a seemingly infinite supply of odd weapons.

More importantly, Pandora makes for an intriguing backdrop full of odd personalities, scary beasts, bandit camps, and plenty of chances to get sidetracked with another side mission. For many fans, Borderlands 2 is the defining entry in the franchise and the idea of a virtual reality version was especially exciting. 

Borderlands 2 VR is a virtual reality version of the original game's single-player campaign from Gearbox Software, bringing the familiar experience into VR. The PlayStation VR version launched in December 2018, and a PC VR version followed. Instead of creating a whole new journey, the devs reused the established environment, characters, and missions/shooting mechanics.

They put them into a framework that lets you experience Pandora from a far more personal perspective. The adaptation also adds some VR-specific touches like the BAMF Time power and a first-person driving perspective. But the announcement drew criticism. It’s easy to see why longtime fans were worried about the lack of online co-op, the missing PlayStation Aim controller compatibility, and the loss of the original game’s downloadable content.

These exclusions made the VR edition feel less complete, since cooperative play and extra content were such a big part of the original experience. But playing the game as a newcomer to Pandora shows something else. The fundamental adventure is still fun, and virtual reality adds a new feeling of scale to an already memorable world.

The game follows a gang of Vault Hunters as they travel across Pandora to defeat the charming but detestable villain Handsome Jack.

Jack’s control over the globe drives the main conflict, and your adventure introduces many intriguing characters, locales, and groups. The story starts with your character waking up in the frozen wilds, then meeting Claptrap, the eager little robot who becomes one of your first allies. From there, the adventure slowly unveils the people and problems that make up Pandora.

You’ve got four Vault Hunters to pick from, each with a different fighting style. The character you pick changes how you play the campaign. It's not just a different face. For example, Salvador’s ability to use two weapons at once makes him very good for aggressive shooting. He is short, which leads to some funny moments when he interacts with characters much taller than him.

The plot takes time to establish its characters and stakes. Handsome Jack is introduced as the main antagonist, but the larger struggle emerges slowly in terms of emotional connection. Meeting key characters, doing side quests, exploring new territories, and spending time with Pandora's inhabitants finally give the Vault Hunters’ adventure purpose. Once it gets going, it delivers the fun mix of action, laughs, and drama that made the first game so famous.

Claptrap, Sir Hammerlock, Roland, and the enigmatic Firehawk all help with that, as do places like Frostburn Canyon, the Dust, and Sanctuary, which make Pandora feel like a world and not just a series of disconnected shooting arenas. Characters who join you in some parts also help reduce the loneliness of the single-player experience. Claptrap, in particular, is some welcome company.

Unfortunately, the move to VR doesn’t always help the story’s presentation. The cutscenes stay in the traditional 2D format, so the experience sometimes shifts from full immersion in Pandora to watching a scenario on a screen. Those switches can be a bit startling, especially if you’ve been exploring the world in first person. The tale is good enough to tell through dialogue and acting, but it would have been nice to have a more immersive presentation to make the story feel more like part of the VR experience.

Borderlands 2 VR's core gameplay is the same thing that made the original so fun. It's an FPS with very heavy RPG elements. That means it has plenty of combat, exploration, weapon collecting, character progression, and missions. You spend a lot of time traversing Pandora, killing foes, collecting items, completing tasks, and slowly building up your Vault Hunter.

The weapon variety is still one of the key attractions.

You'll find loads of guns, and different manufacturers have their own features and handling. It’s still a great feeling to find a new weapon with better stats or a unique impact, especially if it changes how you play combat. Try different weapon types and find which combinations work best for your favorite playstyle. The campaign offers a satisfying sense of progression through a never-ending loop of battling, gathering, comparing, and improving.

The RPG systems also offer enough incentive to keep playing. You can level up with experience points. You can upgrade your character and gain specialized talents with skill trees. You can invest in different skills, test upgrades, and slowly build a Vault Hunter suited to your preferred method. Grenade mods and other equipment choices add another layer of customization.

There’s always something to strive for, whether it’s bettering your character, discovering a more powerful weapon, or finishing another quest. The campaign also offers plenty of side objectives to inspire exploration. The main story gives you direction, but detours from it can lead you to other people, rewards, and encounters. You can easily spend a lot more time doing everything there is to do than just finishing the main campaign.

Depending on how much time you spend exploring and experimenting with the tools, the experience can easily go past the projected 30-40 hours of the main tale. One of the most notable innovations is BAMF Time, or Badass Mega Fun Time. This ability slows the action down and gives you a chance to react when fighting gets overwhelming. You can use it to line up more accurate shots, target enemy weak spots, or simply regain control in a challenging fight.

It offers a useful tactical option without entirely changing the base battle system. The adapter offers many comfort and movement settings. You can choose between teleportation and smooth locomotion, adjust turning options, and enable comfort features such as blinders. These settings make the experience more accessible to newbies while letting experienced VR users push past limits and move faster and more fluidly.

This control matters most in a game where you spend so much time navigating between foes and exploring large areas. But the experience is still combat-based, and shooting foes in virtual reality can feel incredibly good. The usual arsenal of weapons keeps battles varied, and BAMF Time adds another layer of control when you fight multiple adversaries at once. Larger animals and bosses feel more terrifying when they show up at their real in-game size. Experiencing the traditional combat encounters from inside the game environment is different, as shown with foes such as Boom, Bewm, and Captain Flint.

However, aiming isn’t always as accurate as it may be.

Sometimes the reticle doesn’t feel precise to your weapon, which can make some interactions more annoying than they need to be. Shotgun fights and close-range combat can be especially difficult when you’re trying to fire quickly. Overall, the shooting mechanics are fun, but the aiming mechanism doesn’t always provide the precision a first-person shooter needs.

