Borderlands Legendary Collection test on Switch

Borderlands, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands The Pre-Sequel are now playable on Switch, both in your living room and at the back of the bed. Enjoying one of the licensed games in portable mode is not entirely new, as Borderlands 2 was ported to PlayStation Vita a few years ago. In any case, this Legendary Collection has an excellent lifespan: in addition to the three basic games, already very complete, all the DLCs are included here. What to have fun for several tens of hours, but also what largely fill your memory card. In dematerialized version, all three games will thus occupy more than 47 GB and barely less on cartridge, since most of the content will have to be downloaded. Fortunately, it is possible to install the game of your choice: Borderlands occupies 13.7 GB, Borderlands 2 21.5 GB and The Pre-Sequel 12.1 GB.

The “Covered Switch” continues and this time 2K enters the dance. Borderlands Legendary Collection thus brings together the first three episodes of the famous looter-sniper license, in content-packed versions. Clean, sharp and burr-free adaptations.

On the games side, we are not going to redo the tests of the three titles here, but the big piece undeniably remains Borderlands 2. It is from this episode that the series finds its formula, a mixture of very nervous FPS, of action -RPG and comedy humor. It must be said that the introduction of the Beau Jack, quite simply one of the best villains in the history of video games, does a lot for the quality of the whole. By way of comparison, Borderlands 1 is today a nice draft, but one that does not reach the mastery and the madness of its suite. If you ever discover the series, we advise you to start with Borderlands before continuing on Borderlands 2, because doing the opposite may be very disadvantageous for the first episode. The Pre-Sequel, meanwhile, can be seen as a successful extension of Borderlands 2, without much novelty, but with a very successful space and lunar framework. And above all, it’s more of a Beau Jack for our zygomatics.

Visually very close to competing machines

Anyway, here we are facing three very good games, which benefit from quality ports on the Nintendo console. Compared to the PC, PS4 or Xbox One versions, you have to make some usual concessions: the framerate does not exceed 30 frames per second, but only very rarely drops below it and you have to do with some slightly blurry textures, which can be seen especially on Borderlands 2. Visually, however, the games absolutely do not deserve, especially The Pre-Sequel, which turns out almost as good as on much more powerful machines. On the definition side, we oscillate between 900p and 1080p on a TV and 720p in portable mode. Nothing but very classic for the Nintendo Switch, therefore.

In terms of handling, the observation is a little more contrasted. In portable mode, on a “classic” Switch or docked with the joy-con, the handling is delicate and the aim with the sticks is only rarely precise. Fortunately, an aiming aid is activated by default, which is essential during combat in enemy-laden areas. These Switch ports also offer a sighting system with the machine’s gyroscope : just tilt the joystick or console to adjust your shot. Again, the idea is interesting, but the result remains too imprecise to be effective, even when adjusting the sensitivity in the options.

In docked mode, with a pro pad, the grip is much more comfortable and we get closer to the maneuverability of FPS with the joystick all that is most classic. We also found that the game is much more playable on the Switch Lite, probably thanks to its more comfortable sticks and the compactness of the console chassis, which allows you to play longer without experiencing muscle fatigue.

Technically speaking, Borderlands Legendary Collection is successful, with the inherent flaws in this kind of porting to Switch. It will indeed be done with a framerate of 30 FPS maximum and a slight graphics loss, mainly visible on Borderlands 2, but far from being annoying. If we ignore these constraints and a grip with the joy-con that requires time to adapt, we are faced with three very good FPS, in their most complete versions.