Borderlands 2's 'Tiny Tina' DLC packs big things in small packages

Hands-on impressions of Borderlands 2's "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep," the fourth and final piece of Season Pass downloadable content.

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With the exception of the misstep with mad Moxxi, Borderlands DLC generally built momentum, culminating in a fourth that blew the others away. Borderlands 2's offerings have been a little more uneven and stumbling, and the most recent didn't leave me very confident. I should have kept the faith, though, because this fourth and final Season Pass piece surprised me with its depth of scope and vision.

Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep is easily the most expansive content in Borderlands history, and that's counting the first game. I knew this one would feature more unique environments and enemies, but I didn't really understand the scope until I had played it. So much has changed, it almost feels like a different game--except for the Borderlands gunplay, of course.

Tiny Tina's scenario isn't exactly inventive. Creative designer Paul Hellquist referred to it as "generic fantasy," but it quickly becomes obvious that more is at play. Tina basically retells the broad strokes of Borderlands 2's story, with a notable difference. She often makes casual reference to deceased characters like Bloodwing and Roland as if they're still alive, as her companions bristle at the painful reminders.

Your effort to take down Handsome Jack's medieval fantasy analog takes you through caverns, castles and towns, with various familiar characters appearing in cameo roles as quest-givers. Mr. Torgue makes an especially great appearance as part of a side-quest that provides incisive, pointed criticism with a bit of sweetness to it.

I also knew the quests would offer new enemy types, but I was concerned they might be mere simple re-skins of existing ones. While a few do offer familiar attack and movement patterns, the staggering mass of new enemy types makes for plenty of new scenarios. It packed a game's worth of enemies into a much smaller package, which made for constant variety and remixes of enemy combos with very little repetition.

I appreciated the new eridium options, like temporary buffs or special treasure chests that granted a better chance for loot with a little investment. Pixies, scattered few and far between, could also grant buffs by simply engaging without attacking.

Borderlands 2's DLC calendar may have been a bit rocky compared to the first game, but with Tiny Tina, Gearbox has shown off its skill at finishing strong. Not only is it the best of the Borderlands 2 DLC, it may just be the best add-on across both games. It's certainly the biggest, and after tiring of similar environments and enemies, it hit the spot.

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From The Chatty
  • reply
    June 25, 2013 6:00 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Borderlands 2's 'Tiny Tina' DLC packs big things in small packages.

    Hands-on impressions of Borderlands 2's "Tiny Tina's Assault on Dragon Keep," the fourth and final piece of Season Pass downloadable content.

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      June 25, 2013 6:02 AM

      Spoilers in there if people haven't finished the story. But I'm excited for it!

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        June 25, 2013 6:04 AM

        I really need to get back into BL2. :(

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          June 25, 2013 6:10 AM

          PC or 360 like god intended? I need some phat loots. Farmed my first Bee! Now what?

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            June 25, 2013 6:33 AM

            PC or 360 like god intended?
            Fixed ;D

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          June 25, 2013 6:12 AM

          Same here... I haven't played it in months.

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          June 25, 2013 7:09 AM

          I finished the Mr Torque DLC last night, what the fuck is up with that truckzilla fight? That has to be the worst boss fight ever.

          You can't shoot the damned thing with anything other than rockets or low powered guns because he will bounce the shot right back into your forehead. So it was basically "lets spend 40 minutes hiding behind this brick wall and tossing grenades at this asshole". What a boring slog that was.

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            June 25, 2013 7:51 AM

            I concur with that assessment.

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            June 25, 2013 7:53 AM

            oh christ yea i forgot what a beatdown that was. meant to ask if it was as horrible for others and looks like that is the case! the raid bosses / end bosses leave a lot to be desired - they are mostly endurance runs.

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              June 25, 2013 8:34 AM

              It was the worst fucking thing ever. I really hope the other DLC packs don't follow that formula.

              The fact that he didn't drop anything worth a damn made it even more annoying. At least Piston was a somewhat entertaining fight.

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              June 25, 2013 9:35 AM

              It's really the difference between games with mechanics built to make that kind of combat rewarding (World of WarCraft) and those where it's shoehorned into the wrong genre (boss fights in Deus Ex, BL2)

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            June 25, 2013 8:25 AM

            Yeah that thing was a grind feet. Even with double rocket sentry guns spamming his face off he lasted ages.

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              June 25, 2013 8:36 AM

              I had no idea how the hell he was killing me for the first half of the fight (30 minutes or so). Every time I took a shot at his head I would immediately die. I eventually wised up and started using an SMG (not powerful enough to kill me with a single shot) and shot at his tail section through a crack between the brick wall and the gate. After 15 minutes or so of that he finally died.

              That really really sucked.

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            June 25, 2013 8:46 AM

            Yup.

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            June 25, 2013 9:27 AM

            I still haven't been on to give you that hellfire... Be I will be on today if you still want it.

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              June 25, 2013 9:35 AM

              No worries, I added you to my friends list. I probably won't be online again until Friday/Saturday so there's no rush or anything.

              I am using a Good Touch right now, it's not that bad (4000 dmg per shot I think) but the vibrate "feature" gets really annoying after a while.

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                June 25, 2013 9:37 AM

                I hate that goddamn thing... Sometimes after a reload the vibrate gets really strong and it mashes me want to punch babies.

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            June 26, 2013 8:45 AM

            Myself and three buddies played through that. While they were getting chomped i realized you can shoot the red barrels on the body and disable his attacks. makes it a whole lot easier to nail him down.

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        June 25, 2013 12:13 PM

        Yeah that was neat not having finished it yet...

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      June 25, 2013 8:30 AM

      Why hasn't this dropped on Steam yet?

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        June 25, 2013 9:44 AM

        I just started downloading.

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          June 27, 2013 8:30 AM

          Yes, but it's surprisingly not a featured item. You have to actually search for Borderlands 2 and find the DLC and then you can download it. Maybe 2K games is out of budget to promote the game? lol

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      June 25, 2013 8:34 AM

      I really love that character. She's the best part of that game for me.

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      June 25, 2013 10:16 AM

      Why the hell do you need those BL2 spoilers in there, Steve?

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