Story
This time around, we have a simpler story to work with, but don’t take my word for it. Just watch the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DANmrG3cQHM
While the last DLC might have had a fleshed-out/epic story (so to speak), Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage goes for something more simplistic, and that’s okay in my book.
Setting
Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty had a wonderful setting, so loading up this DLC, I was expecting something just as cool. Instead, we have a setting that is rather lackluster in appearance. In fact, most of the environments in this DLC look like a throwback to the lifeless, desert-like locales of the original game. There are only three locations in the entire expansion that are separate from everything else, so I’ll be talking about them.
For starters, there’s Torgue’s Arena. This massive structure sits within the starting area, the Badass Crater of Badassitude, and is an intimidating site. It looks very rough on the outside, but on the inside, it’s a different story. On the arena floor, you participate in battle against three sides of enemies amongst ramshackle structures, and you engage in fights against Torgue’s robots when you’re up in the civilian section of the building, with food & merchandise stands dotted along the sides. A little tacky at times, but a fun place to romp through.
Next up is The Beatdown. This area is a Torgue-sponsored city for the various gladiators/bandits to live in & fight each other. It’s a small, but rather sprawled area, filled with open areas & streets, and alleyways for some tense fighting. The whole place looks rather worn down, with signs of the gladiator’s/bandit’s habits all over the place, not to mention the Torgue signs & announcements coming over the speaker system.
Finally we have The Forge, and this is my favorite environment in the game. The primary source of materials for Torgue’s various products (Guns, vehicles, etc), this placed is filled to the brim with metal, in scrap, fresh, and molten varieties. Torgue engineers & robots maintain the forge, while Skags made homes in the more dingy portions of the place, and bandits having taken over the main area of the forge. This place is exactly the kind of locale I was looking for when I first entered the expansion!
Characters
Like the previous DLC, this one introduces new characters. Unlike the previous DLC, the cast in this one is much smaller. We have Scooter & Sir Hammerlock come back once again, this time interacting with each other as you’re harvesting Rakk organs. Mad Moxxi makes a return to the game, and she basically retains her standard personality, but is much more aggressive because she’s your sponsor in the tournament. Tiny Tina also returns to the fold, and she’s just as wacky & bizarre. The main villain, Piston, sounds & acts like a wrestling heel from the 80s to early 90s. He’s definitely a funny character, but I didn’t think they put him in enough. However, there’s one character that rises above all the others. One character, that really brings this DLC’s flavor to the forefront, and that Mr. Torgue himself.
Mr. Torgue is by far the most to most out-there, the most zanny, and the funniest character ever made for the game. Many of the quests he sends you on (More on that in a sec) make absolutely no sense, but in his mind they make absolutely perfect sense. Despite how bizarre Mr. Torgue is, is a progressive & kind person (To quote Mr. Torgue: NOTHING IS MORE BADASS THAN TREATING A WOMAN WITH RESPECT!!!!!), and is surprisingly bisexual, although that’s more within his backstory.
To sum up a quote about Mr. Torgue, here’s a quote from youtube:
“He’s like Macho Man Randy Savage with Downs Symdrome”
Yeah, that’s about right.
Gameplay
For starters, most of the missions in this game involve fighting of some kind (Primary & Secondary). Destroying a monster truck, killing bandits so they won’t get killed by poisoned beer (Don’t ask), and killing Rakk for their organs are just a couple of example where you have to fight. There’s very few missions where you have to fire a gun, and even then you’ll have to fight enemies a little. While I understand why they went in this direction when you consider the theme of the DLC, if they had more of an even mix of side missions, I wouldn’t harp on it so much.
Secondly, there’s really no new enemies to speak of. Everybody you fight in this campaign is nothing more that redressed enemies, and they take up a massive majority of the foes you fight. You have 3 to 4 groups of bandits (With different skins each), robots that are just Hyperion Loaders with a Torgue makeover, Torgue Engineers that are just Hyperion Engineers with different colors, and even one of the bosses in the game is Ellie from the main game, just with a different skin. The only enemy that is new is a motorbike driven by bandits, and even when you destroy the bike, chances are a bandit or two might survive the blast.
Finally, Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage seems to go by much more quickly that the previous story DLC, Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty. That DLC, at least for me, lasted about 8 to 10 hours, whereas this one seemed to go on for about 8 hours, perhaps less than that. This one goes by much more quickly than the previous story DLC, although it will get trumped by the 3rd story DLC......but that’s for another time.
However, Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage does have some surprising positives to it. For starters, you have Torgue Vending Machines that are exclusive to this campaign. The machines sell various Torgue weapons & items, including the pocket rocket, special heads & skins, and all of the legendary Torgue weapons & special items. However, these items can only be purchased with Torgue tokens. Luckily, these tokens are much more common to receive than Seraph Crystals, as you can get the tokens through some missions, and defeating certain enemies. Speaking about Seraph stuff...
More Seraph items can be bought in this campaign, and we have a new Seraph Guardian to fight in this DLC (Pyro Pete the Invincible, who was a normal boss before hand). Curiously, there are no Seraph weapons to purchase this time around. There are only Seraph grenade mods, shields, and relics to buy at the Seraph Vendor in this campaign, but look below to see one of the items available for purchase.
Ironically, there are no new vehicles introduced in this DLC. Given that some of the bandits/gladiators have motorcycles, you’d expect to get one. Instead, you have the original Runner vehicle to use, along with the Bandit Technical truck. To make this more odd, the only places you get to drive around is the main starting area, and the Southern Raceway (One of the areas in the DLC). Weird.
Finally, there are a couple new weapons that are added in as quest rewards/treasure finds. There’s an assault rifle that acts like a shotgun & heals you, a sniper rifle that causes explosions, and a E-tech shotgun who’s projectiles defy the law of gravity are some of the pieces of loot you can grab for yourself.
Graphics & Sound
Other than some of the Torgue textures used, as well as the textures for the enemies, the graphics are the same as in the main game. There are new musical sequences, such as the one below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgMwd-7NrBslist=PLrwWaT3GWAEfZhT_nzxytofd7SB9NssBM&index=47
Overall & Rating
Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage is fun. Damn fun, it fact!
Sadly, I didn’t find this one to be as good of quality as Captain Scarlett and Her Pirate’s Booty was. This one seems a little more rushed, a little more lazy, and doesn’t quite have as much staying power as the previous story DLC has (Although to be fair, Mr. Torgue is really what makes the DLC worth it, and it never hurts to have Tiny Tina come back). Still, this DLC isn’t something to pass up, and there is enough content within that it’s worth a purchase.
Mr. Torgue’s Campaign of Carnage gets a 7 to 8 out of 10.
See you all next week, when we’ll go on a hunting trip. Until then, stay Otaku!
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