Borderlands TankenstienI've been playing Borderlands a lot. It's my go to game when I have nothing else to play... except I do have other games that I should play like Metal Gear Solid 3, Prince of Persia Sand of Time, and others. Anyways, I'm enjoying the game. It's just a good game.

I've started a lot of characters, but I only have two level 50's. One is the Hunter, which is a sniper, and the other is the Soldier, which is like a medic and good all around character. I've only beaten the game and the two playthroughs with the Soldier. My Hunter is almost done with the second playthrough, just need to finish up a few quests.

I'm working on a Siren and a Berserk, but I am playing them a little differently. The game has a proficiency system, which basically means you can level up gun proficiency by using the gun type. For example, your proficiency goes up with sniper rifles if you use sniper rifles. I've been trying to be proficient with all guns with my Siren and Berserk. So far it's going well. It means that I need to carry around each type of gun, but that's a good thing. Ammo hasn't been an issue because if I do get low with one gun, I just switch off.

Gearbox has released two Downloadable Contents for Borderlands: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot. I highly recommend Zombie Island because the writing is fantastic and the story is better than the main story, although shorter. Plus it is a completely different playing experience over the main story because it's zombies, wereskags, tankensteins, and more interesting bosses. The environments are different as well. It's not long. Probably 3 - 5 hours at most, but it was worth 10 bucks. Then there is Mad Moxxi.

This is geared toward a certain player. Basically, Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot has three different arenas. Each arena you fight 5 rounds with 5 waves with a total of 5 waves each. So 75 waves of enemies total for the main quest. The DLC is basically horde mode from Gears of War, or firefight from Halo ODST.

It starts out normal. Then later they add perks. That's what I call them. Sniper Challenge makes it so that your Sniper Rifle does more damage and the rest of your weapons do less. There's one for almost every type of weapon. Then there stuff like Vampire, which depletes your health and you gain health when you kill. Naked means you don't have a shield for the wave. After you finish the initial arenas, you get a Skill point, and Three more arenas unlock... except they are the same three arenas. The only difference is that there are 20 rounds... that's 100 waves.

This sounds cool, but a few things.

First off, no experience is gained. That's fine because it would unbalance the main game. I understand why they did that.

No leveling up weapon proficiencies... I have a problem with that. Going in at level 5, and leveling up yoour weapons isn't that big of a deal. Plus, most people who are playing this are level 50, and want to level up their proficiency.

Third, weapon rewards suck. Generally, you get crap weapons after wave 5 of each round. Not that big of a deal to me, just something worth noting.

4, no saving. If you quit at round 13 in an arena, you have to start over. Going through 100 waves takes 5 hours at least.

5, if you die, or everyone dies in your game, you go back to the beginning of the previous round. So you die at round 12, wave 3, you go back to round 11, wave 1. Waves get a lot longer in the later rounds. I know, it's a penalty, but the thing is, we didn't die during round 11, so replaying it is repetative, and kinda boring. We died because we got Naked for the 5th time in a row. Or whatever.

6, each wave in a round is the same. You fight bandits and skags and crimson lance, and maybe eridians. No zombies, wereskags, tankensteins, spiderants, Skythids or anything else. Wave 1: starter waves which is a bunch of weak combination of the three or four enemy types. Wave 2: gun wave. Bandits and Crimson Lance that carry guns. Wave 3: horde wave. Mostly bandit psychos and midgets. Wave 4: badass wave. Badass bandits, crimson lance, skags, and maybe eridian. Wave 5: Boss wave. There's like 7 bosses they pick from. It's weak. You only fight 1 per round.

The DLC is geared towards people who have beaten the game and want a challenge. It succeeds at that. It is challenging and that's a good thing. It just doesn't have any rewards, execpt two skill points. It's kinda depressing to get to round 16 wave 3, and die. Go back to round 15 wave 1. Get back up to round 16 wave 3, and die again. After doing that two or three times, I loose all initiative to play. That's generally when we (my friends) stop playing because our hope is crushed. That means that we get to start all over again next time we play.

I would recommend Mad Moxxi to only the people who have beaten Borderlands and want a challenge. One day, I will beat at least one of the arenas in Mad Moxxi... but it won't be anytime soon. It'll have to be a time when my friends and I can have a lan party and dedicate an entire night to it.

Anywho, I still am enjoying the main quest because I still have two characters to reach level 50. Also, playing around with different guns is actually fun.

"The horde wave is comin' to eat'cha. Om nom nom nom."
- Mad Moxxi, Borderlands.