Borderlands 2 PS Vita Review Consensus: Are Portability & Extra Content Enough to Look Past the Downgrade?

Borderlands 2 for the PlayStation Vita released today and a few sites have managed to put up their receptions of the game. The verdict? It’s mixed, but mostly negative, with scores ranging from as low as 50% to 90%.

In Vince Ingenito’s (IGN) review of Borderlands 2 for the PlayStation Vita, he praised the game for going being flush with content and having online play/cross-save, but criticized it for having poor rear touch controls, compromised visuals, and constant performance issues, ultimately condemning the game with a score of 5.4.

In Kirk Hamilton’s (Kotaku) review of the game, he essentially praised the game for simply being Borderlands 2, but criticized it for being the worst version of the game, citing the game’s visuals, performance, and controls, among other things, as reasons for his distaste.

Jim Sterling of Escapist Magazine commended the developers for the effort, but ultimately made the point that results were what mattered most, and Borderlands 2’s results weren’t looking good. He only recommends this version of the game if you don’t have access to the other versions. Ultimately, he condemned the game with a 2.5/5.

On the more positive side, GameZone‘s Mike Spletcha was able to look past the performance issues and awarded the game with a 7.5/10 for the novelty of portability.

Finally, on the extremely positive side, PlayStation LifeStyle dismissed the issues others found with the game as “nitpicky” and ultimately agreed with GameZone’s review that the idea of a portable Borderlands 2 with extra-content was well worth the purchase for anyone. Ultimately, the received the game as a solid 9.5/10.

So what’s the consensus? Borderlands 2 is for you if portability and extra content are enough to allow you to look past the game’s performance and visual shortcomings when compared to it’s console counterparts.