After my initial lukewarm impressions to The Secret Armory of General Knoxx, I wasn't sure what I would be getting into the next time I played it. I was hoping that having reached level 51 would at least get me past the initial difficulty curve and the rest of the experience would be smooth sailing.
Nope.
General Knoxx is hard like the Rihanna song. Lance soldiers and bandits always seem to be leveled higher than you, making every gun fight a war. If you're up for a challenge, then General Knoxx will not disappoint. Shooting guys and getting better guns is as fun as it always has been in Borderlands. I just hope you come prepared with the right load-out to take on some truly tough competition.
Oddly enough, one of the first enemy types is also the most annoying and difficult. There are flying drones on the highway that gave me trouble the last time I wrote about never cease to be annoying. I actually got to a point where I seemed to be stuck in a death loop, where I would get gunned down by a number of air drones every time I re-spawn and before I even have time to react. I was "thisclose" to giving up on the game right there. After looking through message boards for advice, I was finally able to get past them by using a combination of a shock trooper class mod, a shock mod for my turret and a shock sniper rifle in unison. Never in Borderlands have I ever had to resort to such desperate tactics.
The story behind everything you do is notably better this time around. In particular, Mad Moxxi brings a lot of personality and charm to what is is you're doing. The last ninja fight wasn't nearly as bad as the first two, as I was able to drop the ninjas fairly quickly, with the exception of the boss ninja. For the most part, I am starting to warm up to it.
However, I have come to realize that The Secret Armory of General Knoxx features one extremely-annoying flaw: NO FAST-TRAVEL. I've already seen six new zones, and the only fast-travel station is at T-Bone junction. For me to continue where I last left off, I will have to trek through three different zones by vehicle and by foot, which will take at least 20-30 minutes of my time, not including any battles I'll face in between. As much as I want to continue this quest, I really don't want to have to travel across that world again.
I'll have more impressions as I play through it. If you're going to buy any supplemental Borderlands content, this is the way to go. Just know what you're getting into.