Borderlands: The Secret Armory of General Knoxx Preview

by Charles Onyett - IGN.com | 19 February 2010 12:00
 
Up goes the level cap in Gearbox's shoot and loot game.
 
This isn't meant as a knock against the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, which I really enjoyed, but it seems like the Secret Armory of General Knoxx is the downloadable content Borderlands fans have been waiting for. It's the third piece of content following the base game's release date last October, and this time you get a whole bunch of upgrades.
 
The level cap, for instance, is finally being lifted up to 61 from 50. That means you'll have more skill points to play around with and mold your characters into more formidable killers. What's even better to hear, at least for hardcore Borderlands fans, is there'll be more guns this time around, including an entirely new tier of rarity that Gearbox mentioned would dramatically overshadow anything else in the game.
 
Set in an all-new zone and featuring 44 new quests (side and main story), this content will include a storyline focused on the reemergence of the Crimson Lance. It's meant to be played after the conclusion of the main storyline. So if you haven't beaten the game yet, this would be a better option than swapping over to playthrough 2. Or, if you're at the cap, then you can dive right in and start earning new rewards.
 

The new vehicles can dish out a lot of punishment.

The main town in the game is called T-Bone Junction, which sits on the outskirts of a gigantic dried out lakebed across which stretch sections of crumbling elevated highways. Since the zone is so big, you'll be using vehicles quite a bit to get around, and Gearbox has included additional types to get around. You'll need to do a quest to get the first one, a two-person vehicle called a Monster. Once you collect a bunch of parts to put it together, one player can hop in the driver's seat and another into the turret to fire out homing missiles.
 
Because you'll be spending some time in vehicles, Gearbox has added in a few more enemy types that are meant to be taken on while driving around. During one section that was shown to us, robotic probe enemies launched from the sides of an elevated section of highway a vehicle was speeding across. A few missile barrages from the Monster's turret took them out pretty quickly, but the threat wasn't entirely eliminated, as turrets along the sides of the highway also served as threats.
 
We were also briefly shown a new four-person vehicle, which looks sort of like a Hummer. This thing has room for a driver, a turret gunner, and two others who can take advantage of mine layers and area of effect blasts that shoot out from underneath the truck. I should mention that these new vehicle types are only playable in the new zones, so it doesn't sound like you'll be able to bring them back into the base game to wreak havoc. Just before the end of the vehicle portion of the demo Gearbox also showed off tall walking enemies that looked a little like Half-Life 2 striders, reinforcing my impression that there's a lot of cool stuff packed into this download.
 
On the ground, a few of the new Crimson enemy types seemed like they could be fairly challenging. An assassin type enemy – nimble, skinny enemies with dual blades that hop around and twirl to avoid incoming fire – seemed particularly deadly. Also shown off in the demo were jetpack enemies that seemed at least somewhat similar to the floating aliens from the base game. And it wouldn't be Borderlands without badass versions of everything, such as jetpack guys that fire down rockets and hulking Lance troopers with arcs of electricity snaking between their shoulder pads.
 

You, like so many others on Pandora, will die.

Outside of the Lance facilities you'll also get a change to tangle with Skag riders, who need to be taken down in phases. First you kill the skag, then the rider topples off and keeps the battle going. When a couple of these guys charge at you on the lakebed's dusty floor, it seems like things will get pretty hectic, especially with four players in the mix.
 
More story elements have been built in as well, and Borderlands veterans will see many characters return, which apparently includes Moxxie from the second piece of DLC. General Knoxx seems to be pretty entertaining to listen to, since he's annoyed with having to be stuck on Pandora and isn't exactly the kind of macho, steely military boss type of antagonist you'd expect.
 
Since loot is such an integral part of Borderlands, fans may be happy to know that there's a new kind of treasure chest included here. It's the biggest yet, hissing and twisting open to reveal a large cache of guns, grenades, and ammo pickups. Even though the cap on weapon proficiencies isn't being lifted here, it should still be fun to be able to peer into some larger containers and have a shot at scoring some powerful toys.
 
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx is being readied for release on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PC platforms, but no word yet on exactly when.
 
Supplied by IGN.com