More Stuff to Shoot in Borderlands

by Charles Onyett - IGN.com | 09 September 2010 12:00
 
Using Gearbox's chatty robots for target practice.
 
We're pretty big fans of Borderlands here at IGN, Gearbox's first-person loot-fest, and it appears the community is large enough to warrant more content. The game has already received three downloadable expansions, and the last, The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, was thought to be the final one. That is, until Gearbox announced another add-on, this one called Claptrap's New Robot Revolution.
 
But before getting into what'll be included with the Revolution add-on, Gearbox also mentioned there'll be a significant free patch issued to all Borderlands owners sometime in late September or early October. The patch will bump up the level cap for all players, raising it by eight. That means if you've so far only purchased the base version of Borderlands, you'll be able to progress to level 58. The entire original game world of Borderlands is also having its levels adjusted so you can run through again and shoot at higher level enemies, as well as the Crawmerax encounter in General Knoxx, giving you the ability to play through again and make additional progress.
 
If you're a Borderlands fan who purchased the General Knoxx content and already received a level cap increase of 11, then you'll still be able to progress another eight levels when the patch is released. That means 50 + 11 + 8 = 69. Gearbox is having a laugh at anyone striving toward that number.
 

Claptrap = serious business.

As for the Revolution add-on, it'll be priced at 10 USD on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC platforms and be released on September 28th. The story begins again with a comical intro, this time a tale told in Diorama style as the Claptraps of the world revolt and begin to take over and modify the populace. The action this time take place in six new zones, each of which Gearbox assures us are sizeable. There won't be as much of an emphasis on vehicles this time around, so those tired of rocketing across wearingly long stretches of highway in General Knoxx will likely be glad to see a return to terrain meant more to be traversed by foot.
 
The area of Tartarus Station serves as your primary hub, and from there you'll be able to pick up on quest chains that lead you throughout all the new areas, and there'll be plenty of side quests to dig into along the way. Some of the new zones include large subterranean spaces and more familiar looking expanses of rocky terrain. Populating these zones will be new soldiers carrying large, medieval looking shields as well as plenty of new enemy types, many of which seem to be returning enemies that have been 'claptrapified'. Basically this means enemies have been turned into cyborg like creatures with various electrical modules sticking out of their heads and bodies.
 
Though there won't be any new raid bosses on the level of difficulty of Crawmerax (who coincidentally Gearbox mentioned less than one percent of players had actually defeated), there will be a number of new bosses as well as returning ones. Knoxx, for instance, reappears, and is as depressed as ever, cheering you on as you pepper him with bullets.
 
Regardless of what level you happen to be in Borderlands you'll be able to access these new areas. For example, in the demo shown all enemies were around 11 or 12, and after you run through the content once it's possible to do it again. Churning through the content twice will yield an additional total of two skill points, as well as the opportunity to further boost your inventory space if you can find all six SDUs spread across the two playthroughs.
 

More to kill, more to find.

It would seem Gearbox is very confident in the goofy humor angle for Borderlands, which has become a more integral part of the content that's been released since launch. Some of the claptrap units you'll fight come at you with big red boxing gloves, and across the walls of the valleys are posted mock Obama election campaign and Che Guevara posters, only featuring claptraps. During one particular string of boss fights you'll also find the area to be adorned with signs that promise candies and puppies and explicitly state that there's definitely no boss fight ahead, when of course there is.
 
From what was shown it seems like more of what people really like about Borderlands, and we're certainly looking forward to shooting our way through when it's made available later this month.
 
Supplied by IGN.com