Madd Moxxi is Maddening

Jason Trent says, Nearly a month after the release of Borderlands' latest DLC: Madd Moxxi's Underdome Riot, I still find myself trying to give it another chance. I wanted to love this add-on, but I'm convinced it doesn't want to be loved. Madd Moxxi's Underdome Riot tries to provide players with a more condensed way to enjoy killing by sending wave after wave of foes at your team (an homage to Halo: ODST's Firefight mode). As you progress, modifiers are thrown in to switch things up a bit (much like skulls in Halo), so you might find yourself fighting without shields, or enemies can regenerate health, but overall, things are pretty straightforward. Despite the idea of the content being simple, so many things went so wrong that time spent with the game proves to be unrewarding.

For me, the most glaring issue with Madd Moxxi's Underdome Riot is the fact that you do not gain experience from combat. You know those sweet sweet numbers that pop up when you defeat an enemy? They're gone. Sure, you still get experience points for turning in quests, but part of the stick on a carrot that drives me in this game involves constant progression, and that's missing here. Call me needy, but this omission is really enough to make me weary of investing a lot of time into this content. It wouldn't be quite as painful if there were interesting quests to complete, but as it stands, the quests are as vanilla as they get. They're as simple as completing each tournament, although that's a feat easier said than done. Speaking of that...

Tournaments within the Underdome Riot don't seem to scale for solo players. I realize most are going to play this with friends, but sometimes I want to play the lone wolf. Sometimes I don't want to be social. Shouldn't we be at a point in gaming where the difficulty dynamically adjusts to the number of players? Sadly, if you want to make a whole lot of progress, you're going to need real-life Internet people. The difficulty, even with four people, is certainly up there with the best (or the worst depending on how you look at it). Compound that into something for one person to deal with, and I wouldn't be surprised if you never saw the other side of the first boss round.

Ok, so it's tough. I'm an experienced gamer, and I can take it. After all, the developers obviously created this DLC with teamplay in mind, so I might as well enjoy the content as intended. If only there was some way to get into a quick game with complete strangers. Sorry. You're out of luck. No separate lobby for Madd Moxxi. You're definitely welcome to use the matchmaking already built into the game, hope you wind up with three other players that have also purchased this content (likely a mistake), then fast travel to the Underdome, but that really seems convoluted. Why wouldn't there be a way to facilitate group play a bit better? This should be a pick up and play game mode, and it doesn't seem like a whole lot of attention was given to that idea.

The fact is: I just don't have the time to try to play something I don't like. What should have been a no-brainer on the design end of things was not. I loved Borderlands and its first DLC: The Zombie Island of Dr. Ned, but Madd Moxxi is another monster altogether. It has charm, but not much more. Madd Moxxi could have been an excellent character to add to the Borderlands universe, but she, along with her arenas, fell flat. It feels like a waste of time and money. I'll cut my losses here and now. I'm shelving this game until something better comes along.

Borderlands final review

Dale Culp says: My first impression of Borderlands - which you can read here - turned out to be a lasting one. This is a fun, terrific game with all the trappings of an MMO but without the stale fantasy setting that turns players like me off almost immediately. Borderlands is, essentially, World of Warcraft for the Halo crowd. It's also representative of a trend we're going to be seeing a lot more of with games like Brink that promise an excellent multiplayer experience that feels as tight as a single player one. Gamers have been wanting something other than sword and sorcery style role-playing and this is pretty much it. However, I believe I've praised the game enough in my first impression piece, so now I'll point out some frustration I've been having with Borderlands because, unfortunately, it's not perfect.

I started a custom multiplayer game with the hopes of attracting some fun people to play with. As much as I like to gripe about the people I bump into on Xbox Live, most of the players who joined my game were civil and courteous. I even managed to add a few more gamers to my friends list and had a great time. This is, really, the best way to experience Borderlands. We gang-up on tough bosses, tell jokes while sharing loot and tea-bag the poor Claptraps we encounter while waiting for each player to get ready before transitioning to a new area. Under the right circumstances, Borderlands never stops being fun. Under the wrong circumstances, however, it's a complete mess.

I was on a tough quest, heading into a section with some pretty high ranking enemies who'd managed to make short work of me. Pinned behind some boxes, I was waiting for my shield to recharge and hoping to get a few clear shots on the bandits as I stood and saw one running towards me. I heard the sound of rocket fire and thought, "Just what I need. They have rockets, too." The rocket's explosion did not result in my impending doom, however, as I watched the bandit quickly reduced to fiery bits of hamburger.

Wait a second, who fired that rocket?

In the firefight, I hadn't noticed that 3 other players joined the game. "You really saved my bacon," I said, but there was no reply. Instead, the 3 other players, each at level 50, just ran past me, painting the canyon walls with bits of bandit and plenty of gore. Within seconds, they had taken down the boss and finished the quest. I didn't even have a chance to reload my weapon.

The disappointment I felt in watching total strangers play my game for me - claiming all the glory and taking all the loot on their way out the door - wasn't the kicker, though. The worst part came after two of the players left, leaving me with an over-aggressive mouth-breather who just wanted to duel. I walked to the transition point, ignoring his requests, and tried to leave when the countdown was canceled. In Borderlands, if you want to cancel transitioning to another area in the game, all you have to do is hit the "back" button on your Xbox 360 controller to bring up the menu. This other player then returned to slashing me with his melee attack, insisting that we duel. Seriously. This person is a jackass. How is it ever fun, or even remotely a challenge, to duel with someone at level 25 - literally half your level? Even if I went ahead with it, even if I had a real chance at beating him, what would I gain? I guess it's a good way of settling disputes and blowing off steam between players who give a crap about such things, but mostly, the duel system in Borderlands reveals plenty of opportunity for griefing. When it became painfully clear that I wasn't going to be allowed to leave, my response was to kick the player out of the game and shut it down for the night. I'd had enough.

