Rearing its undead head for consoles almost exactly four weeks after the initial release of Borderlands, this DLC is a pickle for me. Was this content constructed in four weeks for players eager for extra content, or was this made alongside Borderlands, sealed off and released separately? Who knows. At £6.29 for a download from PSN, it’s up to you to decide whether it’s worth it or not.
Accessible from fast travel points, upon entering Jakob’s Cove you will be presented with the questionable Dr Ned’s evident difficulty in curing the local residents, and after setting up some turrets for safety at the nearby Bounty Board you’ll have an offering of missions waiting for you. If you’re used to teleporting and driving to ease travel, you’ll have to slip back into plodding backwards and forwards as there are no facilities for fast travel or vehicles here.
Let’s continue on with a quote from 2K Games: “Players will have to work alongside Dr. Ned as they embark on an explosive journey to cure the decaying inhabitants of Jakobs Cove in this expansion filled with new formidable enemies, new grueling quests and rare loot drops.”
I don’t seem to recall curing anyone, but I’ve killed zombies by the hundreds, which is perfect as Borderlands is excellent at sadistically killing midgets and allowing enemies to part with their limbs on bullet impact. If you’re up for zombie killing en masse, this is for you. The Zombie Island of Dr Ned will throw so many zombies at you that your Playstation 3’s framerate may suffer to the point of un-playability in some specific areas, which I found a particularly annoying oversight every time I had to run along the coastline of Jakob’s Cove staring at the floor to get from point A to point B, without my console giving up and weeping as swarms of enemies appeared and vanished around my screen, almost mocking my complete inability to aim or comprehend the situation void of a reasonable framerate.
Back to 2K’s quote – you won’t find many formidable enemies here. Having played the DLC as a pair of lower-level first playthrough characters, and also a lone level 47 Soldier on a second playthrough (which offered only a slight increase in difficulty) I never felt truly challenged. When you enter Jakob’s Cove for the first time, the enemies and missions will be tailored to your characters level, yet all the boss fights on offer feel straightforward, underwhelming and disappointingly easy. The Zombie Island works so much better when you’re getting swamped by a decent combination of zombies – from giant suicidal hulks that are a serious threat to your health bar, to a number of zombies that simply vomit in your face, clogging your vision and temporarily slowing you down. Unfortunately the same enjoyment can’t be said for the boss fights. There’s simply no tactic, no method to taking them down, just keep a reasonable distance (sometimes this isn’t required at all) and bury them with bullets until they fall.
And yet despite this, and despite some rather simple looking changes in colour palette for areas like Dead Haven, if you’ve enjoyed Borderlands so far, The Zombie Island of Dr Ned will offer a change of scenery, a new set of missions, and above all else, something new to shoot. Although the DLC isn’t without its issues, (and I have to admit I felt a little short-changed the instant a new set of credits were rolling), DLC is a great way to expand on a game that is brilliant at sucking you in for that addictive drive to level up and better your character.
VideogameUK verdict: 7/10
