Battle your way through a rise of the robots in Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, the latest (and last) expansion to 2009's surprise hit Borderlands. Can the promise of an expanded Pandora bring you back for more sci-fi tinged treasure hunting fun?
Style: The fourth downloadable add-on for the shoot 'n' loot action game pits players against the formerly docile Claptraps, Borderlands' robotic comic relief. Like the already released Zombie Island of Dr. Ned add-on, you'll face new, uniquely themed enemies, almost all of them built from rusty Claptrap parts.
Audience: Borderlands players who have already logged 100 hours in the Pandora wastelands. Anyone who thinks Claptrap humor is still funny. People who like picking things up off the ground.
Why should I care about this game: It's probably the last fresh helping of Borderlands you're going to get for a long time. And if you've already played through everything Borderlands has to offer, it's designed specifically with you in mind. New Robot Revolution an inside joke-stuffed send-off, full of memorable characters, amusing pro-robot propaganda and self-referential gags.
So, this is just more Borderlands, right? Pretty much. New environments to explore, new missions to undertake, a few character upgrades. There are new enemies and bosses to battle, some of them quite memorable, but most are variations on old enemies and bosses. Skags are now Skag-Traps. Midget Psychos are now Midget Psycho-Traps. Totally new are the militaristic Claptraps you fight—some of which sport Mr. T mohawks, some of which smack at you with boxing gloves—and a few heavily armored Hyperion soldiers.
I *really* like picking things up off the ground. Will I like this? You are going to love it. You'll be sent on all manner of fetch quest in Claptrap's New Robot Revolution, including one series of missions that ultimately sees you harvesting hundreds of Claptrap bits and pieces dropped by enemies. Hundreds. If you enjoyed the brain collecting grind of Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, there's more of the same loot farming here.
Actually, that sounds tedious. It can be, especially during endless walks to and fro in Borderlands' big world. Fortunately, the Claptrap expansion maintains the same level of goofy humor and offers more of the same addictive just one more level gameplay.
Buy it: If acquiring more loot, more skill points and hundreds of surplus Claptrap parts sounds like the ideal way to spend another six hours in Borderlands.
Don't buy it: If the mission "Braaaaaaaaaaaaains!" seriously pissed you off.
The bottom line: Claptrap's New Robot Revolution doesn't revolutionize the generally rock solid action of Borderlands, it just throws more of it onto the heaping pile. And that's perfectly fine for ten bucks. The one-liners from Claptraps can grow as repetitive as the collecting of guns and ammo, but the add-on livens up near the end, which somehow borders on bittersweet.
What they promised:
What they delivered:
Borderlands - Claptrap's New Robot Revolution was developed by Gearbox Software & Darkside Game Studios and published by 2K Games for the PlayStation 3, PC and Xbox 360 on September 28. Retails for 800 Microsoft Points of $9.99 USD. A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through the campaign and completed all but one side mission, primarily in single-player mode on Playthrough 1 with a level 44 Siren, on Xbox 360.