Developer: Gearbox Software
Publisher: 2K Games
Rrp: £6.30
Released: 8th December 2009
Available on Steam
Played using: Mouse and Keyboard
The Vault has been found and what a disappointment that was eh? No riches, no fame, just another tally on your already extensive kill sheet. So what now? Where do you go from here? Well, how about a taking a trip to The Island of Dr. Ned?
The Island of Dr. Ned is a zombie horror themed DLC (if you hadn’t guessed from the title). The theme has been given the Borderlands treatment though and it pretty damn amusing if your a fan of horror in general, particularly the old classics.
You access the DLC through the New-U fast travel system and head to Jakobs Cove, this little backwater of Pandora is owned by the Jakobs Corporation (thus the name) and it quite different to what you’re used to.
The DLC provides a whole new area to explore, that of the previously mentioned Jakobs Cove, dozens of new missions to complete and plenty of new enemy types to kill.
Thankfully the enemies are more than just the ones from the main game with a reskin. Gearbox actually took the time to change some of the ways they behave as well. A fine example are the ‘Corpse Eaters’ these birds are essentially the Rakk from the main game with a reskin to look like a bit like crows, but they behave differently when they attack and are more challenging due to this. There are also a number of enemies who are completely unique to this DLC such as the Defilers and Suicide Zombies. Trust me, you will grow to hate Defilers very quickly.
As you would expect aiming for the head is extremely effective against zombies as it is with most other opponents, but unlike other opponents zombies are very resistant to body damage and immune to the effects of corrosion and shock.
As with every other enemy the zombies will drop loot, but they also drop brains. This only happens if you perform a headshot and they are only used in a optional mission that’s very easy to miss.
Nearly everything in this DLC is original and well designed, I did find one area that I thought was lazily done though. Its one of the locations that you have to play through and should be very recognisable even with the new coat of paint, thankfully this is the only area that does that.
Ideally this DLC is intended to be played after completing the main campaign. However if you choose to jump in beforehand it won’t really make any difference apart from increase your levels and make the fairly amusing intro cutscene make somewhat less sense.
At £6.30 I’d say this DLC is worth the cost but really you should get the GOTY edition of Borderlands to save you some money. This particular piece of DLC will likely last you six hours or so per playthrough. I will admit I had fun spotting all the various horror references.
