Written by: Mark

 

 

 

Call me cynical but I am one of those who feels that the majority of games that release additional downloadable content are somewhat milking the gamer for additional cash. I appreciate that this is not always the case as there has been several games that release some excellent additions. However for each of these there is always a couple of titles that bring content out at a pretty high price that sometimes simply adds very basic things such as additional weapons and costumes etc.

 

When I first heard that the excellent and somewhat surprise hit game of 2009 "Borderlands" was to bring out content to download I was quite excited by the prospect particularly after hearing that this would feature a whole new island to explore complete with zombies.

 

Being a fan of games featuring the undead this appealed to me and even more so when I found out that it would be released for a very competetive 800ms points.

 

It would be fair to say that in the Borderlands game most of (if not the only) criticism was around the slightly weak story and the main success was down to the excellent presentation and over the top action. "The zombie island of Dr Ned" follows this tradition as the action takes place in Jakobs Cove which is the home of Jakobs Corporation whom made some of the excellent weaponry in the game.

 

 

Jakobs cove is full of wasteland populated by all kinds of the undead only this time the island is being controlled by Dr Ned who is simply Dr Zed from the original game sporting a crazy false moustache.

 

You can tell from the start that the developers are following the tradition of the full game in this expansion by offering a huge amount of tongue in cheek humour and this starts with the narration which sets the scene well and actually explains in a comic way that Dr Ned is not actually Dr Zed in disguise. Following this we are told that the reason for so many of zombies is infact that the Jakobs Corporation workers are being kept alive with zombie juice and it is your job to keep the remaining workers alive by taking down the variety of undead creatures whom are planning to take over the full island.

 

It would be fair to say that the storyline in this expansion is a little hit and miss and the story rarely excites, however like the full game the main success is all about presentation and action.

 

The whole graphical presentation of Borderlands was nothing short of superb and in The zombie island of Dr Ned the developers have done yet another superb job of making the onscreen action look superb.

 

Jakobs Cove is very well animated and gives an eerie feel whilst maintaining the look of a B-movie horror and again this fits well with the whole Borderlands feel.

 

 

The variety of enemies again are where the game stands out with some very well animated zombies and in particular the variety of huge over the top boss characters.

 

Whilst The zombie island of Dr Ned takes a bit of a diversion away from what is on offer in the full game it certainly maintains the overall excellent presentation of the full game. But how does it play?