Borderlands' first DLC amps up the humor, loot, and zombie level of the game, making for a worthwhile add-on!
Playable at any time during the main mission once you have unlocked the fast-travel system, you teleport to the titular island and do battle with what else, but lots and lots of zombies. Seems there's been a bit of a workforce problem at Jakobs' lumber mills. 97% of the population is no longer reporting to work, and the good Dr. Ned is trying to find a cure.
What does this mean for you? Well, you get to shoot lots and lots of zombies. What could be better!?
Since most zombies don't use guns, you'll find yourself using different tactics than what you used in the main game. Zombies rush (in a slow, shuffling way) at you in waves, and pop up behind you out of the ground. Headshots cause their brains to pop right out of their skulls, which is humorous in its own right. There are those that vomit on you, blinding and slowing you down. And there are those that hurl exploding barrels at you. And let's not forget the Tankenstein… a behemoth who can toss explosive barrels at you or pound you to paste all the same.
The mood of Zombie Island is decidedly different than the rest of Pandora. It is always night, and everything looks like it came out of a creepy Halloween story, including the bare, twisted trees, houses, and flickering jack-o-lanterns. Add a little bit of old-fashioned horror movie music and waves of undead, and you got yourself a romping good time. Humor is prevalent, even more so than in the main story, with the characters you meet, the tone of the story, and the absurd situations you find yourself in.
The expansion is not 100% perfect though. A couple little niggles keep it from a better score. Primarily among those is the occasional voice overlap, where characters (or even the same character) will talk over each other, making it difficult to hear what is being said. There are also no fast-travel locations on the island, so you have to hoof it everywhere you need to go. Not so bad in of itself, but if you quit the game and pick up where you left off, you now need to fight your way all the way back to where you were before.
In the end, Zombie Island is well worth your $10 if you enjoyed Borderlands to begin with. There are more than a couple similarities with Left 4 Dead, but that is not a bad thing. The added humor, loot, experience, locations and things to kill are more than enough to make this a worthy expansion to an already worthy game.