The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned provides a fresh breath of air to Borderlands despite joining an over-used genre.
The lightheartedness of The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is evident upon your initial arrival to Jakob's Cove where Marcus provides a background of the plot in a comical back and forth between a small child. Jakob's Cove, while relatively small, is occupied with a copious amount of hostile zombie enemies with a hunger for brains. The story is centered around Dr. Ned (not to be confused with Dr. Zed) who "accidentally" caused this zombie-infested outbreak.
The highlight of this add-on doesn't come with its mildly entertaining story line, but with the side quests and locations they lead to, and of course the gameplay itself. Not much has changed in terms of visuals and gameplay, but the new location and enemies are a fresh breath of air. There aren't a whole a lot of new goodies to obtain, but mowing down hundreds of undead foes is still satisfying enough with old weapons to over encumber this fact. There is a decent variety of enemies, some of which are even emaciated versions of familiar enemies.
No matter where you go, a zombified enemy will be around the corner. As always, the player's level in comparison to that of the enemy affects how challenging the experience will be. However, due to the sheer amount of opponents, the combat is relativity straightforward: shoot and keep on shooting. There are some tougher foes who will put up a sound fight though. On the downside, the combat can get repetitive at times once the initial zombie-slaying charm wears thin.
The main downside to The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned is the brevity of the story missions themselves. While goofy and entertaining, the story is over in a flash from start to finish. Thankfully the side missions add a few more hours to what would otherwise be an extremely brief add-on. On the bright side, the main and side missions take advantage of all the regions, so it's hard to miss out on anything.
After some good old fashioned zombie killing and a couple of engaging boss fights, The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned comes to a short end. Separate retail price aside, this add-on is worth a playthrough for any fan of Borderlands looking for some more of the same great action combined with a new fantastic atmosphere.