Does Borderlands 2 Vita deliver or will it disappoint?
Ever since Boarderlands 2 for Vita was officially announced news concerning the development process of the handheld version died off and it became rather quiet around Borderlands. So quiet that people started to think the project was discontinued. That is until last month, when publisher 2K “erroneously” tweeted a release date for the game.
Last week we learned that Borderlands 2 will be available for Vita this spring. Sony will even bundle the game with the Vita Slim which is now also officially announced for US/EU territories.
Clearly Sony believes that the Borderlands brand has the potential to be a system seller. The Vita version consists of 6 DLC packs and supports cross save with the PlayStation 3.
The existence of this game isn’t a surprise but knowing that the release is just around the corner gets me both excited and weary at the same time. The reason for my scepticism is that we don’t know how well this port is going to turn out. The third party support or Vita, specifically when we look at the quality of blockbuster titles that make a Vita appearance, doesn’t instill me with great confidence that Borderlands 2 is going to be a great game.
Vita games like Resistance Burning Skies, Call of Duty Declassified and to an extent Madden and Fifa 13 are to blame. If anything these what I feel are rushed entries or in the case of Fifa 13 a mere re-skined version of an older version hurt the perception of what a good Vita game can be more than it helps the system.
Luckily Iron Galaxy, the studio Vita gamers know best for their smart minimalistic fighter Divekick are the ones working on the Borderlands port. They’ve been making games for Xbox 360 and PS3 since 2009.
It’s been two years now since the Vita is among us and we haven’t really seen PlayStation put their marketing muscle behind the device. I do think that it is fair to say that we shouldn’t expect Sony to reposition the Vita, at least not until they can talk about a big game title that has the potential to appeal to the masses.
With a rumoured release of March 18th, Sony and the publisher would want to hype up consumers for their system seller”. So why aren’t they, is March 18th just a rumour? Are we once again seeing a lack of marketing from PlayStation? Or, and this is what I fear, technically speaking the game just isn’t that good.
Today screenshots for Borderlands 2 Vita surfaced on Gearnuke.
A comparison between the PC and Vita version of the game shows that the game takes a small graphical hit in it’s conversion to the Vita. This is to be expected, nobody in its right mind expects the Vita version to look the best. In the end it will all come down to how well it plays on the Vita.
If this game turns out to run good and we add it to some of the top quality games Vita already has we suddenly have a situation were the software library is starting to become impressive.
Let’s hope the success of games like Killzone Mercanery, Persona 4 Golden etc. proves that it is best to deliver a game that at least echoes the quality of its console brethren.
So what do you guys think, is Borderlands 2 going to disappoint or can we add another gem to the Vita library? Show your support for articles by sharing them through social media (Twitter, Google+, Facebook etc.) or by telling your grand mother about what you’ve read. You can weigh in your thoughts in the comment section or contact me directly on twitter @italkgame.
Vita = frame drop
Maybe they should make games for Vita, not games for PC for Vita. Like, for example, a Kingdom Hearts Vita-exclusive.
yup…agree…
I agree that Kingdom Hearts for Vita would be cool, but this is Gearbox… not Square Enix.
I got the Japanese version just last month with the 64 gb card.. (only shows up 59 gb btw) I love it its lighter & thinner… idk care about the screen or the other bs… I’m *** it will only hold 100 games… but I am *** about the vita tv. .. I can’t read Japanese so I’m stuck with it
I think vita can have the same graphics that some pc games, but I think the developers do not try to make it so (to make games faster vita).
sorry for my English ..
The PS3 can barely play games that have PC quality at 30 FPS. And that GPU has around 200 GFLOPS of GPU performance. The Vita has around 30 GFLOPS of GPU performance.
Meanwhile, the PS4 has 1.84 TFLOPS of GPU power (Around 1,840 GFLOPS)
Along with my PC with a Radeon 7950 has around 3.00 TFLOPS (Around 3,000 GFLOPS) of GPU Power
Soon, my PC will have 5.06 TFLOPS of GPU Power and around 20 TFLOPS when I completely get it finished
The more games the better. So what if the graphics are not on par with its counterparts? I would prefer to see another AAA game rather than another indie game because I have enough of those.
Already Pre-Odered this game for my Vita. I like that I don’t have to start from scratch if I don’t want to as this game will support Cross-Save. Makes modding the save on the Vita a reality since I can mod the PS3 save a d import to Vita.
What the vita needs is Full-Blown Titles FROM 1ST PARTY!
Indies are getting old (and make a joke out of the vita)
Third party games suck (COD Declass, burning skies… yeah)
The only games I’ve bought are exclusives except for Fifa Football – Oh, and the only difference between Football & 13 are the price!!! $20NZD vs $79.99?
