JoshWright

Its no surprise that I love this game. It blends elements of a whole group of game features that I like. Its got rpg stats, leveling, random weapon and items drops, and a bucketload of saucy humor. From The word go, it gives you an abundance of choice to work with and a free roaming world to explore. I give the guys over at Gearbox a hell of a lot of credit as a title of this size and scale, requires ingenuity and forethought. I have to say though, Moxxi's Underdome feels just a bit shy of the benchmark they have set for themselves.

The expansion itself isn't really bad, save for the fact that its just an arena mod. It introduces you to the character Mad Moxxi, who feels like a combo of a Porn Actress, and Harley Quinn from Batman. You have your choice of three individual coliseums to fight in, each of which focus on a different type of enemy. After each wave of combat, your given ammo and health resupplies. After each set of five rounds, the difficulty increases, and random modifiers start coming in the form of a roulette wheel. So for those keeping score, that five waves per round, five rounds per event. As you can imagine, it gets more than a wee bit tedious after a while.



Completing each coliseum gives you a stat point. If you're a completionist junkie like me, those will keep you driving through each one till the end, but I doubt its enough to keep most normal gamers going through the paces. What makes me sad is that there really isn't anything going on here. Its just an arena, the end. It also lacks the real visual punch that the rest of the game has, and it doesn't even compare to the other expansions as far as content goes. While I liked the idea that I had a nice, safe place to go and grind though some levels, it was boring and felt underwhelming.

I understand by playing this though, that the designers wanted to focus this expansion on multiplayer, which is fairly evident by the sheer amount of baddies you'll have to wade through to reach the rather small cheese at the end of this blood spattered gauntlet of woe. Don't misunderstand me, its still Borderlands, and its still more than worth its 9.95 price tag, but its not exactly anything to showcase the great fun and wonderful attitude of the game with. In my opinion, if you've only got 20 bucks to spend, and want two of the three expansions from Borderlands, go with Island of Dr. Ned, and General Knoxx. Save this one for a bundle pack, or Steam sale.



On the flip side though, if you only play the game with friends, definitely pick this one up. Its challenge level will keep you pumped, and the weapons dropped throughout will give you a big bonus going through other parts of the game. Its also nice that you can complete one of the three arenas, go grind out some more of the main game, and then come back if you feel under leveled or want some better gear. I recommend putting a few of your buddies in with you, and making sure you've got enough time to finish the event, as once you start, you can't back out again till you've polished off the whole shebang. For the die hard Borderlands fan, though, this one just missed the mark.

3 out of 5.

Josh Wright
Contributing Writer