EXPLOSIONS?!

I’m going to say two things right at the start that will let you know if my opinion about this expansion is something you will care about or not. The first is that I can understand the hate for this expansion. Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage introduces Mr. Torgue, the very loud head of the Torgue corporation who screams half his words (especially any word about EXPLOSIONS!), and who is just such a dumb, himbo character. Plenty of people can’t stand Mr. Torgue and thing his who expansion would be better if he wasn’t in it. I get that.

Secondly, I actually love Mr. Torgue and not only do I disagree with the hate for the character, but I actually think the Campaign of Carnage is one of the best DLCs that has been released for the BorderlandsConceptually, Borderlands is Mad Max but set on an alien planet, with magic. The game play might be action-shooter-RPG fare, with a bit of Diablo thrown in, but the aesthetic is pure, Australian post-apocalyptic exploitation. series. It’s fun, it’s focused, it’s snappy, and it all plays out really well without getting mired down in too much plot or really long, tedious, and stupid side quests. This is a DLC that I will play every time I do a run through Borderlands 2 and that’s because all the elements that work so well in the main game are on display here as well. This is Gearbox firing on all cylinders and were it not for the existence of Tiny Tina’s Assault on Dragon Keep, this would be my favorite DLC for the franchise.

Let’s start with the basics: you, as a Vault Hunter, are called into a new location, a newly discovered hidden Vault, by Tannis, but her ECHO to you is almost immediately interrupted by Mr. Torgue. Upon hearing of this new Vault, deep in a crater on Pandora, he took over ownership of the crater, renaming it to the Badass Crater of Badassitude, installed an arena on top of it, and announced that anyone could compete for the right to open the Vault. But as legend about the Vault goes, it will only open when "the champion of Pandora feeds it the blood of the ultimate coward".

Getting into the tournament proves relatively easy as the Number One ranked competitor, Piston, decides to take you under his wing as a trainee. However, the second you complete the first arena fight, Piston cheats, knocking you out with gas and telling everyone else that you ran away like a coward. Now you have to fight your way to the top, from the Number Five rank all the way up to Piston himself. Along the way you get help from Mad Moxxi and Tiny Tina, who act as your manager and trainer respectively, and you’ll take out all manner of foes. Only one warrior can come out the winner and open this latest, newest Vault.

Right from the get go the expansion sets you up with a simple plot that gets you invested. After Mr. Torgue hilariously introduces the expansion, you’re shoved right into a battle to get to the arena. Piston moves you along to your first real fight. And then you’re betrayed quickly, with Piston throwing shade at you while declaring himself the biggest badass on Pandora. You’re then told you have to kill the four people above you on the rankings, all the way up to Piston, and are unleashed on your adventure. It’s simple and it works.

Having a villain to hate is good. As we saw both with Handsome Jack in the main game of Borderlands 2, and with General Knoxx over in his expansion in Borderlands, a good villain, one that sticks with you through your adventure, will give a story its perfect sauce in this series. The best games and expansions have villains that you love to hate, and Piston fits that bill perfectly. He’s a blow-hard asshole who immediately shows you his true colors. From time to time he spouts off, throwing insults at you, making you hate him more. But he never outstays his welcome or gets too obnoxious (unlike, say, Captain Scarlett in her expansion), meaning that while you love to hate him, you are never loath to be around him.

The simple adventure also works to the expansion’s benefit. You have four people above you that you have to fight in order – Pyro Pete, Motor Momma, Flyboy, and Piston himself – and you steadily work your way up as you go. It’s focused, directed, and easy to follow, and while there is plenty to do in and around the main adventure, with a large variety of sidequests to follow, none of them are so long or tedious that they bog down the expansion. This is a very tightly plotted adventure from start to finish.

Along the way there’s plenty of fun to be had, too. I know that (like Torgue) Moxxi and Tina have their haters, but I think they can be fun in the right circumstances. The Campaign of Carnage is the right set of circumstances, with the two characters voicing parts of the adventure as you travel along without ever becoming obnoxious. Sure, you have to at least have some appreciation for these characters, but if you do you’ll find that the pairing of Tina and Moxxi as your advisors really adds a lot of humor to the adventure, in the right way. It’s a mix I appreciated greatly.

And then there are the boss fights, which are pretty solid. Pyro Pete is a simple one-on-one boss arena battle, but he’s followed by a vehicular battle against Motor Momma, and then a battle against a giant blimp in Flyboy’s arena. Each is different, not just from each other but from many of the battles you saw in the main game (and over in the Captain Scarlett DLC as well), making for a nice change of pace for this expansion. You never get the same kind of fight twice, livening up the experience.

Honestly, the worst part of the expansion is probably Piston’s final fight. Here you have to take him on as he rides around in a nearly invincible mechanical dinosaur, the Badassasaurus, and the fight is truly obnoxious. I don’t know of anyone that actually does the fight fairly as most simply hide behind a safe barrier and take potshots instead. Fighting him head-on is a losing proposition. I get that the Gearbox team wanted a final fight that upped the ante, but this is both an awful battle and a tedious experience. It doesn’t feel right considering how well constructed the rest of the expansion is.

Thankfully once it’s done you can go back and continue enjoying the adventure as there’s lots to do post-completion. A few of the missions are repeatable for more rewards, and there’s a solid end-game raid fight against Pyro Pete (in his “Invincible” form) that is fun. I actually haven’t managed to do most of the raid fights in Borderlands 2, but I could defeat Pete, which I felt was a solid accomplishment. And the fact that I felt like I wanted to try for it and see if it was possible is a testament to how well this whole expansion was made.

I really think that Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage is one of the best expansion experiences Gearbox ever devised. It has everything I like about Borderlands 2, distilled and focused into a fun little package. Gearbox doesn’t always hit the mark, but in this case they really did, and I am glad for it. And now I want to go back and play it all again…