Gearbox Software released Borderlands in 2009 and it went on to win Game of the Year. Looking back, it’s funny how a game can sneak up on you like it did me and take over so much of your time. Having put over 120 hours into the disc based game and all of the downloadable content packs up until now, I was the best guy here at Loot Ninja to review Claptrap Revolution.

The best way to describe the Claptrap Revolution DLC is that of a “stretch”. Read on to hear why.

 DLC is familiar territory for Borderlands players. We’ve already paid $30 dollars on top of the $60 dollar game in order to keep playing Borderlands (if you’ve bought all of the add-on packs). We’ve been through it all. From zombie infested Pandora in Dr. Ned’s Zombie Island, to an armory to kill a huge mech warrior in the Secret Armory of General Knoxx, through countless waves of baddies in Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, gamers have really only asked for more to do on Pandora. More guns, more loot, and more enemies to kill. Claptrap Revolution delivers all of that, but it takes a step back and then stretches for the finish line.

The DLC tells the tale of those pesky claptraps you’ve seen on Pandora getting pushed around for too long by others, choosing to take up arms and band together to take on anyone who opposes them. It’s a fun tale, albeit a campy one, so my labeling of this DLC was – “funny with guns.” Sounds like a hit TV show to me.

All of your familiar enemies from Borderlands are back, but have now been “claptrap-ified”. Shotgun midgets, rakk, spiderants, and skags have all been turned into pure circuitry-infused evil. Your first couple of hours with the various new claptrap enemies begin funny and entertaining, but over time they quickly become sour and stale. This turns out to be a big step backwards compared to the Dr. Ned’s DLC and the beefier enemies in General Knoxx.

So the enemies are still basically unchanged. The next question is: what about the missions? Sadly, most of the missions are copy and pasted over from some of the other DLCs already out. Go grab this, activate that. Take this to this person, etc. Remember collecting hundreds of zombie brains in Dr. Ned (actually for T.K. Baha)? That mission was a grind, and it’s back only slightly modified to have you collect hundreds of claptrap parts (motherboards, wires, gears, etc.). I understand that it’s a fetch and collect RPG-shooter, but that’s just a lazy approach to put in something like that again. There is really not a whole lot of variance between any of the DLC missions and the disc-based game, but it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth for what might be in Borderlands 2.

The gameplay is unchanged. It’s still the great experience of shooting, looting, and collecting awesome guns. Playing through the final mid-level boss battles on playthrough one was a breeze. My level 35 Hunter by itself demolished the three consecutive bosses in a little under thirty minutes. This was of course just before the 1.41 title update went live for the Xbox 360, so I might need to go run through these bosses again just to be sure if that’s still the case. But taking down the first couple of bosses with only a Menevolent Stinger(sp?) SMG and a few grenades doesn’t really bode well for the overall difficulty of the DLC. This is a very small complaint mind you, as it was probably fixed in the title update, but theres not a whole lot in Claptrap Revolution for first-time Pandora explorers. The challenge comes when Playthrough 2 comes around.

The ending to the DLC was abrupt and disappointing, and it definitely lacks the repeatability of another run through General Knoxx’s vault or the taking down of Crawmerax with friends. The characters were funny for a bit, the missions stroll you along, but they just stretch for that punchline.

The Claptrap Revolution just seemed to stretch for things a little too far out of it’s reach. Compared to the other DLC offerings, Claptrap Revolution would come in a strong third place behind General Knoxx at the top and then Dr. Ned’s Zombie Island. It’s a step backwards compared to the other DLC, but maybe this is because General Knoxx was so good (despite the long stints driving)?

Claptrap Revolution is not a horrible add-on by any means. If you want to play more Borderlands (and who doesn’t), absolutely go add this to your download queue. If your a big enough fan like me, you would have already bought it, but for those on the fence I would say to pick this up when they discount the other DLCs in the future. Come on! It’s more Borderlands! Go loot some shit!

A download code was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.

The Claptrap Revolution DLC is available now on Xbox 360 (800 MS points), PS3 and PC for $9.99.