I love any excuse to jump back into Pandora with my level 50 Soldier to shoot up some maniacs and skags. In Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution, I faced off against cute Claptraps who were faster than past enemies and traveled in deadly packs. Maybe it’s because I am a girl, but I couldn’t help but adore all of the silly little war outfits the different Claptaps were wearing. Some looked like Rambo with magazine clips strapped across their metal chests, while others wore World War II helmets. But, all of them were hell-bent on seeing me dead. And here I was thinking me and Claptrap were old buddies. I guess times have changed.
Times have indeed changed. The weapon powerhouse, Hyperion Corporation, is at war with the Claptraps who are being lead by Ninja Assassin Claptrap, and you have been chosen to shut those pesky robots up once and for all.
This DLC pack lacked the spark of difference. The world felt completely familiar to me. Even the caves gave me that “Hey, I have been here several times already!” feeling that I would not have expected from a Borderlands DLC. Despite the clever and witty revolution posters everywhere, the environments still felt stale. I had hoped for new locations and new missions within the same caliber of The Zombie Island of Doctor Ned DLC. New Robot Revolution was more like leftovers from the Borderlands drawing board. The Claptraps, for the most part, were hard to spot as they easily blended in with the environment. /the idea of re-fighting old bosses from past DLC sounded interesting at first, but turned out to be the same old routine in a slightly different context.
A huge part of Borderlands is the looting. Who doesn’t love seeing a purple item laying on the ground, ready for their taking? In New Robot Revolution, I was still picking up items that were incredibly underpowered compared to the weapons I already had. I was disappointed in the lack of variety and in the levels of the weapons I was finding in weapon chests and being dropped by bosses.
At least the wit and charm that we have come to expect from Borderlands was still fully intact. The revolution propaganda hung all over the walls and the dialogue being projected from loudspeakers everywhere from Ninja Assassin kept me giggling throughout my playthrough. The Claptraps were adorable, even as they hurled themselves at me, ready to explode on impact. Cute as they were, they were still fun to kill as they sputtered out silly robot nonsense with their last mechanical breaths.
Claptrap’s New Robot Revolution is still Borderlands and I still enjoyed it immensely. Yes, the environments, missions and bosses were too repetitive from what we have seen already, and the loot was not satisfying, but Borderlands never needs much help to be entertaining. I would recommend this DLC for any Borderlands fan who just wants to get back in the game, but for those of you who want something completely new, you might want to spend your cash elsewhere.
