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Being a fan of post-apocalyptic movies such as Road Warrior, I was
happier than a wasteland warrior with a full tank of gas when style="font-style: italic;">Borderlands
was released. Combining a FPS with elements of a RPG, the game was a
breath of fresh air for me. Fortunately, my adventures on Pandora have
not been finished. The first two expansions have been released as a
single product in brick-and-mortar stores. Faster than I can make a
skag a piece of roadkill, I raced to check the expansion out.



The two expansions, style="font-style: italic;">The Zombie Island of Dr.
Ned and style="font-style: italic;">Mad Moxxi’s
Underdome Riot, have been
available for some time as DLC (downloadable content). During the
course of this review, I’ll skip back and forth between the
two expansions. Integrating them into your gameplay is simple. Once
they’ve been added, you’ll find two new zones for
you to travel to using the transport system.



The
Zombie Island of Dr. Ned

takes you to Jakobs Cove, where something has gone terribly wrong.
Apparently, Dr. Ned (no relation to Dr. Zed!) has somehow made
everybody into zombies. It’s up to you to sort everything
out. By that, I mean kill everything in sight.



Mad
Moxxi’s Underdome Riot

adds some new arenas for you and your friends to compete in. After you
fight wave after wave of bad guys, you can exit the arena and head over
to the bank to store your extra goods. Yes, there is now a bank for you
in Borderlands.



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Cautions

Borderlands
is rated Mature for the following reasons:
  • Blood and Gore
  • Intense Violence
  • Mature Humor
  • Strong Language


Gameplay - 80 / 100

Gameplay is the same as you remember it, but there are differences
between the two expansions. style="font-style: italic;">The Zombie Island of Dr.
Ned plays the same as regular
Borderlands.
You’re still unable to save your games when you want to,
which is about the only flaw that I can think of in the gameplay.
Instead, the game will save for you when you hit a save point. You gain
xp by killing zombies, hordes of them, and finishing quests.



The developers have done a tremendous job with the zombies. While a few
are retooled adversaries such as Psychotic Zombies or Lance Zombies,
there are a decent number of new ones. My favorite is the Suicide
Zombie who carries a big explosive with them as they run up on you to
detonate it. If you drop them, they’ll explode, damaging
anything nearby. Keep an eye out for Torso zombies as they crawl along
the ground and can be missed. Zombies attack by rushing you and the
sheer number of them can get staggering. You’ll have your
head on a swivel as they come out of any opening and from the ground
itself, so it’s very easy to get caught off-guard. Well done,
in my opinion.



The only negative aspect of Zombie Island, gameplay wise, is that if I
logged out while in Jakobs Cove, I found myself back at the starting
zone when I restarted the game. While not a gamebreaker, it is
frustrating to spend about 5 minutes getting back to the zombie killing.



By contrast, style="font-style: italic;">Mad Moxxi’s
Underdome Riot offers little
in terms of new gameplay. There are no new missions really. The purpose
here is to have brutally long fights in one of three different arenas.
You don’t get any xp from fighting in the arena, nor do the
kills count towards your kill challenges in the normal game. The fights
are interesting and well done, but you really that’s about
it. You can get some loot after finishing a round, but it is extremely
hard to do so if you’re playing solo. If you die, you have to
start all over again from the beginning. The new arenas were great for
the first hour or two, but with nothing else to do, and no rewards to
speak of, I found myself quickly growing bored. If they had added a
reward system, ladder board, or different mission types to the arenas I
would enjoyed it much more. As it stands now this should have been a
free expansion, or no more than a few dollars.

Graphics - 82 / 100

The graphics follow the regular style="font-style: italic;">Borderlands’
stylized, gritty style and it still works. style="font-style: italic;">The Zombie Island of Dr.
Ned is a pleasure to behold.
It’s a lush swamp, which is a far cry from the usual
dust-bowls that you travel through. Not to mention, the zombies look
damn cool and their heads explode in a very satisfactory manner when
you shoot them. The arenas from style="font-style: italic;">Mad Moxxi’s
Underdome Riot are also very
well done. Each arena is unique and gives you a real sense of
apocalypse style fighting. The Mad Max feel is unmistakable and the
spirit of Thunderdome is present throughout.

