Borderlands 2: Mister Torgue's Campaign of Carnage

    The question is...explosions?

    The answer is, yes.

    Very much so.

    Mister Torgue's Campaign of Carnage is a delightful homage to gladiator movies, professional wrestling, and the Running Man--which is a good thing since they all sort of bleed into one another.

    Mister Torgue, himself, is an homage to the late great Randy Mario Poffo a.k.a The Macho Man Randy Savage (*a moment of silence*) who was a longstanding source of entertainment to my impressionable young mind. The DLC also has starring roles for Mad Moxxi and Tiny Tina. It's literally impossible for me NOT to like this DLC as they've poured way too much things I adore about the Borderlands series into it.

    Which is a good thing since the Campaign of Carnage isn't very ambitious. Unlike Captain Scarlet and Her Pirate's Booty (which managed to combine Tatooine with Pirates of the Caribbean), let alone Assault on Dragon Keep, Mister Torgue's Campaign of Carnage is mostly more of the same.

The arenas are very well-designed and I wish we'd gotten to use them more. I suppose that's what sidequests are for.

     The robotic enemies during one mission aren't even re-skins, they're just Hyperion Loaders painted gray. About the most innovative thing they throw into this DLC is bikers. Which, okay, is cool but not exactly something to consider a great accomplishment. Despite this, I'm not going to be too harsh. If you have something you do well, there's no reason to shake it up too much. This DLC is a pure Borderlands 2 experience with all the humor, action, and Space Western meets Mad Max feel of the main game. It introduces new, likable characters and hate-able villains.

    So, what more could you ask for?

    Maybe a little more effort in the gameplay?

    Oh well.

The major problem with the level design is Mister Torgue's Crater of Badassitude (that's it's name) looks like the rest of Pandora.

    The premise is Mister Torgue, the aforementioned Macho Man homage, invites the Vault Hunter to participate in a tournament to determine who is the biggest badass in Pandora. This is due to the fact a prophecy states that said biggest badass will kill "The Ultimate Coward" and open up yet another Vault on Pandora. This DLC has the minor spoiler of additional vaults existing but there's no helping that.

    You basically fight a couple of gladiator brawls like Mister Fink's Slaughterhouse and Moxxi's Underdome from the first game as well as a series of bosses. That's pretty much the whole thing and it's not a bad premise for a game. One can do worse with a over-the-top parody of Wrestlemania meets Streetfighter with guns.

    Which it does very well.

    Mister Torg is hilarious and one of the most likable NPCs in the Borderlands series. His enthusiasm is infectious and you'll find yourself ignoring the relatively samey gunplay to enjoy his one-liners or even paragraph-liners. The fact a great deal of the battle-areas have ridiculous amounts of exploding barrels and gas lines also is a bit of clever level design.

The cannibal biker Motor Momma is my favorite gladiator.

     The loot, too, reflects its ostensibly creator's love of explosions. I can't say I'm terribly fond of the need to "Torgue Tokens" to buy the new weapons. There's not enough to spend the massive amount of money you make as is. I can't say much about the sidequests, other than they're fun but not especially imaginative or funny. Mostly, they're races and arenas. Given I wasn't too fond of the arenas or races in the main game, this isn't exactly a big plus for me but you may be different.

     The bosses are really the best gameplay portion of the DLC and that's as much due to Mister Torgue's running commentary as anything else. Pyro Pete, Motor Momma, a dirigible fight, and a battle against a character you will come to LOATHE all make them enjoyable boss fights. I found them to be extremely easy with my exploding shotgun from Tiny Tina's DLC but it was nice to finally mow down my enemies like wheat--I've been waiting 40 levels for that.

    In conclusion, Mister Torgue's Campaign of Carnage is a very funny and well-written DLC which gives you more Borderlands 2 but doesn't do anything spectacular with it. If not for the NPCs, this DLC would be skippable. The humor saves it from being a waste and I can't say I regret buying it. It's not great, though, which is sad.

7/10