Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned Review

Just keep telling yourself that it's strawberry jam.

As if Borderlands wasn’t addictive enough, 2k Games has a new downloadable side chapter to keep us busy through Thanksgiving weekend.  The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned takes place in the abandoned town of Jakob’s Cove, where the only remaining signs of civilization are leftover relics from an uncaring corporate supplier and freaks of human nature.  

There’s an interesting story here, one revolving around the mysterious Dr. Ned.  The first mission puts you on a course to meet him, but getting there is half the battle.  Once you arrive at his rickety old mansion, which looks like something out of an episode of Scooby-Doo!, he’ll take his sweet time lowering a lift to let you in, forcing you to face hordes of the undead as he wanders about. 

Once you meet him, you’ll find that he bears a very close resemblance to Dr. Zed, even though he wears a fake mustache over his surgical mask and constantly insists that he isn’t related to him.  What’s charming about Zombie Island’s storyline is that, despite the horror theme, it’s very tongue in cheek.  You’ll find a lot of laughs throughout, from the opening narration (“That’s a swear!”) to the unreliable doctor’s rambling.

Don’t let the humor throw you off, though.  When it comes to action, Zombie Island is deathly serious.  The game has a level-10 prerequisite before you can visit, and for good reason.  The zombies you run into are incredibly tough.  Even if you headshot them ten times, they’ll still keep coming.  Your best bet is to come in with all the weapons you can carry at level 15 or higher.  Even then, however, you’ll have to watch out for bigger creatures, such as the Tankenstein, a huge, lumbering monster that hurls fire barrels like  paperweights.

If you can withstand the incredibly high difficulty settings, you’re in for a good time.  The gameplay remains the same as Borderlands, with plenty of shooting, leveling-up and loot collecting.  There’s no shortage of vendors either, so you’ll stop by and fill up on supplies accordingly.  Buy a lot of health packs for this one.

It’s awkward seeing something like Zombie Island come out around Thanksgiving, because this game looks Halloween inspired.  Gearbox has done a superb job replicating a Halloween town for this DLC, complete with glowing jack-o-lanterns, a huge moon hanging in the distance and plenty of rickety platforms to jump across.  The town itself is huge and worth exploring, as long as you don’t have a zombie horde hot on your trail.  The creatures look great, although some of them are modifications of characters from the original Borderlands.

Also, we need to give props to the voice actor behind Dr. Ned.  He’s perfect for the role, sounding just like a mad scientist would, but without the complete loss of sanity.  The other sound effects are excellent, from the moaning zombies to the small, ambient touches throughout Jakob’s Cove.

With a slick sense of humor, an over-the-top (but not quite impossible) difficulty curve and hours of gameplay, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is a must-add for Borderlands fans.  It stands apart from the original game, something you don’t see downloadable content do that often these days.  If you can stand the pressure coming from your enemies, this is your fantasy Island.