I’m not a sports gamer (my first sport game actually) but it’s still unreasonable for guys like me who are new to genres (and don’t read reviews, i do tho)…
Tbh Sony started ripping people off as soon as the PSPgo came out…
Borderlands 2 will not be a system seller…its just a port of a game that thousands of people have already played to death on other consoles, why buy it again?
yeah, but not as bad if they put it on 3DS
i mean if they port it to 3ds, it definitely worse than vita port
Seriously. 1 its portable. 2 it IS playable because physical buttons 3 Uncharted looked really good and I havet got any frame drops. the PSVita is the most powerful handheld system out there and If the games isn’t 100% perfect who cares. I have both Xbox 360, and Xbox1 but cod ghosts have huge frame drops on both PS4, PS3 X1 X360. It’s all about coding. (look trough the hybrid scope on various maps and you’ll see) I want more great games coming to the PS vita.
And this year, FFX FFX-2, Borderlands2, & mine craft that is some great games.
I sooo want this, and I already finished every. single. mission. on the PC version. But Borderlands 2, on the go, on my Vita… ***, yeah.
Seriously? Comparing Borderlands 2 to Resistance Burning Skies and Call of Duty Declassified? Why? Borderlands 2 is a PORT. Want to know if it will be a good game? Go and play it, dude.
Even if it will be a so-so port, it still will be a portable Borderlands 2. Nothing more, nothing less.
And considering Sony that this port is coming from Sony themselves – It’s nor really about third party support either.
Are some of u psyched? Ps4 ,ps3,xbox 360 and xbox one can’t compare to PC graphics and u want to complain abt ps vita graphics with respect to pc!! With all due respect I as a pc gamer (and a part time console gamer 😉 ) am impressed that a portable device like the vita can play such stuff and might even buy one despite me despising consoles for their limitations but on the go , the vita is certainly a killer console provided it gets proper updates,apps and games
It will be *** like every other vita game. The only game worth buying is killzone, true masterpiece but *** single player.
instead of porting year old games that everyone played, we need to actually localize good games like tales of hearts r and the new digimon game
im fine on ps one games.
You said “boaderlands” you meant “borderlands”
Ha, that’s definitely a sloppy mistake. Thanks for pointing it out.
Well, Borderlands isn’t played for the grafixs per cé, its cartoon style, so it not that big dealbreaker. The argument for lower CPU is not valid, I mean you don’t need 1080p on your VITA eather … It should be good. Point.
I always said I’d buy a VITA if borderlands 2 came out on it, I tend to keep that promise. Though I will wait to see the reviews …
i wont to see a ps3 vs ps vita
Gravity Rush has some impressive graphics. So, I expect Borderlands 2 is probably look similar since both games have cel-shaded style of graphics, only matter is hopefully that Borderlands 2 runs smoothly without sluggish frame rates.
yeab killzone mercenary vs borderlans 2
I really hope Sony keeps the mandatory updates up. That way I save cold cash for college, useful for tomorrows dog eat dog world . Evidence even nowadays. Save…Rather than blow it quickly on some video game. This TN-V… is gold. I would grab the game but know it won’t even be possible.
Borderlands 2 on Vita will be quite cool. But in my opinion, shooters are not the best choice for a mobile console. They should port games like Sonic or The Cave to the Vita – that would be best for gaming on the go!
The border is too strong on vita version
I wish they could remove it
(I played borderlands 2 on pc with no border)
These border aren’t GPU friendly
No border will make graphic even better (use GPU on something else other than border)
There won’t be big frame drop with that gravity rush graphic
I actually appreciate some good FPS games on the go. I like a few BIGGER games on the go, as well as the little bite-size mobile games that most seem to prefer. Honestly, I would love for something epic like Skyrim to somehow be ported to the Vita. I would buy that in a second. One game that I keep holding out hope for seeing on the Vita is Okami HD. I also think that the touchscreen would work nicely with doing the brush strokes in that game.
Good to see im not the only one wishing for Okami HD ^__^
Tho unfortunately its one of those games that the people that have played it tend to love but most just don’t care for it at all
Was Resistance so good on PS3? Because the rest of those mentioned are following in their PC predecessors’ footsteps. Each and every FIFA and Madden are rehashing what came before them and each and every Call of Duty (except maybe Black Ops) are doing the same while also getting worse and worse.
Ports are fine and all but for system sellers VITA needs its own games. Think GoW: Chains of Olympus and Ghost of Sparta. But Sony seems to not care much.
As far as Borderlands 2 go I don’t know. Killzone: Mercenaries has shown that good FPS is possible on VITA so let’s hope Borderlands will keep up the trend.
more exclusive games for vita not port from other systems. I already have this for ps3 with all the dlc. is vita already dying? or already dead…
how about a final fantasy VII remake for the vita.
with all6 dlc, makes you wonder.
I can’t wait for this game i liked it on the consoles and would love it on the move.
Concerning the state of the vita in western regions, all you need to do is look at what the vita is getting in japan and realize that the vita is loved by everyone in that region because of all the exclusives it has this is something the west needs to do and sharpish either localize the games or bring out games that match them in quality.