Reviewed by Brandy Shaul
After completing the open-ended storyline found in the Borderlands main game, the Secret Armory of General Knoxx continues where it left off. The Crimson Lance has established a presence in a secluded section of Pandora that has been built above an ancient, now dry, sea. The DLC’s hub is called T-Bone Junction, which houses the expansion’s bounty board, and enough nooks and crannies to make it worth an exploration in and of itself.
The Lance are being led by General Knoxx, a military-man gone rogue after being dissatisfied with his higher command. He has created a new line of weaponry, including a powerful line of Devastators, which are mech suits that have enough speed and firepower to make even the strongest Vault hunter nervous, especially when faced in groups.
Knoxx wants you dead, but rather than do the deed himself, he sends out countless waves of upgraded soldiers, including those who specialize in either chemical or pyrotechnic munitions. There are even Rockateers, who attack from above thanks to new jet-packs.
This isn’t to say that the only enemies you’ll face are Lance solders, far from it actually, as you’ll go up against new varieties of bandits, skags (including skag riders), midgets, and even enemies called Drifters, which look like giant daddy long-legs spiders.
In addition to the raised level cap from 50 to 61, transportation around Pandora has become far more interesting thanks to the addition of two new vehicles. In addition to the Racer, there’s now a truck called a Monster, which comes equipped with unlimited homing missiles, and a tank-like vehicle called the Lancer, which holds four people and can shoot out mines.
You’ll need these new, stronger vehicles to make your between the large open spaces where the majority of your missions will be completed, which are separated by very long stretches of highway. Unfortunately, with only one fast-travel point for the entire expansion (that being T-Bone Junction), it can be more than a bit boring, and overly time consuming, traveling back and forth between these hubs of activity.
That being said, as you first start the expansion, you’ll have to clear the roads of Atlas roadblocks by making your way past multiple flying drone spawning stations and fairly large military outposts. This in itself provides for quite a bit of challenge starting out, even if you’re a level 50 character. In fact, it became so difficult for a friend and I that we abandoned our progress altogether, went back to Playthrough 2’s story missions and leveled up to around 53-54 before trying it again, at which point the difficulty had obviously lessened, and the enjoyment level returned.
More missions unlock after you complete the DLC’s main story arc (which brings back characters like Scooter and Moxxi), allowing you to reach ever closer to level 61, if you haven’t done so beforehand. Furthermore, the amount of loot available towards the end of the expansion is well worth taking the time to play that long to reach it (the DLC does see you storming an armory, after all).
The Secret Armory of General Knoxx is such a large expansion that it will most likely take the average gamer longer than the Zombie Island of Dr. Ned and Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, combined, to finish. The level cap increase alone is enough incentive for many gamers to keep exploring the world of Pandora (thanks to the achievement that comes with reaching level 61), but the DLC’s continued sense of humor, along with new enemy types makes this something that’s just downright fun to play through and finish, so long as you’re willing to push past the difficulty found in the beginning portions of the expansion.
While as you might expect, this is something best enjoyed with friends, there’s a great amount of fun to be had by your lonesome, with all of the above making this the best of the three Borderlands DLC packs, and definitely worth the $10 price of admission.
Special thanks to Jim Redner and 2K for providing a copy of this DLC.