Sound - 90 / 100

The sound quality in both expansions is superb. From the grunts of the
zombies to the voice acting, I can’t find any fault with what
the developers have done. The voice acting is still darkly humorous
with that ‘twang’ that you came to love in the
original game. I can’t decide which bit of voice acting I
love more; either the tragic worker sending messages home in Zombie
Island (dark humor at its best) or Mad Moxxie chattering away as you
fight in the arena. It’s refreshing when the voice acting
enhances the game, not drown you in a sea of babbly nonsense.

Multiplayer - 90 / 100

Multiplayer is where style="font-style: italic;">Borderlands
really shines. The more players you have, the greater the number (and
strength) of the enemy. While I enjoy playing the game single player,
it is ten times more fun with friends. Hopefully, more games will adopt
the multiplayer style of style="font-style: italic;">Borderlands
in the future. Having the enemy scaled to your ability and number of
players is a system that works incredibly well.



Multiplayer is vital for style="font-style: italic;">Mad Moxxie’s
Underdome Riot. If
you’re playing solo and die, you have to restart the whole
round over again. However, if you’re with friends, you will
be sent to a penalty area, which is located at the top of the tower in
the center of the arena. You won’t be able to leave the
penalty area, but you’ll still be able to shoot, throw
grenades, and activate your special ability. As long as one of your
companions are still alive in the arena, you’ll continue to
advance.



The only negative aspect of multiplayer is the difficulty in linking up
with others using GameSpy. I found it much easier to use GameRanger to
get multiplayer working quickly and efficiently.



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Value - 65 / 100

The value is a mixed bag. You can get either one of the expansions from
an online client, such as Steam, for $9.99 each. The price tag for the
store expansion, with both, is $19.99. You’re not saving any
real money by buying the product from a physical store. Personally, I
think that The
Zombie Island of Dr. Ned
is
definitely worth the $9.99 price tag, and I might even be willing to
pay a bit more.



On the flip side, I don’t think style="font-style: italic;">Mad Moxxie’s
Underdome Riot is worth
$9.99. You get some arenas and a bank, and that’s about it. I
wouldn’t mind paying $4.99 for it, but not $9.99. The game
just doesn’t give enough to justify the $10.



Still, the $5 difference between what I would like to pay for it and
what I actually did isn’t a gamebreaker. I can live with the
product that I got for the price that I paid. However, if
you’re not interested in the bank feature or a few new
arenas, then I would definitely just buy the Zombie Island expansion
online.

Lasting Appeal - 65 / 100

There isn’t too much lasting appeal in this Add-On
Pack  It was fun playing through it a couple of times,
especially the Zombie Island, but there was simply not enough to do to
keep me coming back again and again, especially in the case of Max
Moxxie’s. Going back with different characters, each with
their own combat style, to face the zombie horde was fun, but even that
grew old after only a few visits.

Pros and Cons

Pros
  • Gameplay is still awesome.
  • Zombie Island adds some new
    atmosphere to the game.
  • Voice acting will keep you
    laughing.
  • Killing zombies rocks and
    will keep you on edge.



Cons

  • style="font-style: italic;">Mad Moxxie’s
    Underdome Riot
    doesn’t add much to gameplay.
  • Your character
    can’t gain xp in the arenas.
  • Same multiplayer issues as
    the original.


Conclusion

Overall, I think it is worth it to pick up the Add-On Pack. Despite
paying a little more that I would like, in regards to style="font-style: italic;">Mad Moxxie’s
Underdome Riot,
it’s still not a bad price. Killing zombies on Pandora is a
blast, and the business of killing is booming! You’ll
remember why you loved the crazy world of Pandora as you gun down your
enemies. It’s quick, it’s action packed, and
it’s violent…what more do you want?

Overall 84/100 - Very Good

Metacritic
Last Updated: Mar 13, 2016

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