I expected this of the multiplayer game, which is why I wasn't in such a hurry to jump into it. This problem isn't isolated to Borderlands, by any means, but when a game like this simply begs to be played multiplayer, it's an unfortunate consequence that you're going to have to deal with if you want to get the most out of it. In short, play with friends for the best experience because there is just so much to do. Accepting one quest can often lead to several more, on top of the several you have waiting for you at the job boards and other non-player characters. Very often you'll assume you've tapped an area out completely only to turn in that last quest and suddenly become inundated with nearly a dozen more. I'm not knocking the game for having plenty to do, but without friends along to make the experience fun, it can get tedious. Thankfully, you can play the game splitscreen or through the system link, making the multiplayer experience available even without Xbox Live. Also, the light-hearted writing makes the story fun and interesting even if you don't have friends to play with you. Like in my first impression, I find myself laughing more than cursing this game and that's why I'll keep playing for a while, only going online when I'm feeling particularly adventurous.

One of my favorite features in Borderlands is the "bleeding out/second wind" feature. Instead of dying and being sent back to the last save point as soon as your health runs out, you have a few seconds to kill the enemy who knocked you down. If you can manage that, you get a "second wind" which gives you just enough shield and health to flee or keep fighting. Sometimes, however, it doesn't always work as planned. Sometimes you kill an enemy right before losing all your health and you're left fighting nothing with no hope of a second wind. Other times, you fall in such an awkward position that you can't return fire and are simply left to die. In a multiplayer game, you can use the "bleeding out/second wind" feature as an opportunity to heal a fallen comrade, or hope they come to rescue you. It's an interesting take on the idea of death in a game and can save you quite a lot of time and money.

Borderlands is quite worthy of the high praise I've given it but the few flaws it has definitely keep it from receiving a perfect score. It can get pretty lonely out there in the single player mode and the overwhelming number of quests may have you wondering if it will ever end, but it does so well to avoid taking itself seriously that you have a great time in spite of the grind. Borderlands also taps right into that loot-gathering part of the brain which makes it so addictive that it's extremely hard to put down. I can't recommend this game enough, it's definitely one I'll be playing for a long time.

Borderlands - first impressions

Dale Culp says: War. War never changes. Oh, wait! That's that other role-playing shooter. Hell, sorry about that. What you want to hear about is Borderlands. You want to know what I think of it, so far. You want to know if I think it's good. Well, I'm about 2 hours and 5 missions into Borderlands. I've already gone through a handful of guns, died once and laughed more than I can remember in most games. So far, Borderlands is brilliant.

As the game starts out, you're riding on a bus with several other people, being regaled by a gruff, old bus driver with tales of treasure and those who've sought it on Pandora -- a planet which promised wealth and resources galore but quickly disappointed the colonists who settled there. You're introduced to the other passengers, given a brief explanation of their strengths and weaknesses, then asked to pick one as your character. As soon as I saw The Hunter, Mordecai, I knew the character I wanted. Sleak, steady, he prefers to pick his enemies off from afar with the sniper rifle and cleans up with handguns when they get too close. Although, as you gain experience, I'm sure you'll be able to custom tailor your character anyway you choose.

Once you're off the bus, the world of Pandora is yours... almost. There's some exhibition involving a psychic message from someone who is, no doubt, central to the plot of the game. You're told to follow a small robot and do exactly what it tells you. Soon enough, you're in the thick of a fight as a couple of bad guys try their best to put a few holes in you. Assuming your first taste of combat isn't also your last, the game begins to open up and you get your first quest. That's where Borderlands begins to show its true colors as the role-playing elements begin to kick in.

The quest system is very similar to something you might see in a massively multiplayer role-playing game. Talk to a non-player character, accept his or her mission to kill some set number of creatures, then return for your reward. Get the picture? No dialogue trees, no talking heads or ethical choices to make (so far), just click the button and move along. I hate to boil it down like that but I can understand how that might turn some people off. Also, I haven't tried the multiplayer mode of Borderlands yet, but I can probably make a good estimate of how it'll work and, to be honest, I think I might skip on that for a while.

If you don't know yet, the graphics are cell-shaded and look wonderful. Given the setting -- with it's massive, strange rock formations and arid, desert scene -- the cell-shading makes it feel like you're in one, big Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote cartoon. Throw in the offbeat humor, the crazy denizens that you'll encounter and the visual gags throughout the world of Pandora and the analogy is even better. This is slapstick comedy with a jagged edge; a feel-good game for the post-apocalyptic bunch.

So far, Borderlands has been a blast, and the real-time combat is exactly what it's supposed to be: this is a shooter, first. Your weapons do a set number of damage and increase as you improve your character, but a well-placed headshot pops bad guys' tops and drops them like rocks. If you were expecting Fallout 3, go away. Twitchy players with an itchy trigger finger will feel right at home.

I hope the rest of the game turns out as sweet as what I've seen so far. I know I've only scratched the surface and there's a wealth of stuff just waiting for me to uncover, but on my first impression, I'm hooked. Borderlands is good; it's REAL good.