I must admit I never played the first Just Cause. I tried the demo and it seemed like just another GTA rip-off. When I started seeing trailers for the sequel, however, I was reminded of how much better the second Saints’ Row offering was than the first of that series. So I was hoping Just Cause 2 would be a big improvement, and apparently I was right.
Before we get into assessment of particular aspects, I just want to say WOW, what a huge map. I think it’s bigger than that of Oblivion or Fallout 3 and may be up there with Morrowind. The sheer size of the accessible landmass and water areas in the game make it that much more remarkable that it doesn’t feel nearly as repetitive as you’d expect. Anyway, moving along…
The story is not very complicated but is fresh and somewhat relevant given today’s environment. Not many people realize that there is a third front in the GWOT, namely the Malay archipelago. This game goes a long way toward illustrating for a newcomer how Sisyphean a task it will be to make any appreciable headway when our political bosses finally decide to stop pussyfooting around and send us in to deal with the growing Islamic terrorism and organized crime problems in the region. Your mission, Agent Rico “Scorpion” Rodriguez, is to facilitate the overthrow of the new dictator of the island nation of Panau, which is suspiciously similar in appearance to certain areas of Malaysia.
To do that, you must work with certain disreputable factions warring against the government. There are the obligatory Marxist rebels who gripe about capitalist oppression and corporate greed, and your missions for “the people” consist of destroying government infrastructure among other less high-minded tasks like securing biological weapons. There are the Islamic insurgents (although to my knowledge the game never comes out and says they are Muslims) who want to restore the country to a sacred, religious place, and it is therefore suspicious that so many of their missions involve smuggling, stealing or taking control of the methods to produce illegal drugs. Lastly, there is a large criminal organization which merely wants to make a profit; and I have to say that after having to tolerate the other two groups, who try to put a noble spin on their evil activities, it is refreshing to deal with a group that admits up front that they’re criminals.
Story
The story flows along nicely and you are able to do the minimum faction missions to move the story along, but that’s not how I roll. Some of the missions get repetitive after many hours of play (other game websites are lately starting to derisively use the term “fetch quests,” and I must admit it sometimes applies to Just Cause 2) but if you’re the type that plays the story missions as soon as they are available then you won’t really notice.
As you cause Mayhem (destroy government property to accumulate Mayhem points) or complete missions in new areas, the amount of civilian sentiment against the government increases, as does a faction’s influence. This is similar to Red Faction: Guerilla or the gang turf feature in GTA: San Andreas.
Graphics
The graphics are okay, nothing to be proud of but in the “next gen” era pretty respectable. I’ve never been an adherent of the “a game must have great graphics to be good” philosophy (look at Uplink, which had NO graphics and was fantastic) so a game has to look pretty bad (GTA4, I’m looking in your direction) for me to ding it that much on the graphics. One thing that I did notice, that impressed me, was when I ran up to about my stomach into the ocean and then turned and ran back up on the beach. My shirt was only wet up to where I’d gone in the water, and above it was dry! That impressed the hell out of me.
Gameplay
Gameplay is pretty good as well. I’d have said phenomenal except for a few minor qualms. I found the aim mechanics to be a tad difficult. I thought the weapon selection could have been a little better; I hate when a game just has “Pistol, Shotgun, Assault Rifle, Sniper Rifle, Rocket Launcher.” Give me some variety, dammit. The grapple mechanic is great and oddly, reminded me of Crackdown in that it gave you a (somewhat) believable way to defy gravity that didn’t totally break the game. The Mercenaries-esque hijack sequences kind of bugged me since they require a quicktime button-mash event, which I hate, but I must admit that I can’t think of another way to implement hijacks. The stunt jump ability is very fun also and goes along with the grapple to make some very fun and endlessly variable gameplay. Try attaching a car to a C-130 about to take off (I like singing “You Take the High Road” while watching events play out afterward). Grapple an enemy soldier to the blade of a huge windmill and watch him as he’s spun around in the air, screaming. If you’re “car surfing” you can grapple a bad guy to the rear of the car and drag him to death. Or do the same thing but attach him to an exploding barrel—which will pull him up into the sky, shrieking, when it takes off. These are just a few of the plethora of hilarious ways to have fun with the grapple.
The “Black Market” mechanic is similar to that of the Mercenaries games in that you call for a chopper to deliver weapons and vehicles. It is annoying that you can only buy one item at a time, however, and then you must summon the chopper again. I wish they’d fixed that before release.
One other minor issue I had was the “heat level.” I know it may not be realistic to expect your wanted level to drop simply by running away from the cops, but this game stands out for how long it takes you to drop to zero. It is also VERY easy in some areas to increase your heat level, sometimes for no discernible reason. It irritated me that I couldn’t walk around in the capital city, not having committed any crimes in awhile and minding my own business, and I’d still raise alarms.
My main beef with this game will probably make you laugh: no radio music. I think one of the things that developers of sandbox games usually do very well is the music. Most of the big-name series—GTA, Saints Row, even Crackdown—all have fantastic soundtracks featuring well-known hits from real life as well as hilarious fake radio talk shows. There is no music in Just Cause 2 other than the pretty short ambient music, which repeats itself ad infinitum, or the “action” music that plays during firefights. I didn’t notice the lack so much in Red Faction: Guerilla because I hated that game altogether, so the lack of music couldn’t hurt it much more. Just Cause 2 is so good that I really noticed the absence. As gamers we need to take a stand: no more sandbox games without the ability to listen to good music, at least in vehicles. You may think it’s a small point, but I’m in no way alone when I submit to you that GTA: Vice City turned me on to 80s music in a huge way; ditto Saints’ Row 2 for emo, alternative and current rap music; ditto GTA: San Andreas for early-90s gangsta rap; ditto GTA III for reggae; ditto Crackdown for harsh, sample-driven techno.
There are many inside-joke type Easter Eggs hidden throughout the game, as well as some uncommon but not necessarily secret locations. There is the “LOST” island that will gratify fans of that show. A pretty kickass nightclub is located on a giant airship hovering over one of the eastern islands. The enormous space facility is fun to explore also. There are several oil rigs off the many coasts which are a blast to explore and, well, destroy. The enormous map is well-stocked with unique places and never feels like it’s just the same expanse of trees or desert copy-pasted by lazy map artists.
Replayability
I’d say, is pretty good since with a game this size you’ve never really done everything. I’m not sure how rewarding it would be to play the main storyline over from the beginning, but I can see this being like Oblivion in that every few months I’ll load it up again just to run around causing trouble.
Tactical/Realism
I’m pretty sure there are those of you who are really bugged by the parachute feature. I think our esteemed and humble HMFIC, Rigger82, even had a rant about it recently: “Parachutes don’t pop out of your back and then refold themselves automatically! RARRR!!” (I’m not sure I’ve quoted him accurately but I definitely remember the “RARRR!!”) But hey, most fighter pilots don’t get to go to Miramar or sleep with Kelly McGillis, and Top Gun is still a great movie. I am a big believer in realism but trust me, the rest of this game is worth the necessary suspension of disbelief. If we pooh-pooh every game that features auto-healing or the ability to fly or whatnot, then we severely limit our experience. Let’s face it, video games are quickly becoming the new literature of the masses now that television has committed suicide with all the reality shows. Give it a chance, paratroopers, and just mutter “goosefraba” under your breath whenever you have to use the parachute.
To sum up, this game is enjoyable and offers a wide variety of mayhem-causing fun, despite its minor gameplay and realism issues. I’d suggest grabbing a copy and getting started, because hey, the island nation of Panau isn’t going to free itself.
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