Borderlands: The Handsome Collection is now on Xbox One and PS4; should you buy it?

When Plano-based Gearbox Software released Borderlands 2 back in 2012, it was fantastic. Then they kept supporting it with (mostly) great downloadable content, so it stayed fantastic for a long time.

Later (as in late last year), 2K Australia (with some help from Gearbox) took Borderlands and ran with it in Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel. It wasn't quite as good, but it was more Borderlands, which I can get behind. That, too, has been supported pretty well with additional content since its release, including one content pack -- The Claptastic Voyage -- that's brand new.

Now all of that stuff -- hours upon hours of content -- is available in one affordable package on the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4 in the form of The Handsome Collection.

It's the same stuff, more or less. It's been brushed up a tad and it runs more smoothly, but Borderlands 2 isn't suddenly going to blow you away with next-gen visuals. It looks good, don't get me wrong. It's just no graphical powerhouse.

That's not to say there aren't a few neat tricks being offered here. The biggest is four-player split-screen cooperative play, which is a huge deal for those who still enjoy getting together with friends to play on the same couch, rather than online via headsets.

Another neat bonus is the ability to bring your characters over from the original Borderlands 2 and/or The Pre-Sequel releases -- as long as they're in the same "console family" (in other words, you can transfer your Xbox 360 character to the Xbox One, but you can't transfer your 360 character to the PS4).

Transferring saves works pretty well. It requires patching the game on the original system (360, PS3 or Vita) as well as the new, uploading your character to the cloud, then downloading it to The Handsome Collection, which sounds like a lot of steps, but it works. Your level 72 siren can be on your PS4 in no time. Of course, if you've got multiple characters you then have to repeat the process, which can be a time consuming pain. Still. It's good to have.

One of the only weird things is that achievements and trophies aren't shared between old-gen and new-gen versions of the game. While this is great for those who want to earn them all again, it can lead to a weird situation where you bring over a level 50 character and quickly earn a bunch of level-based achievements in succession before you've earned achievements for completing early game missions.

So if, say, you never finished Borderlands 2 on the PS3 and you plan on finishing it on PS4, just note that your trophy lists for each game might look a little weird, with half the mission-based trophies on one list and the other half on the other.

There's a ton of content packed into The Handsome Collection. Enough to keep you busy for a very, very long time. But the slight upgrades to the performance and visuals might not be enough for the hardcore Borderlands enthusiast who's already played every scrap of Borderlands content and is anxiously awaiting Borderlands 3.

So why should you buy The Handsome Collection?

If you ask me, you should strongly consider it if any of these apply to you:

You've never played Borderlands before

If you've missed out on Borderlands before now but are interested in seeing what it's all about (maybe you've been playing Telltale's fantastic Tales from the Borderlands adventure game series?), this is easily the best way to jump in. You'll be skipping the first game, but that's OK.

I've said it several times already, but I'm serious: There is a huge amount of content here. If you've never played any of it before, you're looking at well over 100 hours of stuff to do, depending on how much of a completionist you want to be. Every additional character, every piece of bonus content, every downloadable side mission ... it's all here. You won't run out of stuff to do anytime soon.

You haven't played The Pre-Sequel yet

By the time Borderlands The Pre-Sequel hit store shelves in October of 2014, a lot of people had already moved on to the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Why hook the old system back up to the TV when there was stuff to play for your shiny new console?

But while it wasn't quite as impressive as Borderlands 2, The Pre-Sequel was a good game. If you're a Borderlands fan that skipped it before, this is a great time to catch up, especially since all the game's DLC is included in the package.

You played the original game(s) but none of the DLC

They weren't all masterpieces, but there was some pretty cool downloadable content for Borderlands 2 and The Pre-Sequel. If you only ever played the base games and are interested in seeing what you missed out on, you can get it all here.

You're a big fan of couch co-op

Growing up, four-player split-screen was one of the best things on the planet in my eyes. Going over to a friend's house to play the likes of Timesplitters 2 and Halo on the same TV was outstanding. Heck, that's how I played Phantasy Star Online -- a game that, despite its title, I never actually played over the Internet.

Times have changed, and now you're often lucky if a game supports two people on the same system, let alone four.

But The Handsome Collection likes things old-school, and it uses the power of the new consoles to let four players kick butt on the same screen.

"I just want to play Borderlands 2 again. Get off my back."

OK. I won't stop you. Seriously, if you just want to play these games again on the new systems, collecting all the achievements/trophies again in the process, have at it.

And everyone else?

If you've had your fill of Borderlands for now, that's fine. Skip The Handsome Collection. It's not like you'll have to wait too terribly long for Gearbox's next big thing: Battleborn. It's supposed to hit Xbox One, PS4 and PC this year.

If you're way into Borderlands but you just want Borderlands 3, you've still got awhile to wait. Gearbox just started staffing up for the project recently. If you're local to D-FW and you're into game development, maybe consider applying so you can help make it yourself?