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October 02 2010

Borderlands: Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution Review
by Buddha

“It’s a beautiful day in Pandora.  Well, apart from the mechanical armageddon.”

Marcus, you certainly have a way with words.

Borderlands (PC  |  PS3  |  XBox 360) has had one hell of a nice run.  Gearbox has kept the game alive longer than it ever would have otherwise, by releasing inexpensive, fun DLC content.  To be honest, I think the game could continue to live on for another year if they had chosen to release several more DLC packs, however Gearbox decided to make Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution their final DLC.

I have to be honest and say that this actually saddens me a bit… although it does mean that they will be able to concentrate on Borderlands 2 now.  A sequel has been hinted several times, and they’d be fools not to follow up on the success of the original.

I picked up Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution the moment it was released on Steam, and was in-game immediately, seeking to set my scope on some Claptraps.  I say this not because I dislike the character, but rather because the premise of hunting down Claptrapified mobs makes me smile.

Claptrap is one of those types of characters which you either really love, or despise to the point of gritting your teeth whenever you hear his voice.  I’ve never heard anyone say that they don’t care one way or the other.

Luckily, I love him.  Seriously.  Were it not ridiculous to do so, I’d get a Claptrap tattoo.  That’s how much I love this character.  However despite that, there were moments when playing through this DLC when even I considered turning off the sound.  But we’ll get to that shortly.  I loved the DLC.  I’ll come out and say that immediately.  However there were a few things which prevented it from being a near-perfect addition.

Spoiler warning.
You’ve been warned.

Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution starts with a visit to Dr. Patricia Tannis, who, as it turns out, is as bat shit crazy as ever.  With lines like; “(it’ll be) easier than stealing candy from a dead baby” and “do these teeth make my gums look fat”, there really is no doubt about Dr. Tannis’ sanity… or rather, lack thereof.

The good doctor start you off with a collecting quest to retrieve Claptrap parts.  This turns into a grind, wherein all of the turn-ins result in yet another collection quest for more parts.  Tannis has some ridiculous reasons for requiring the parts and it’s not until you turn in the last quest (which has you collecting 150 parts) that you see what she is building with all of the Claptrap pieces.

Is it worth taking all the quests?

Oh, hells ya. 

I’ve read a lot of people complaining about her quests, and calling it a grindfest.  We must have been playing a different game, because it’s definitely not a grindfest, unless you’re stupid enough to do nothing but return to same spot to kill Claptraps again and again until you’re done.

Her collection quests are meant to be done as you are doing the other quests in the DLC.  You’re going to be killing Claptraps throughout the entirety of the DLC, and collecting parts as you go along.  As you progress through the other quests in the game, you’ll be collecting enough parts to keep going with Tannis’ “grindfest”.  It never once felt like a grind to me.  In fact, I was done with her quests long before I was done with the rest of the quests in the DLC.  Toward the end, all the slain Claptraps died with wasted, unused parts laying around them.

But I digress.

Early on, you get an overhead message from Blake, VP for the Hyperion Corporation.  You decimated his thugs, and he’s impressed.  Seems he’s interested in retaining your services to help him deal with a small problem. 

It appears the Hyperion Claptraps are interfacing with everything in sight.  Blake states they are just too user-friendly.  He decides to send you on a quest; Trap Claptrap Trap.  This is a multi-phase mission, each phase ending with boss fights.  The first ends with Knoxx Trap, which as a level 51 Mordecai, was pretty damn easy. 

There’s a column in the middle of the arena space where you battle Knoxx Trap, and all you have to do is circle it as he does, throwing rounds into his head.  You’ll have to avoid the Claptraps which come out to attack you, however as a Mordecai, Bloodwing made a meal out of any and all Claptraps who attempted to attack me.

That was pretty much the same for every boss fight in Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution.  As with the original game, Gearbox simply does not know how to create good boss fights.  Now granted, part of the issue here lies in the fact that my Mordecai was well above the bosses’ levels.  However even taking that into consideration, the boss mechanics in and of themselves just aren’t challenging.  It’s either a straight-up tank and spank, or dodge and snipe.  There isn’t a lot of creativity to their bosses, which is always a little bit of a let-down.

