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Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage review: Macho man, hollow thrill
Mr. Torgue likes masculine things. Like explosions, suplexing sharks and sick guitar solos. He's a great mouthpiece blaring in your ear during the otherwise ho-hum missions that make up Borderlands 2's Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage DLC campaign.The premise surrounding Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage is simple: Mr. Torgue wants to know who the biggest badass on Pandora is, and he just so happens to own an arena, conveniently situated within a massive crater called the Badass Crater of Badassitude. What he lacks in naming craters he makes up for with loud exuberance.Being a Vault Hunter, it's only natural that you be considered for this contest. Mr. Torgue is on your side though. He clues you in on a double-cross early on because he likes to break the fourth wall and tell you these things. It's what makes the Macho Man lookalike the endearing highlight of this Borderlands 2 DLC adventure.%Gallery-171080%
Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage kicks off in Borderlands 2 next week
Just as the Trophies foretold, the next expansion for Borderlands 2 is indeed called "Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage" – big surprise there. Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage will cost 800 MS Points ($10) a la carte when it launches on November 20; if you signed up for the Season Pass, this DLC is included in the up front cost.We were invited to check out the new DLC for about an hour last week. Any Borderlands player worth his weight in Slag will sense an odd familiarity at the heart of Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage almost immediately. While it is a story-driven narrative full of fetch quests and one loud sassy mouth in your earpiece, these instances are tied together with arena battles reminiscent of the many hours I spent in Moxxi's Underdome.That's the sense of familiarity, perhaps not the ideal thing to read considering how abrasive the Underdome DLC was in the first Borderlands; however, Gearbox shows a much more learned execution in the early moments of Torgue's Campaign of Carnage. The big thing is I never felt like any of my time was wasted, perhaps my single biggest complaint about the Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot DLC. %Gallery-171080% I wasn't able to explore that much of the DLC's plot, nor would I want to spoil it for those anxious to pony up at the bar and slam down another tall glass of DLC. But what I took away was Gearbox's dedication to making Mr. Torgue a memorable character, a loud and manly dude whose quips were on par with the dry, threatening sounds of Handsome Jack.Mr. Torgue is much more irreverent and fun, and often enjoys breaking down the third wall to engage in some meta humor with the player. He's more likeable than Jack, but then again he wasn't billed as the bad guy almost immediately. There are places to go and things to see and Mr. Torgue plays the role of sidekick quite well, bringing levity to every situation.And all of my progress wasn't for naught. A big problem with Mad Moxxi's Underdome Riot is how none of your progress transcends that DLC prison – once in the arena, you don't get experience points and level up. Mr. Torgue's Campaign of Carnage chooses to sidestep that rule and doesn't force you into a series of claustrophobic arenas – it mixes things up by sending you to completely new areas in-between the arena battles.
