Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

Game review by Paul Semel, Common Sense Media
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands

Common Sense says

age 13+

Engaging comic shooting adventure trades space for fantasy.

Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Windows 2022
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Parents say

age 8+

Based on 3 reviews

Kids say

age 10+

Based on 3 reviews

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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this game.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is a first-person shooter for Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, and Windows PCs. This is the latest chapter in the long-running Borderlands shooting franchise. Using a variety of weapons -- including guns, swords, and axes -- as well as magic spells, players kill a lot of people, living and undead. As a result, there's a lot of bloodshed and cries of pain. There's also a lot of ribald humor (the monarch of the land is Queen Butt Stallion, long may she reign), as well as curse words such as "ass," "d--k," and "pr--k" in the dialogue, while some enemies have exposed butt cheeks and butt crack. Players can customize the look of their character, including their gender, voice, and skin color, as well as their choice of pronouns ("they/them," "she/her," "he/him"), with the former having no bearing on the latter. Unlike previous installments, the type of character you play doesn't also dictate your gender. The game is playable solo or co-op, with communication between online co-op players not monitored, possibly exposing players to inappropriate content.

Community Reviews

exis13416
exis13416 Adult
August 9, 2022
age 2+

READ

No blood no gore shooting tho

This title has:

Educational value
Great messages
Great role models
Easy to play/use
Too much violence
MrHayes
MrHayes Adult
May 3, 2022
age 9+

Van-art fantasy and quality voice work makes for a fine first FPS

It's Borderlands, but through a classic overt tabletop roleplaying game lens that will be instantly familiar to anyone who's spent an afternoonwith friends rolling polyhedral dice and making each other laugh. Oh, and with a lot less blood and gore. Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is rated "T for Teen" by the ESRB, compared to Borderlands' "M for Mature" rating. The developer earned the lower rating by removing not only the over-the-top blood and gore, but also references to alcohol and other "mature" subjects. The in-game tavern serves juice drinks and root beer. That said, "T" is not "E for Everyone." The core gameplay is still centered around guns, lots of guns. These are used by the player to mow down skeletons, anthropomorphic mushrooms, giant enemy crabs, goblins, trolls, and yes the occasional human bandit or pirate. Each of these enemies is portrayed in a goofy cartoony manner; if you recall the skeleton army in "Army of Darkness" you've got the vibe. The violence suffered by these villains is more similar to what Kevin McCallister inflicts on The Wet Bandits than what's seen in Call of Duty or other "M for Mature" games or R rated movies. And the non-combat content of the game--the story and dialogue--is legitimately funny gags on tabletop tropes, and surprisingly touching commentary on friendship and tolerance delivered by incredible voice actors including Will Arnett, Andy Samberg, Wanda Sykes, and Ashly Burch. As a child of the 80's who as grade schooler experienced James Bond and The Pink Panther movies, Looney Tunes cartoons, and Dungeons & Dragons I found the content of Tiny Tina's Wonderlands more funny than troublesome. I've enjoyed playing it couch co-operatively with my 9 year old son, blasting bad guys and laughing at the goofy jokes. Most every kid will eventually play games with core gameplay of sighting down on a target. It's only a matter of time. This one, with it's epic story and outlandish art suitable for airbrushing onto the side of a 1982 Econoline van is a fine introduction to the FPS genre.
See all 3 parent reviews

What’s It About?

In TINY TINA'S WONDERLANDS, the titular character from the Borderlands series has once again organized a game of Bunkers and Badasses, a Dungeons & Dragons-like tabletop role-playing game. Imagining yourself on this magical quest, you vow to prevent the return of the evil Dragon Lord, and to save the beautiful Queen Butt Stallion, which you do by shooting and magically dispatching tons of fantasy creatures, exploring the kingdom, and generally going on the kind of epic adventure you usually go on when you play a Borderlands game ... just with fantasy tropes and unfinished wood taking the place of sci-fi stuff and polished metal.

Is It Any Good?

Though it's not a radical reinvention, this fantasy-themed version of the long-running sci-fi shooter series does feel fresh and fun. An offshoot of the Borderlands series, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands is also an open-world adventure game, but with fantasy tropes taking the place of the sci-fi ones (the idea being that you're playing a Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game called Bunkers and Badasses). Not only are your enemies skeletons, wizards, and other fantasy creatures instead of space mutants, and your shields now called wards, but you also now cast magic spells instead of throwing grenades. There are even times when you get to move your figurine around a game board. All of which works well with this series' usual mix of crazy gun battles, nicely varied missions (the ones with the goblins wanting better work conditions are especially entertaining), and snarky humor (augmented here by a voice cast that includes comedian Wanda Sykes; Lego Batman's Dark Knight himself, Will Arnett; and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Andy Samberg).

Now, admittedly, this never goes full-on Lord of the Rings. You're still using futuristic guns to take out most enemies, and using shields -- sorry, wards -- to protect you when your enemies shoot back. Even switching your melee weapons from the butt of your gun to swords and axes doesn't change this much, since doing this is still, sadly, ineffective. But while the fantasy makeover doesn't make this as different from a normal Borderlands game the way the Dragon Age games are different from Mass Effect ones, it also means that Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has the same kind of frantic firefights, epic exploration, and wide variety of missions that have made the regular Borderlands such excellent shooters.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about violence in video games. Is the impact of the violence in Tiny Tina's Wonderlands affected by the fact that you're committing violence to stop the evil Dragon Lord? Do you feel any different when you kill a person in a game than when you kill a monster? Does it matter that the visuals here are cartoonish and amusing instead of gory and realistic?

  • In Tiny Tina's Wonderlands, you sometimes go into people's homes and businesses and take their stuff without asking ... and, oddly, without them complaining. But would you like it if someone did that to you?

  • Tiny Tina's Wonderlands has a lot of suggestive and dirty jokes. Do you find these jokes to be funny? If so, what's funny about them? Do you find them to be inappropriate, or OK?

Game Details

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