Though they do deliver great lines…

“Damnit Claptrap, I’m a doctor, not a mechanic!” - Dr. Ned Trap

In between working on Blake’s quests, you’ll also snag some missions from the Tartarus Station bounty board, which has you sabotaging a couple local rival businesses, as well as helping your favorite arm’s dealer, Marcus.

“A day without slaughter is like a day without sunshine.” - Marcus

Marcus has you gathering some new tires for his bus, as well as some musk ingredients so that he can make the moves on Dr. Tannis.

I would suggest you do the quest; “Like Shootin’ Rakk In A Barrell” as soon as you get it, as it will reactivate the turrets and make travel much faster.  That said, if you want to stand there mowing down waves of bandits for experience, leave the turrets off.  I did for a while, however once I started getting more involved in the quests, I wanted to be able to run through that zone faster… and there are a lot of bandits who continue to come out of those huts.  They’re like clowns in a VW Beetle.

Another side quest will see you “rescuing” a fallen Claptrap.  Look for him on the right side, on your way to Dividing Faults.  You’ll get an extra backpack slot, and be treated to a funny moment.

To be honest, that’s what sells this DLC for me.  It’s full of quirky moments which made me chuckle, as I fought my way through packs of Claptraps which made me feel as though I was in a midget Mexican wrestling league.  There are all manner of Claptraps.  Master Samurai.  Leopard skin wearing barbarians.  Punisher wannabes with skulls painted on their chests.  Boxers.  Soldiers.  Not to mention a chicken in Sander’s Gorge.  Yes, you read that correctly.

And then there’s the Interplanatery Ninja Assassin Claptrap on the PA system, delivering lines like;

If I had a digesting system, I’d eat corporate lackeys like you for breakfast.

Be a robot.  You’ll never have to pee again and I’ll even let you pick out your pain job.

Remember that if you get damaged, we can bring you in to the shop for a tune-up.  Oh no, we can’t cause you’re a stupid fleshy human.  Suck it.

The problem is that once he starts interfacing with everyone else, you get too much of a good thing.  You can only hear some of his one-liners so many times before they get old.  That said, I never got tired of being called a fleshbag.  I loved that.

The final fight with the Interplanatery Ninja Assassin Claptrap takes place right where you started off as a level 1, stepping off the bus.  This little bit of flashback was very cool, and made the perfect setting for the final boss fight.

Marcus is waiting by his bus for you and delivers one of the best lines in the DLC at this point, though I don’t want to spoil it for anyone.

What I will reveal about the final boss fight however, or rather the outcome of the fight, is that you’d best make certain your backpack has a lot of empty spaces.  This entire DLC is definitely a fan-service in terms of the loot.  There are weapons chests everywhere.  That is not an exaggeration.  I left so much loot behind because I’d long since capped out my money and was using oranges in nearly every slot.

That said, once you defeat INAC, run around the perimeter of the area.  I found 10 weapons chests, and one even had a very nice sniper riffle upgrade.

I’ve been reading a variety of things about this DLC from different reviewers (and commenters), and though many claim it only lasts four hours, they then make references to different things which makes it quite obvious that they did not actually play through all of the quests.

An example of this is the monstrous open mine pit in one zone.  There’s a clear shape partially buried in the middle, and it’s obvious to anyone who’s played through Borderlands that it’s the Rakk Hive.  In order to get it to rise up and fight you though, you have to take the quest from Marcus to help him create his musk cologne.

Having completed every single quest in the DLC, I can tell you that it took a lot more than four hours.  I easily pumped in over ten hours, and that’s solid gameplay as a level 50+ Mordecai who didn’t have any problems taking down any of the mobs quickly.

There is a surprising amount of content that you get for your money, which makes it well worth the price.  You don’t get to drive around, and there is some running around, to be certain, however I never found it tedious.

There was always something just around the corner to keep me and Bloodwing busy.

If you’ve uninstalled the game, or moved on to others and don’t wish to look back, then this DLC isn’t for you.  However if there’s still even just a glimmer of interest, I’d strongly suggest picking it up.  It really was a lot of fun.

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