The available controller options also heavily influence the experience. On PlayStation VR, you can play with either PlayStation Move controllers or a DualShock 4. At first glance, the Move controllers seem like the natural choice, allowing a more visceral way to interact with the game. But their weaknesses show during longer sessions.

The PlayStation camera needs to monitor the controllers from the front; thus, if you spin around entirely, you can run into tracking problems. So you have to use snap turning, which can get annoying when foes are coming from different directions. The button layout can get confusing in frantic fights. It’s frustrating to accidentally throw a grenade when you meant to enter a menu, especially if you need to handle your equipment frequently.

Also, the game doesn't lean heavily into tactile VR interactions. You don’t pick up items with your hands; instead, you use a telekinetic-like method to grab them. Many activities still rely on button presses. The DualShock 4 offers a more straightforward option. It feels natural to move, and head-tracking targeting can make fighting easier. For some users, the controller provides a more pleasant and consistent experience than the Move controllers.

It’s a shame there’s no support for PlayStation Aim controllers, because a dedicated shooting controller could have been an especially strong fit for the game’s combat. Driving is another huge feature of the adaptation. For the first time in the series, you can experience vehicle sections in first person. This makes traveling throughout Pandora feel more instantaneous, but operating the vehicles can be tricky at first.

Steering takes getting used to, and it's easy to hit things while you are still learning the handling. That said, driving and battling from vehicles are fun features once you get used to the controls. The missions with vehicle parts, Catch-A-Ride stations, and Ellie’s auto stuff make these sections feel like a meaningful part of the trip, not an occasional distraction.

Character growth is one of the best things about Borderlands 2 VR. 

All of this combines into a satisfying gaming loop of experience points, skill trees, weapon upgrades, and equipment alterations. You are always trying to improve your character while finding new items that change how you approach confrontations. Even after hours of campaign play, plenty of weapons and talents are still worth trying.

Customizing your Vault Hunter makes dying over and over again feel rewarding. Instead of simply leveling up your character, you can choose which skills matter and how your gear supports your chosen combat style. Varied weapons lead to varied playstyles, and grenade modifications and skill upgrades give you even more options to customize your loadout.

Side missions are especially valuable because they let you gain experience and see more of Pandora. You can spend hours on side objectives without feeling like you’re wasting your time. The campaign is also a great bargain in terms of length, especially for novices who have never played the original adventure. However, the lack of downloadable content remains a major downside, as the VR version doesn’t include the extra missions and activities the original edition added.

The cel-shaded art direction is a perfect fit for virtual reality. Borderlands 2 doesn’t try to be realistic. Rather, it revels in over-the-top characters, vivid settings, and distinct textures. This technique has aged surprisingly well, and the VR adaptation keeps much of the original game’s visual identity. The major upgrade is scale. Pandora feels way more immediate when you can gaze around its settings and see massive creatures standing in front of you.

First-person perspective gives buildings, characters, and distant landscapes a different sense of presence. Even places you know pretty well might be interesting just because you're looking at them from the inside of the globe. The night sky and the surrounding scenery are very remarkable. Pandora's ambiance, environmental features, and soundtrack combine to create moments when you just want to stop traveling and admire where you are.

Another fun example of how VR affects your interaction with familiar characters is seeing Claptrap at life size. Nevertheless, there are technological faults. You may notice occasional headset jitter and delayed texture loading. A few of the zoomed-in weapon shots also look notably pixelated, and menus might appear oddly positioned in the scene.

The HUD and minimap are especially inconvenient, as essential information sits toward the edges of your view. It would be easier to use with more options for adjusting size, positioning, and opacity. Despite those issues, it is an outstanding presentation overall.

Sound is as crucial a factor as anything in making Pandora feel alive.

The ambient soundtrack supports the locations and helps build an atmosphere that can be daring, risky, and often unnerving. Weapon sounds and fight effects also add to the excitement of encounters, while the characters supply much of the humor and personality that have come to define the franchise. Familiar voices and dialogue help keep the original game's essence intact; however, some lines written specifically for VR feel a bit off.

A different voice actor performs Claptrap's extra lines than in the original rendition, a shift anyone familiar with the character will notice. It doesn’t ruin the experience, but it's one of the more minor changes longtime fans may notice. The soundtrack fits Pandora's visual scale well. Hearing the terrain you explore helps the scenario feel more convincing, and peaceful periods between fire bouts may be as enjoyable as the action itself.

Borderlands 2 VR works because it knows what made the original special. Its fun narrative, unforgettable characters, huge arsenal of weapons, and rewarding advancement systems are all intact, but virtual reality adds a new feeling of scale to Pandora. Seeing familiar places and situations from a first-person perspective in VR makes the adventure feel distinct, even when you know what’s coming.

However, this adaptation comes with substantial trade-offs. Without online co-op, one of the original game's defining features is gone, and without DLC, the bundle feels incomplete for longtime fans. Even the VR adaptation doesn’t always make full use of its platform, with limited motion controls, imprecise aiming, problematic HUD placement, and traditional cutscenes that show it. Some of these shortcomings are easier to overlook than others, but they hinder the experience from becoming the definitive method to play the game for everyone.

But for newcomers, these weaknesses may matter much less. There is a ton of content to play, and the mix of shooting, looting, exploring, and character advancement is still addicting. That said, it’s an enjoyable ride of dozens of hours as you explore Pandora and build your Vault Hunter. The VR perspective makes the environment feel more intimate, and its best moments show how effectively the original art direction adapts to a virtual reality setting.

In the end, Borderlands 2 VR is a fun adaptation that offers a novel way to experience one of the franchise’s best chapters. The core adventure is still strong enough to make the voyage rewarding, though it might have been better with group play, DLC support, and more complex motion interactions.