Gameplay Impressions
ReviewThere’s a lot to like about Just Cause 2. For starters it looks magnificent. 1000 sq km is a lot of gameplay space and as far as the eye are glorious sights filled with snow-capped mountains, beaches and dense tropical jungles, just begging to be explored. There’s a lot of freedom to explore and stuff to do before you even think about following the main mission. While exploring, we found a fake shark that we could ride across the water; we hijacked a helicopter, jumped out from 10,000 ft above the ocean and then parachuted down to land on a passing speedboat. We’ve jumped off incredibly high cliffs on our motor-bike for no other reason than because we can; and we've aimed our rocket launcher toward a deserted petrol station in the middle of nowhere purely to cause some mayhem and noise among the serenity of the bright blue skies and blazing sunshine.
In a similar way that levelling up in a RPG is so addictive, so is racking up Chaos points. Everywhere we go on the island we can’t help but blow stuff up for the sake of it -- using remote charges to blow up oil pipelines, sending a grenade spinning toward a small ramshackle hut or shooting gas cylinders with our pistol and watching them snake into the air. There's a lot of carnage to cause and there's reward for doing so, but it's also great fun doing it.d
Indeed, the most fun we've had in Just Cause 2 hasn't been following the main missions and being told we've got to escort this person to a safe place, or infiltrate an enemy stronghold, it's been when we've been doing our own thing. Just exploring the island alone and jumping in a vehicle to hurl ourselves off a ramp, discovering new stunts to pull off, searching for unlockables, or blowing up pipelines, is a whole game in itself. Following the narrative is just quite boring in comparison to creating your own adventure.
Click for larger imageThe storyline and general chit-chat in Just Cause 2 is actually the worst thing about it. The cheesy dialogue, horrible accents and clichéd storyline becomes totally irrevelant very quickly, and after the first few missions we'd even forgotten why we were on the island. But did we care? Not one bit. There's so much more to get immersed in that the lack of an enjoyable storyline probably won't cross you mind, though the accents may continue to irritate throughout the game.
One of the most entertaining features in Just Cause 2 is Rico's grappling hook which has been implemented superbly and is intuitive to use. Not only can you hook onto vehicles and terrain to get somewhere quickly, but you can use it bring enemies hurtling toward you, which can be very funny especially when you snatch an enemy of a passing motorbike. The missions generally involve hunting someone down, attacking an enemy stronghold or blowing something up, but there is plenty of variety and it does seem that Avalanche Studios has tried to blend a mixture of different activities to ensure you get to explore the island and experience all of the various game mechanics. In truth though, following the main missions means that you'll only experience a mere sniff of what Just Cause 2 has to offer.
Just Cause 2 isn't perfect by any means. Combat is fun when you're causing utter carnage, but gunplay is let down by the unpredictable targeting system and when you’re equipped with a machine gun or pistol it’s not half as much fun as chucking a grenade into the path of an enemy or catching them by surprise by parachuting in from above armed with a rocket launcher. Travelling across the island to get to missions can also take a long time which can be frustrating, especially when the reward for completing them doesn't seem to be worth the effort that it's just taken. Vehicle handling, particularly land-based vehicles, could be a lot better too. After driving around in GTA IV recently, the vehicles here feel a little awkward to drive in comparison.
Nevertheless, the good points outweigh the bad heavily and its shortcomings are easily to forgive once you spend a few hours in its company. Just Cause 2 is a game about letting yourself go and not following the conventional route of ploughing through the narrative. If you do that you won't experience the real depth and beauty of the game and its amazing environment. There's a huge playground out there just waiting to be explored, and it would be a huge shame if you didn't take advantage.
Pros
Beautiful game world.
So much to do and you're only limited by your own creativity.
Brilliant implementation of grappling hook.
Explosive fun.
Cons
Rubbish narrative.
Targeting system flawed.
Main mission is a little boring.
