Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage

WHAT? THIS ISN'T AN INDIE GAME!

This week saw the arrival of the new Borderlands 2 DLC, Mr.Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage, and it leaves us with only one question: ARE YOU READY FOR EXPLOSIONS?! If you’re a fan of Borderlands 2, and explosions, I would assume your answer would be in form of a fireball. But for those of you who are on the pile of nukes, wondering if you should hit the big red button and spend your hard earned Microsoft Points, is this new DLC worth the 800 MSP price tag?

MR. TORGUE WOULD LIKE YOU TO KNOW THAT HE DOESN'T
CARE IF YOU DON'T LIKE HIS 80'S ASCETIC. ALSO, SWEAR WORDS!

When you first arrive to the new area, called The Badass Crater of Badassitude, you are instructed by Mr. Torgue himself to enroll in a tournament to find out who the Ultimate Badass is. Apparently a new Vault has been discovered and ownership of this vault is to be decided by this tournament. When I first started this DLC I was filled with anxiety, as the last Arena style DLC that we received from Gearbox was Mad Moxxi’s Underdome Riot, which was painful to fight through if you didn’t have any friends to lend you a hand. Thankfully you’ll only be spending a small amount of time in the actual arena, and the rest of the DLC is spent doing normal “Kill this dude” and “Hit these switches” quests, standard fare for Borderlands fans.

IF YOU DON'T LIKE ROBOT DINOSAURS F*CK YOU!

I really like the bosses presented with the new DLC. I feel like they really tried to be creative with them this time, giving the bosses lots of flare and personality. I played through the main missions on my own, and actually had a tough time with most of them on True Vault Hunter Mode. Though these fights were really hard, they were not impossible, and I enjoyed the challenge that each one presented. I especially struggled with the second to last boss, and beating him was satisfying. It was a nice change of pace, since most the bosses in the main game I mow through like Lionel Cosgrove with a lawn mower.

THIS IS A PICTURE OF A GUN! BECAUSE F*CK YEAH, GUNS!

The weapons you find in the new DLC are pretty good, and for those of you who don’t stress out over farming for the Conference Call/The Bee combo, you should have no problem finding upgrades for whatever weapons you’re currently using. Another feature of the DLC is a Torgue vending machine, which always has an Orange Legendary for sale as its Special of the Day. The catch is that the Torgue vending machine will only accept Torgue Tokens, which are quest rewards in the DLC and also dropped by enemies at the same rate you see Eridium. I just wish that for those of us who bought the DLC the Torgue tokens would be dropped by all enemies in every part of the game. This would alleviate the need to farm them in just the Campaign of Carnage areas, which is quite the chore for those of us who don’t like to sit in one or two areas and farm the same enemies and bosses over and over again. There is a quest you can do over and over again, but this is again asking the players to sit and farm.

I felt Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage was a lot of fun. I really liked the characters and the dialogue is very funny. The challenge was decent, and I still have a majority of the side quests to play through. I’ll also get to play through everything again with my friends, which I won’t mind doing because I had a lot of fun the first time. I was able to find some great weapon and equipment upgrades, and I like that eventually I can purchase some legendaries from the new vending machines. If you don’t have the season pass and you’re wondering if this DLC is worth it I’ll leave you with this direct quote from Mr. Torgue himself:  NOW GO PUNCH A BADGUY IN THE D*CK!