KILL,KILL,KILL – BREAK – KILL,KILL,KILL..OOO! A LOCKER!!!
Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Bill Schwinghammer and I am addicted to Borderlands. When I found out that I was reviewing the Mad Moxxi add-on I squealed a little… in a manly way of course. The only thing I knew off the bat was that it gave you a much needed storage area – which is awesome. Then I found out that it is a long series of arena combat. Also fine. There’s nothing I enjoy more than laying some hot lead on an virtual army. And while this sounds all well and good, is it actually worth your money? Ooooo the suspense!! Give a click on the link ya bastads!
The premise here is that you and your team are plucked out of the main game and gently placed in a meat grinder. This particular meat grinder is set up like a psychotic circus and Mad Moxxi is your ringleader. ‘Kill everything’ is the mindset here – and there is enough here to sate the most bloodthirsty gamer. The developers were even nice enough to give a little extra. Besides the aforementioned storage locker, the constant killing does offer up other rewards in the form of guns, shields, class mods and most importantly two additional skill points as a final prize – which is perfect for those who have reached the level cap. In regards to the guns, shields and class mods, the longer you survive, the better the quality. You just have to fight through long enough to reap the rewards. So make sure you’re at least level twenty with a team and thirty/forty on a solo run. Team play is the best idea anyway. This brings me to my favorite aspect of the Underdome. During a team run -through you don’t just die and that’s it. Death on the field while at least one teammate is alive means banishment to the top of the tower located in the middle of an area. You can still fight, just not move. And you don’t get out until your team finishes the wave. Fun and clever. Well done!
As for the downsides…well, that’s a bit more fleshed out. You don’t even have to take that close of a look to see how little there is. No experience for killing enemies, no weapon proficiency to be gained. No story. None of the trademark Borderlands humor. Nothing of substance at all. You get three areas total and in those three areas you get five rounds with five waves – repeat ad-nauseum. The challenge is what you expect: start off easy and end up panicking towards the end. And while the circumstances of the combat change with each wave (more shields, less shields, certain weapons do more damage etc.), those options are limited in number as are the themes of each wave (starter, gun, horde, badass and boss). After the first few hours, the casual gamer will simply go back to the main game. And lastly don’t even try to tackle this on your own, if you fail in your efforts you’ve lost the stage – no progress save at all, which is infuriating when your on the boss wave of the fifth round. So grab your buddies because you’ll need them to revive you (this is key). Oh, and that cool storage I was talking about has a very small capacity making it almost completely useless.
Overall you should proceed with caution before spending your 800 Microsoft Points or $9.99, however you prefer to spend your money. Besides the absolutely insane repetition, this offers up nothing to add to the Borderlands universe. Unless you’re maxed out on your level and have a full team who loves wave after wave of the same thing for hours on end, stay away from Mad Moxxi’s Underdome. You’ll thank me for it.
[A copy of this add-on was provided by the publisher for review purposes]
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I had high hopes for the Thunderdome. Too bad it didn’t deliver as well as it my dreams.
can’t people CLEARLY see what gearbox is doing with this add-on? this is not meant as a leveling up add-on. this is meant for the 50+ level players. those who have torn through the game twice and taken out zombie island. think about it, what’s left for those players? i dont level up anymore. im so in tune with my current load out of guns even new loot doesn’t make that much of a difference. this is exactly what i need to challenge my skills in an arena setting. i LOVE the challenge of clearing a wave by myself. my nephews are also level 50 players and we have a blast with this. the variables make the waves challenging and fun. im sure the next add-on will open up the level cap and add more loot. as far as this goes it is an EXCELLENT addition for the elite players. DO NOT let this review effect your decision to buy it. again, it is not meant to be a leveling up or looting add-on it is meant for those players looking for more killing.
hi. i’ve completed the main game and the zombie island dlc. i’m at level 42. how do i level up to at least 50 before tackling General Knoxx?? thanks for any help. please respond to my email address: [email protected]
My husband and I are both LVL 50 players, having played the game once through as Mordecai and then twice through as Roland and Brick in team mode. Thunderdome is infuriating. Plan to play for hours without a break for no reward. The team concept of being able to heal each other would be great if you didn’t randomly die instantly and get sent to the penalty box-or worse lose the round. It’s frustrating to be on Stage 5, die with one hit from a maniac and get sent back to Stage 4, wave one, meaning at least another hour of play is added to your playing time with no way to save and return later.
I am level 50, got through the prove yourself round and to round 18 solo of the next tournament and felt so stupid for wasting my time with Undersome. The rewards were tiny (a bunch of green and white guns I dumped behind a hut). I just cut off my XBox360 and opened up the Left 4 Dead 2 disc.
Unless you are a hard core arena fan, then Mad Moxxie is probably not worth your 10 bucks. The ‘bank’ is ok, but not much storage. What this game REALLY needs is cross platform play. I own it for both PC and PS3 and would love to be able to play co-op without using split-screen mode.
hahah! these reviews are hysterical! I had the same opinion about underdome the first time i picked it up, so much to the fact that my friends and I decided to never pick it up again. This morning, however, I finished getting the last of the achievements for the underdome on my own. While I have to admit that being stuck on Round 15 or 17 for over an hour is very annoying, I made it and am glad. At least it wasn’t a total waste of ten bucks. I fond the strongest smg of my career on Round 20 of Angelic Ruins and I almost lost my mind. The only problem I seem to be having is that I haven’t gotten a second skill point. and since they’re raising the level cap next, Ima be pissed if i did all of that and i’m not two levels ahead.