Borderlands

Now at the third piece of DLC for the acclaimed RPG/FPS hybrid, Borderlands. The Secret Armory of General Knoxx gives the players a whole host of new quests, loot, vehicles, environments, enemies and so much more. All with a shockingly modest price-tag.

DLC in general has had a very controversial run through the timeline of our advancements with games. Usually they're loathed for its blatant design of squeezing all the more cash out of the consumer, though sometimes there stands out the DLC that greatly benefits the game and is well worth its asking price. General Knoxx is this exact standard of DLC It gives so much with asking for so little in return.

Similar to the Zombie Island of Dr Ned DLC before it, General Knoxx, storywise, is set after the grand adventure for the treasure of the vault. The four mercenaries are now branded as outlaws by the Atlas Corporation, for killing a high ranking official among other stuff. (They're essentially a little buttsore over being beaten to the Vault).

All four now have a humorously large bounty on their head, although that aspect of the story doesn't feature much. The Atlas corporation are all that seems content with shutting you down. Atlas are certainly a powerful force to contend with, to which makes it all the more convenient that you have a rogue Crimson Lance Assassin on your side. Athena is her name and she features as one of the main characters during the story of General Knoxx.

Basically turning against her employers over disagreeing with their methods, she now comes up with a plan to drive Atlas from Pandora. There exists a Secret Armory (!!!) that is filled to the brim with all sorts of weaponry, which also equals to some kickass loot. Your mission is to destroy it, while also nabbing a slew of its contents before hand of course too.

The main quest line treads over very familiar territory. There'll be buttons to click, ECHO devices to find and, eventually, a Secret Armoury to plunder. Of course the overall quest goals aren't where the fun of Borderlands lies, more so the actual killing of the many things in your way and then coming home with plenty of new goodies from the killing. And General Knoxx gives you new goodies A-plenty.

The level cap now raised to 61, (because they're raising it to 11) new weapons had to be forged and thus there now exists a massive selection of new weapons, shields and grenade mods to procure along your travels. There even now exists a higher colour rarity above orange, but to actually find one you will truly require the luck of a few thousand horse shoes.

Where all this new story and loot hording takes place is also in somewhere just as new. Mostly over long motorways but otherwise there is a great deal of new environments now added to the Pandora tourist guide. There is the T-Bone Junction hub, which has all the old favourites from Scooter to Marcus, to a prison level infested with shower-dwellers. The enemies that populate these brand, spanking new areas to explore are of similar variety to the original Borderlands but with a few twists. Such as multiple Crimson Lance dudes who specialise in particular elements. They also have ready dudes with jetpacks and dudes who can heal all the other dudes.

The highlight of General Knoxx's enemy roster most certainly goes to the midgets, who have really hijacked the spotlight for this one. There's now midgets abound who ride those maw-mouthed canines skags, midgets who hide in lockers awaiting the chance ambush you, and there's even midgets to give you quests!

Unlike the midgets themselves, the overall package is pretty large. Besides the main quest line, there is also plenty of side missions to help rack up your experience meter. Even once the pitiful Knoxx himself has been beaten, end game quests open up around you to help this game further its MMO feel. The multiplayer portion of the game fits in well just like the original Borderlands. It's admittedly rather difficult though so playing through solo might be out of the question for some, but if you handled yourself through playthrough two during the main game, General Knoxx should be a healthy challenge. Ratch up the amount of players though and the difficulty will scale up just as much, with four players forcing the game into chaos and demanding that you have a team that knows how to work together.

With that said, the expansion can still be well enjoyed as a solo experience or with a full band of mercs, just like the original Borderlands. Though this time around, it's certainly geared towards coop play, with one of the new vehicles even allowing the maximum players all a seat. There's also a final hidden boss that while is not quite impossible, is still excruciatingly hard when trying to take it down on your own.

Overall General Knoxx adds at least another 10 hours to your Borderlands playtime, and even more if you aim to complete every quest. It's all the sweeter knowing that this is some of the best 10+ hours you'll get from Borderlands. Its got the high-level content that people play for with these type of RPG's, a great sense of humour and also a really good musical theme for the Armoury itself, to boot. It's simply put a must buy for anyone who completed the game at least once and wanted nothing but more, more, and MOAR!