The good 👍
- game has a couple neat ideas that evolve as game progress, so it doesn't feel too repetitive
- it is possible to disable time limit to complete story missions

The bad 👎
- game can de-sync which forces players to re-start the level
- some levels feel more like competition between players than co-op
- there is a fair bit of jumping, and platforming is not the best with frequent clipping through objects
- not possible to rebind keys

Conclusion:

I did like it, but it can be frustrating at times. Not because of high difficulty, but average platforming (and there is A LOT of jumping in this game) and some annoying puzzles variants. Like typing machine that keep changing key layout. I don't see how it's supposed to encourage or enrich cooperation.

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Details

📘 Story ☑ Bare-bone ☐ Average ☐ Good

Kiwis arrive to a post office for work. That's it. We work through 3 seasons (summer, autumn, winter), and the game abruptly ends without spring for some reason. There is no plot really, changing seasons act as background for different environmental hazards.

🔄 Gameplay loop ☐ Boring ☐ Average ☐ Good	☑ Repetitive There are few types of levels. Send message through typing machine (run around trying to find right letter and butt-slap to type it), pack items into box and send to right destination (run around to find correct labels and post codes and butt-slap them on the box), sort letters and packages (push boxes into correct destinations and send letters to correct people), create letters from newspaper scraps (words are scattered around, and we need to pick them up and then put on paper sheet with a butt-slap). Each level has some variation to it, thought it's difference between newspaper words being stationary, moved around by wind or covered in ice. It does keep the game interesting for longer, but also it does feel repetitive.
🎮 Controls ☑ Clunky and stiff ☐ Adequate ☐ Fluid and enjoyable	☑ Not customizable Sadly, controls are not the best. For a start, they can't be adjusted. And then jumping can be interrupted by us clipping through objects, collision detection not working properly, or our butt-slaps (which is basically how kiwis are interacting with objects) don't register properly. Like having few newspaper words next to each other, and we keep picking up not the one we were aiming for.
📇 Inventory and menus ☑ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Over complicated	There is no inventory really, just a separate menu in the main menu where we can add some unlocked cosmetics. Cosmetics are either bought by in-game currency (for level completion) or unlocked by finding specific objects on levels.

💸 Microtransactions ☑ None ☐ Skins ☐ "Time-savers" ☐ Direct purchase ☐ Custom currency (gems etc.)	🏆 Achievements ☐ None ☐ Story progression ☐ Few collectibles / easy to get ☑ Grindy collectibles / hard to get ☐ Require multiple playthroughs	💾 Save system ☐ No saves ☐ No saves, progress carries over ☐ One checkpoint, too rare ☑ One checkpoint, frequent ☐ Manual saves
📊 Performance ☐ Can run on potato ☑ Medium requirements ☐ High requirements ☐ Too low for what is visible on screen ☐ Optimization disaster	🌌 Graphic ☐ May look good 10 years ago, but not now ☐ Blurry textures / geometry problems ☑ Average ☐ Good ☐ Beautiful	🔊 Sound ☑ Nothing to remember ☐ Good voice acting ☐ Good weapons & effects ☐ Good OST ☐ Music flows well with the action
🦚 Customization options ☑ Resolution, volume only ☐ Basic graphic settings ☐ Advanced graphic settings ☐ Adjustable HUD ☐ Accessibility options	🧭 Map ☑ No map ☐ Basic ☐ Detailed ☐ Minimap ☐ Fast travel	Details: Some synchronization problems which should not happen in time-sensitive game

The good 👍
- I like that overworld is more like a general map, which makes it faster to move between actual quest locations
- Enemies design is more interesting than generic bandit, mutated dog, robot and zombie from B1 and B2
- Playing as dragon class allowed to rely more on the melee and abilities than purely on weapons, while in B1 and B2 I felt abilities are there for a show, not to actually mow through enemies
- Clap trap is limited in this game to an absolute minimum
- A lot of customization options during character creation and later

The bad 👎
- System where loot quality depends on exploring the map (finding dices scattered around map boost luck when opening chests) may annoy people that don't bother with exploration
- really long unskippable credits
- I know it's not a story-driven game, but plot is just uninteresting and generic
- Game crashed couple times due to memory issues
- Game "optimizes shaders" each time it's started
- DX12 is selected as a default, and can lead to random game crashes that are absent in DX11 mode

Conclusion:

I did like it more than Borderlands 1 and 2. Mostly due to the lack of big empty map that need to be traversed to reach the objective, no Claptrap, and ability to use melee effectively. It is a nice game for Borderlands fans, but if you're tired of the formula, then this game will not be a revelation.

