Borderlands DLC: Zombie Island of Dr. Ned

Developer: Gearbox Software
Year of release: 2009, 24th of November
Platform: Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC
Official website: http://www.borderlandsthegame.com/
Date finished: 13 December 2009
Playtime: +-5 hours, played local split screen, character level went up from 37 to 41


It was already a few weeks after I had finished Borderlands, the main game. Since Borderlands was so addictive I always thought if they would release new missions I would definitely play them. On the 24th of November Gearbox Software released the downloadable content package Zombie Island of Dr. Ned.

It was 12th of December and my brother and I finally had some free time. So at last, time to get the Borderlands DLC and play it local split screen! I got the DLC from the PSN store for 7.99 Euro. This seems to be a fair price; the Fallout 3 DLC's are also around this price and also give the same amount of additional game play time, +- 6 hours.
Even when the price was higher, let's say 10 Euro, I still would have gotten the DLC pack. The main game has left such a good impression, that I would not mind paying a little more to get the same level of fun.

After downloading and installing the DLC, we could finally start. In game at an outpost you can teleport to the new area. When you arrive the introduction movie of Zombie Island of Dr. Ned starts. Just like the movies in the main game, they are really fun to watch.

The story goes that the Island has been taken over by the zombies and that Dr. Ned, who claims to be a brother of Dr. Zed, is looking for a cure. Of course later in the story you will find out that Dr. Ned was playing tricks on you and that he is the one who is the cause of all the zombies. Another nice part is that 'Jacobs', one of the weapon manufacture brands, is involved in the story.


The gameplay is the same as in the main game, with some new enemies. In most cases enemies consist of hordes of zombies who charge at you and do melee damage or vomit/spit on you to slow you down. The areas that you will visit are mostly new with one exception, 'Dead Haven' which resembles the 'Old Haven' area except filled with zombies.


The good

• All the good things from the main game are in there, especially the humour.
• The story has improved; the DLC has a much smaller story than the main game, but this time the story stays focussed on the zombies and Dr. Ned, which is good. With sub missions that give more detailed information about the zombies, Dr. Ned and the weapon manufacture 'Jacobs'.
  
• Better weapons in the vending machines, in the main game I stopped cheching the weapon vending machines. They never had anything interesting to sell, but in the DLC it seems that they are slightly tweaked. I have seen some interesting weapons and bought this awesome rocket launcher. In the DLC I do check the weapon vending machines.

The bad & improvements

• Bosses, just like in the main game the bosses in the DLC are not good; to easy and boring with one exception, the pumpkin boss, which was quite good. The other bosses are boring and don't require any tactic to kill. Most of them can be killed by standing at one spot and fire at them without ever being seriously threatened, this also applies for the DLC's final boss.
• To easy, the enemies in the DLC are from level 35 to level 38, while we started the DLC with oure characters at level 37 and finished it at level 41. This made the DLC most of the time a 'walk in the park'. I can't remember dying by the hand of enemies. It would have been better if the enemies would level up with you and that the level difference would be not more than 1, keeping the fights dangerous and exciting. By making the fights more dangerous, it would also add a little more gameplay time. It took us 5 hours to finish the story and all its sub missions.
  
  

Borderlands DLC: Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is a nice add on to a great game. I was glad that I could upgrade and level up my soldier even more. The humour is good and perhaps even better than in the main game, with some hilarious comments of Dr. Ned. The story has improved giving some information on the weapons manufacture 'Jacobs'.
But the flaws are still there; boring bosses and to easy fights which sometimes makes it less exciting.
In overall the gameplay is good and stays addicting in co-op. I look forward to the next DLC.

8.5/10