The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned was the first DLC expansion for Gearbox’s FPS-RPG hybrid, Borderlands. It allowed players to travel to Jacob’s Cove, which had been taken over by the undead. Upon arriving, you’re asked to find the source of the problem and put an end to the zombie infestation. Along the way you fight more than just zombies. Other enemies include various Frankenstein inspired monsters, Wereskags (Borderlands’ version of the werewolf) and more. Unfortunately it’s not perfect and has a couple low points.
What I Liked:
Undead slayer – You fight zombies. You fight lots and lots of zombies. If you’re a fan of zombies like I am, you will not be disappointed in just how many zombies you mow down at a time, and surprisingly, they’re difficult to kill unless you shoot them in the head! These aren’t your average Left4Dead infected; these are the true old-school zombies from the Romero films and they’re a blast to slay.
A great place to die – Surprisingly, the overall map size in Zombie Island is quite large for downloadable content. They’re fully developed locations with levels of terrain and manage to do quite well when compared to the rest of Borderlands. The atmosphere, which is almost a complete one-eighty of Pandora’s wastelands, is done very well, too. Murky and damp swamplands make up most of Jacob’s Cove along with a lumberyard and graveyard to boot. You can almost smell the stench of rotting corpses and zombie bile filling the dead air of Jacob’s Cove.
Humor – Though there’s a lack in story, the developers manage to squeeze in some great little comedic nudges. For example, Dr. Ned looks awfully a lot like Dr. Zed, only with a mustache cleverly taped on his face. Throughout the game, there are constant references to the already seemingly obvious, but by game’s end, it’s apparent Dr. Ned was not in fact Dr. Zed. Most saw this as a waste; I saw it as a great poke at the players. There’s a lot of subtle humor, especially if you’re a fan of old-school horror and zombie movies, and if you’re like me, you’ll probably enjoy those little references a lot more.
What I disliked:
Lack of story – Much like Borderlands itself, the story takes a backseat to the action. If anything, the story feels very B-movie with an absurd plot with no real direction. It seems to only exist to keep the gameplay moving forward and feels like an afterthought. It’s nice to see consistency in the story department, but I’d like to see an actual fleshed-out narrative sometime in Borderland’s future.
Poor design choices – There’s only one spawn point in Jacob’s Cove and it’s at the very beginning where you enter. It wouldn’t be so bad if there were checkpoints or other key locations, but having to traverse area after area over and over again can become tedious. Especially if you have to stop playing and you’ve gotten pretty far, it can be a real annoyance to have to trek all the way back when you boot the game up again.
Stop spitting on me! – It seems that a good number of the new enemies featured in the DLC have attacks that literally slow you down. Explosives, zombie puke and even being struck by the undead will often leave you stuck or moving extremely slow. It’s funny at first but after a while, the constant rain of zombie bile and slow downs really started to test my patience.
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned DLC isn’t very long and if you’re not a huge fan of the zombie genre, you may not find a lot to appreciate for its price. However, it’s still a fun expansion and if you’ve got the extra money/points, I recommend purchasing it. Great subtle humor, old-school zombies and quite a bit to do in a great amount of space make the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned a must buy in my book.
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