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Details

</table>

📘 Story ☐ Bare-bone ☑ Average ☐ Good

Tiny Tina is the game master of a board game. We as "newbie" create a character and play a role in a board game session. Generic story of evil Dragon Lord wanting to take over the world, and we're there to stop him. There are a lot of board game terms or jokes which I did not catch most probably, as I never played those. And a lot of rather bad puns.

🔄 Gameplay loop ☐ Boring ☑ Average ☐ Good	☐ Grindy ☑ Repetitive Go to place, kill all enemies, go back to quest giver. It can't be more generic. Keep loot, which is rarely better than what we already have, and sell the rest. I see how people may like this kind of mindless enemy killing, but I think I'm a bit tired of this formula by now. Hoped that this board game spin on series will introduce more ideas.
🪄 Abilities ☐ Basics (walk, jump etc.) ☑ Magic / powers ☐ Advanced combat	☑ Skill tree ☑ Statistics ☐ Crafting Same as other Borderlands games. Leveling up gives skill points to level up our tree and ability points to slightly boost some passive stat (health, crit chance, ability cooldown etc.). Around level 30 we unlock the secondary tree, so we can grab a few skills from another class. There is only one skill we can use, we are not given a 2nd active ability. Spells are like secondary abilities on a timer. They can be anything between casting a fireball, small meteor shower or jumping jelly.
🎮 Controls ☐ Clunky and stiff ☐ Adequate ☑ Fluid and enjoyable	Controls are fine. The addition of basic parkour (which came from Borderlands 3) do help to make the game less stiff. But we still bump into invisible walls all around, which breaks the immersion.
📇 Inventory and menus ☐ Basic ☑ Detailed ☐ Over complicated	☐ Made for gamepads ☑ Hard to navigate Exact copy-paste of previous games. Menus are ok to navigate, but inventory is 2x5 (or 6) scrollable list of items, and it's obvious why it's a problem when we have 50 or 60 items. It's not possible to sort by type (just level, rarity or worth). To have a list of say rings, we need to click on the ring slot. But then the list does not get auto-scrolled to the top. If we were at the bottom and clicked ring slot to browse rings only - we need to go and scroll all the way up. There is so much screen space available, and they keep this bad, time-consuming system around for no reason. In a game focused on finding better loot.
🥊 Combat 🏹 ☐ Boring and generic ☑ Average ☐ Good ☐ Great	☑ Well designed weapons At least weapons are re-invented from the B1 and B2. Not just copy-pasted with different texture, like most of the game. They are designed to look more medieval, with weapons looking like various crossbows. There are things that couldn't be really re-invented (like rocket launchers) but in general it fits within the theme. But the combat itself is meh. Enemies die fast and don't have much strategy. They just charge and try to kill us. Raising the level only makes them bullet spongy, which leads to tedious gameplay. There was only one good boss, that did not die after 10s, and it was some sub-boss in a side quest. Otherwise, bosses are mediocre and disappointing.
🤖 Game AI ☐ Brain dead ☑ Really basic ☐ Average ☐ Smart and responsive	Same as in combat. Enemies are brainless and have no strategy. We also don't need any strategy, as enemies are killed without any hassle with elements, or weaknesses etc. We can have a companion pet that can deliver some damage, but it can't be controlled. It runs / flies around and attack random enemy.

💸 Microtransactions ☑ None ☐ Skins ☐ "Time-savers" ☐ Direct purchase ☐ Custom currency (gems etc.)	🏆 Achievements ☐ None ☐ Story progression ☐ Few collectibles / easy to get ☑ Grindy collectibles / hard to get ☐ Require multiple playthroughs	💾 Save system ☐ No saves ☐ No saves, progress carries over ☐ One checkpoint, too rare ☑ One checkpoint, frequent ☐ Manual saves
📊 Performance ☐ Can run on potato ☑ Medium requirements ☐ High requirements ☐ Too low for what is visible on screen ☐ Optimization disaster	🌌 Graphic ☐ May look good 10 years ago, but not now ☐ Blurry textures / geometry problems ☑ Average ☐ Good ☐ Beautiful	🔊 Sound ☑ Nothing to remember ☐ Good voice acting ☐ Good weapons & effects ☐ Good OST ☐ Music flows well with the action
🦚 Customization options ☐ Resolution, volume only ☐ Basic graphic settings ☑ Advanced graphic settings ☐ Adjustable HUD ☐ Accessibility options	🧭 Map ☐ No map ☐ Basic ☐ Detailed ☑ Minimap ☑ Fast travel	Details: Textures are as basic as they were in B1 Invisible walls keep popping up Voice acting sounds forced sometimes

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