- Drew Beausoleil

Tales From The Borderlands episode 1 is a telling of two characters Ryse and Fiona, Ryse the Hiperion corporate with a chip on his shoulder while Fiona is a professional con artist who's luck has finally run out. You play the starring role of both characters as each tells their side of the story to their captive audience. The game begins with a refresher of the last two Borderlands games, reminding those who have played the last two and catching up others who never played the first two games with what had happened before we get thrown into chaos.

Borderlands is known for its comic relief and Tales From the Borderlands takes a lot of what gamers are used to from the Borderlands series and brings that sense of humor and crazy kooky characters to flip the script which made me laugh out loud the entire time I played. This has to be one of the funniest games I've played in a long time and it's a nice change of pace for Telltale as we're use to the more dramatic overwhelming heartbreaking story telling of past games.

The character designs are fantastic, not only are the two main protagonist's a joy to play but so are the characters we meet within Pandora. Each character we meet were creatively set to bring a sense of comic mischief with a purpose, telling a story whether that story is related to the campaign of more of the world we are in. These characters such as T... the big dumb bodyguard, the crazy (rebels) or .....the shop owner, each character fits the world of Pandora perfectly and are crazier and more over the top than the last, which is one of the best aspects of Tales.

Telltale Games and Borderlands were a match made in heaven. Though most were shocked when the game was first announced as to what Telltale would be able to contribute to the series, I believe they couldn't have picked a better series for themselves and to collaborate with Gearbox on their new idea. The art direction goes perfectly with Telltale's recent art designs. The Walking Dead season 1 and 2 as well as The Wolf Among Us. The cell shaded heavy dark outlines of the characters fit together as one would expect a Telltale game to look now. Having played this on Xbox One everything looks much more crisp and jumps off the screen more than before. I did experience some frame related issues however as that seems to always be the case from Telltale, however, it wasn't enough to ruin my pure enjoyment and look of the game.

The first episode ZerO Sum is one of the strongest first episodes I've played from Telltale Games. The introductions of the new protagonists, side characters and the world in which they created was done brilliantly. Telltale tells the story in such a creative manner that is exciting and kept me either laughing or on the edge of my seat looking to see where I would be going next. Playing as two characters and how each are so different gives the story a different perspective and the presentation is one of the best I've seen from them. Tales From The Borderlands is a must from fans of the Borderlands series or fans of Telltale Games, simple put...fantastic first episode and I'm sitting on the edge of my seat waiting for episode 2.