First Impressions - Borderlands: The Handsome Collection

Borderlands: The Handsome Collection brings together Borderlands 2, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel as well as all downloadable content for both titles, which includes the add-on pack for Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel, Claptastic Voyage and Ultimate Vault Hunter Upgrade Pack 2. The Handsome Collection is a great way for new players to experience the content which would otherwise cost them close to double if they had got it on a PS3 or Xbox 360, but now The Handsome collection packs the same with the graphics of next-gen consoles for less than Rs 3,000. This collection also includes a four-player split screen, a franchise first, allowing four friends to play together on a single screen as well as cross save that gives you the ability to transfer your saves and bring  leveled up characters from prior gen consoles to next-gen.

Borderlands has already sold 23 million units worldwide to date across the franchise and has collected many loyal followers over the years and The Handsome Collection is looking to increase that number by letting new players experience the complete story of Handsome Jack’s rise and fall in one package

For those who haven’t played a Borderlands game before, Borderlands is a mixture of an action role playing game and a first person shooter that focuses on gaining loot and leveling up your character to complete quests and fight bosses. That being said, Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel remain unchanged when it comes to the structure and gameplay and hence I will be focusing more on the unique features of this collection. Although, players should note that the DLC is available on the disc itself and does not need to be downloaded separately.

Borderlands 2 and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel have been digitally remastered with crisp high definition visuals. Iron Galaxy’s wonderful work becomes clear as soon as you start playing the game. The texture’s have been replaced by high quality versions making both Elpis and Pandora absolutely stunning. 

The Handsome collection remasters Borderlands 2 without any flaws, you get the complete package  with DLC in stunning form. When it comes to Borderlands: The Pre-sequel, the game still doesn’t reach it’s potential. The HD remaster does make the game look fantastic it doesn’t fix the flaws the game had. You experience texture pop-in for a few seconds when respawning or loading a new zone.
To my shock, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel also suffers from horrible screen tearing that is constant and takes away a lot from the gameplay experience. There is flickering present across across the screen when you change weapons or drive a vehicle and is noticeable from time to time. To add to that there are frequent frame-rate drops while playing co-op or graphically-rich sections while in combat with enemies at a distance. All these things don’t break the game but should not be present in a digital remaster. 

Additionally, the transfer of badass rank from previous generations does not work. Gearbox has said they are working on a patch for the same but as it stands this issue exists in the game. 
In my opinion, the hardcore fans of the Borderlands series will already have everything that is present in The Handsome Collection and other’s who have both the games might lack the motivation to get another version seeing the lack of truly new content. For players, that are new to the franchise this bundle does present great value and hence I recommend getting it.