Borderlands 2 VR

Borderlands 2 VR brings the complete content of the beloved loot shooter Borderlands 2, including the main campaign and most of its expansions, into virtual reality on PSVR, with the player moving through the planet Pandora in first-person, collecting ever more powerful weapons with procedurally generated properties, and fighting hordes of bandits, mutants, and robotic enemies. Firefights gain intensity in VR thanks to physically aiming weapons with the Move controllers and the ability to freely look around the battlefield, which adds a new tactile dimension even to routine skirmishes in a game with such a strong emphasis on collecting and upgrading an arsenal. The game systems remain faithful to the original — the player chooses from several distinct characters with specific skills and abilities and progresses through a lengthy story full of the series' characteristic, sarcastic humor.

Converting such a large game to VR required adjustments to both movement and the user interface — inventory and weapon-stat menus are displayed on virtual panels in front of the player, and movement through the world can be handled with either smooth walking or teleportation, according to preference. The visuals were only slightly adjusted compared to the original game, so the title retains the series' characteristic hand-drawn, comic-book style, but it was technically challenging to keep a stable frame rate during more hectic battles with many enemies and effects at once. Pandora's expansive world, with dozens of hours of side quests, remains complete in the VR version, making it one of the most content-rich titles available for the headset.

Borderlands 2 VR was received as an ambitious, if technically demanding, attempt to bring a full-length, long game with a vast world into virtual reality, rather than a shorter experience tailor-made for VR. For fans of the series, it was a way to experience the beloved world of Pandora from a completely new perspective, and the title still ranks among the most extensive action games that can be played on PSVR from start to finish.

Why play it: For fans of the series wanting to experience the world of Pandora from a new perspective — a technically demanding but ambitious port of a vast, long game rather than a shorter experience tailor-made for VR.