It Borderlands... WITH ZOMBIES!!!
You know what people like? Zombies! Nearly everyone loves them and their brain eating ways. All the shambling around also makes them pretty good target practise for first person shooters and the sight of a crowd of them exploding? Poetry in motion. Borderlands, the FPS/RPG from Gearbox which I loved on its release, has just had its first piece of DLC released onto XBL and PSN and its rather good.
The Zombie Island of Dr Ned takes you to an island that is, as the name suggests, infested with zombies. You arrive as one of your character from the main game (the island unlocks from level 10 upwards via the fast travel system) to clean up and remove the undead menace with the assistance of “totally not the same guy as the doc in the main game except with a moustache” Dr Ned who may or may not be responsible for this outbreak of the living impaired. The story is pretty funny as well as featuring a new intro and outro from the bus man, who is accompanied this time by an adopted child who throw in questions and ridicule a couple of times.
Totally Not Dr Zed - He has a 'tache!
The game is set in a totally new area that shares very few objects with the deserts of the main game. Instead we have a Bayou-esque swamp, with ramshackle towns and forbidding gothic mansions. In fact it is a little bit reminiscent of both Left 4 Dead 2 and the Point Lookout DLC from Fallout 3, which are two brilliant things to take inspiration from. The new enemies are also pretty good – all of the normal zombies if you look carefully are actually based of the models of the civilians from the rest of the game, including the drinks holder guys you can see hanging around New Haven. As well as the normal, there are also a couple of specials such as the boomer-esque defiler or the suicidal explosive carrying zombies. More importantly – Zombie Midgets.
One of the main things that got me was the humour of this downloadable content. The main game was quite funny, with it character intros and subtle, but the new pack is brimming with it. From the moment you set foot on the island, you bombarded with references or little silly details. The tannoys are giving advice from Jacobs (a gun maker who owns the island) not to deal with the zombies including hugging, kissing or embracing. The intros mentioned before return for all the main characters, including one whose description is simply “Holy S###!” or words to that effect. And our favourite claptraps return, as does another favourite one legged character that may bring a ray of joy back to players who weren’t happy with his demise. Though he does bring a really annoying fetch quest which is linked into an achievement into the game.
These are your 'fficial instructions
This DLC also brings 125 point of extra gamerscore on 360. 4 out of the 5 achievements are simply story ones you’ll collect along the way, but the fetch quest achievement is a little hard to find. It does make the DLC last a little longer, but its pretty good anyway.
I really enjoyed the couple of hours I had on Dr Zed’s Ned’s Island killing the living impaired. If you enjoyed Borderlands and want some more, than this DLC is a must buy. However, if you didn’t enjoy the main game, this won’t bring you round. But then, you obviously have no soul. Therefore, you’re a zombie.
I give The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned 89% and reccomend it to any fans of Borderlands
