Borderlands 2: Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage Review

January 28th, 2013

Author: Brandon Hwang

Those who wish for a new storyline in Borderlands 2 should check out Gearbox Software's downloadable content (DLC), Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. With new bosses to fight and challenge with new weapons, players will find that they need to go through a “No-More Hero” ranking style of assassination to reach the top of the ranks, in order to become the final winner of the arena. 

Plot
The player takes on the role as a vault hunter and is quickly introduced to another vault that is hidden away on Pandora, which is located in a crater. The vault hunter soon finds out that the vault will open only if the player becomes the strongest person. So in order to become the toughest and strongest person on Pandora, the vault hunter must enter Torgue Arena and defeat ranked players on the ladder in order to reach first place on the leader board. While a seemingly easy task, many bosses aim to stop you in your tracks from reaching your goal. 

More Weapons, New Enemies
Expect to find some of the new Torgue weapons to replace your old weapons that you have been using. Exclusive weapons to the DLC include guns like the Pocket Rocket pistol is effective against groups of enemies or ones who try to hide, as the projectiles are faster and the explosion covers a larger radius. The Jakobs Cobra Sniper Rifle also causes critical damage with its explosive rounds. 

Your enemies dress in a similar fashion that would relate to a biker gang, mixed with robotic Torgue flair. While most of the enemies are similar to the ones that you have fought before, the bosses deserve the most attention. Each boss has a certain theme related to their character and it will take a lot of effort to defeat them. Badassasaurus is a colossal mechanical type of enemy, who likes to expel fire while executing deadly physical attacks.

New Environments to Explore
Most of the new areas in the DLC are quite open and large, with abandon buildings and towns, with only bandits patrolling the area. The Torgue Arena is another story, because much like Moxxi’s Arena before, the Torgue Arena gives you a sense of a gladiator type of atmosphere. Also, each ranking members area that you need to pass in order to challenge the boss, might it be a lava pit or even a open highway road, are all very open for combat. 

New Quest and Currency
The brand new quest in the DLC puts the player on a ranking quest to reach the top, while there is many other side-quests to help give players some downtime from the main storyline. The new currency that is rewarded to the player that completes each quest are called “Torgue Tokens”. These tokens are spent at the Torgue Vending machine, which mostly sells high-level gun and legendary Torgue weapons, so collecting those tokens are essential to progressing.

New and Old NPCs are introduced 
When you first arrive to the Crater, you are instantly greeted by Mr. Torgue himself. Being a bad mouthing hyper-active person, he convinces you to enter the arena to become the champion, but in order for anyone to enter, they need a sponsor. Piston, who is a reigning champ of is seemingly happy to become a sponsor, only later do you find out that relationships with this character each other doesn’t go quite as planned. Old NPCs also make an appearance, so if you missed Moxxi or Tiny Tina, they have returned! Their purpose is to once again help the Vault hunter find the vault.

Conclusion
It was entertaining to play a brand new area in Borderlands 2. The DLC is quite short if you focus mostly on story missions, but if you were to complete the entire side quest and other related activities, it might take longer than five to six hours.  The DLC didn’t really add anything new, in terms of vehicles or even additional bank space. However, the new weapons are going to certainly be appreciated for those who crave to upgrade their weapons from before. Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage is a short and quick experience to complete, but if you are someone who still yearns for more Borderlands 2, you should grab your gear and prepare to fight your way to the top of the leaderboards to become the next champion.