Tales From The Borderlands: Episode Two - Atlas Mugged Reviews
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2 continues Telltale's insanely hilarious ride through Pandora.
A disappointing second episode that's 90 per cent filler and, apart from a good turn by a ghostly Handsome Jack, severely lacking in humour.
Atlas Mugged delivers a solid opening and a few chuckles, but I would've liked more meaningful choices and character development
Tales from the Borderlands continues to tickle your funny bone and warm your heart with its second episode.
You can feel the creators of some games in certain details or plot twists, but Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2 goes further. It's as if everyone is dancing as hard as they can behind the scenes to put on a show, and you're experiencing the sweat as it drips from their brow. It's the sort of game that feels like a puppy dog desperate to be liked, and you can't help but pet it.
Tales from the Borderlands episode two is, on the whole, a solid entry in what's becoming a darkhorse contender for my favorite Telltale series, not to mention an instance of Telltale finally going all-in on character moments.
This episode held my attention much better than the previous one, because of better action sequences and more of getting on with the story. I hope Telltale makes me feel more emotionally invested, though.
Telltale, please don't make me wait so long before Episode 3.
The first episode of Tales from the Borderlands was excellent, and while the second episode continues to be enjoyable, it's not quite as good as the debut. Still, there's some really good comedic moments in here, and the plot starts to feel like it's going somewhere, with that split narrative once again being put to good use. If you're a fan of Borderlands, you should be invested in this series, yet even if you aren't, the characters and quirky world will do enough to draw you in.
As second episodes go, it's a strong one. Plenty of things happen, but nothing too meaningful as it continues to lay a foundation for what will likely become a pretty zany finale. Still, the jokes were funny and there were a few good action sequences.
It took way too long, but it's a fantastic second episode in what may well end up Telltale's best series to date.
Tales from the Borderlands Episode 2: Atlas Mugged is a rare misstep from two talented, experienced developers in Telltale Games and Gearbox Software.
Telltale's take on Gearbox's sci-fi world continues to deliver barrels of laughs, but the story stalls a bit in the second episode
Atlas Mugged is pretty good stuff all around – not as explosive or hilarious as last time, but consistently entertaining nonetheless, with a handful of slick action sequences to keep things spicy.
With the surprise of the debut now a distant memory, Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 2 – Atlas Mugged needed to be something special to beat expectations all over again – but despite the delay, it doesn't really hit the same highs as the opener. This instalment feels like it's treading water, waiting for future outings to move things forwards. The humour and characters carry things a bit, but Episode 3 will need to be much better.
The short version is this: Tales from the Borderlands' second episode is just as good as the first, and considering I'm not eager to pile on the praise for an episodic series that still has a long way to go, that's really saying something.
Despite the game's ease, Tales from the Borderlands Episode Two continues its strong narrative with improved gameplay.
Tales from the Borderlands is killing it in just about every capacity. The writers, the aesthetic, the voice actors, the gameplay, everything is living up to what I would want out of a non-FPS Borderlands game. But the humor does rely heavily on knowing the Borderlands universe. So if you haven't played any of the games, you might want to play through them before you pick up Tales. (Just a heads up, you can skip the first one if you want to get straight to the good stuff.)
There is no question episode three has some big shoes to fill as "Tales From the Borderlands: Episode 2 – Atlas Mugged" continues Telltale's successful string of story driven adventures. This adaptation of Borderlands has been quite an adventure so far and I cannot wait to see where the story is going to take me from here. For now, I'm going to sit back and eagerly await the next instalment.
With this episode, Telltale Games wonderfully balances character development, story progression, and a hearty amount of good laughs all in one 90 minute to two hour session, setting it as a bit of a double-edged sword for the series as both its highlight (so far) and a tough bar to reach for the subsequent episodes.