Borderlands was the surprise hit of 2009 for me, but I skipped the DLC as I had finished it and had enough of it. I was lucky to get the Game of the year (GOTY) edition and have had a little play and boy was I a fool. Anyway I will start with the main game as that what you will be playing the most.
Setting Borderlands is set on the planet of Pandora. Lured by its apparent vast deposits of minerals, several colonization ships sponsored by the Dahl Corporation (one of several diversified mega-corporations that appear to control and govern entire planets) journey to the planet and build settlements there. The mining operations are cost-effectively manned by large amounts of convict labor brought to the planet by Dahl. One of the other mega-corporations, known as the Atlas Corporation, had found an ancient vault on a nearby planet known as Prometheus, filled with alien technology that allowed them to make leaps and bounds in starship and weaponry technology, and overtake their competitors. However, the Dahl-sponsored search for a vault on Pandora turns out to be fruitless, and the massive industrial mining operations soon deplete the bulk of the mineral deposits. Furthermore, the coming of the planet's summer unleashes hordes of dangerous alien wildlife coming out of hibernation. Those who are rich and important enough to do so leave the planet, leaving the rest of the population to scavenge for their living in isolated settlements, seeking out a living in the barren wastelands and industrial trash heaps across the planet. To make matters worse, the Dahl Corporation simply opened the gates of the prison labor camps during their departure, and gangs of bandits terrorize the populace.
The Game starts with four Fortune Seekers who have just arrived, chasing the rumor of another vault on Pandora.
So to start, the Positive.
The Graphics are very different in a good way. I really like the cell shaded design. This does mean that it is easier to spot Enemies and you know you are playing Borderlands.
Each Character plays differently, thanks to their skill tree and preferred weapons, There is a couple of duds skills but you can always reset you skills if you find it not working for you.
A truck load of weapons and equipment, the games say Bazillon. And I not going to prove them wrong. But like most looting games you will have need to try a lot of rubbish till you find the right one for you.
It has Humour in Spades, Claptrap his some great one liners. Scooter comes out with some shocking lines. Even the main characters although one have little one lines give them a little personality.
Now the bad. Plot is paper thin, Seriously the whole game plot would be shorter than this review.
You may wonder why I gave such a long explanation on the Setting. That is because the game gives you no Background about of what happened before you arrived. On the second play through I stopped and read manual and stuff on the net, and make a little more sence. So I hope I Filled in a few blanks there.
It is more fun to play on line, but with NZ low Data caps expect this could be problem for some people.
Finally I wish the game would develop the characters story a little more. I don't think there is any character development.
So if you like Diablo, FPS and RPG and wise you could play a game which mixes all these things into one, then this is your game.
It is a Fun game, Just don't go in Expecting a Call of Duty Plot and you will be fine.
All up 8/10
The DLC
This is the Reason why you buy this version of the Game, and first problem it is not included in the case, you will need to download over 5 GB to get it all. Put I knew that before I brought the game. So no problems there. For someone with a small data cap, say 3 GB limit, be careful one of these DLC is 2GB. I would of liked a extra Disc, like the Fallout 3 GOTY edition, but you been warned.
The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx and Claptrap's New Robot Revolution are pretty good. And do expand the game with new areas and graphics. A couple of these also increase the level cap as well. Also unlike Fallout 3 these DLC are well made and pretty much free of any the Bugs, that stop the game. Good work Gearbox. As these games are set outside main game they have a little more freedom to be weird and wonderful than the main game. Zombie Island especially looks great with it spooky backgrounds. Most of all they give more chance to Loot and Shoot. My Favourite is Zombie Island and New Robot Revolution. The lengthy Driving section in General Knox means it comes in third.
But there is always one black sheep in the Family and that is Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot, I can see what they where trying to do but it does work for me. Maybe because I not a major online gamer, I just have mixed feeling about.
Anyway if you haven't had to chance to play this yet, grab the GOTY edition.