The vehicles
Fighting the corrupt government and vicious drug gangs wouldn’t be possible without a decent range of weapons. Just Cause has dozens of weapons on offer, from standard pistols to rocket propelled grenade launchers there are enough weapons to keep the combat sequences varied and exciting. Weapons can be picked up from fallen enemies and others from your safe houses. The ground combat is so intense and frantic that you’ll use plenty of ammo, especially in the liberation missions. You’ll often run out of ammo but it’s easy to switch weapons via the d-pad and fresh ammo can be picked up from dead bodies.
Every region of the island is unlocked from the outset and it’s far quicker than we thought it would be to travel from place to place thanks to the range of vehicles on offer and the extremely handy grappling hook
Click for larger imageThe grappling hook is unlocked early on in the game and will be your best friend if you want to travel to those remote spots or capture and escape from enemies. It takes a bit of getting used to and a fair amount of co-ordination to execute the moves of the grappling hook effectively. It can be used to latch onto any vehicle, including jet fighters and speed boats, and it’s then a case of pressing and holding the right trigger to reel in and hijack that vehicle. The grappling hook also goes hand in hand with Rico’s parachute, allowing you to hitch a lift on the back of a lorry or parasail on a speedboat.
Using both the grappling hook and parachute together allows you the freedom to explore the island to its fullest and is extremely useful when you need to drop into a location that may be more difficult on foot. For example, one of the earlier missions sees you rescuing a rebel prisoner who’s being held on a small island with tight security. We initially headed toward the island by using the hook to hijack a vehicle, but instead of heading thought the front gate of the prison we spotted a helicopter flying by and promptly jumped out of the car, used the grappling hook to launch ourselves into the air and steal the vehicle, flew over the base, entered stunt mode, and then jumped out of the helicopter and parachuted into the heart of the prison. The grappling hook and parachute make travelling a great deal of fun, without them trekking across huge areas would be extremely boring.
Click for larger imageThere are approximately 90 vehicles in Just Cause and some handle much better than others. For example, jump on a motorbike and you’ll whiz down the streets (and even up hills if you like) so fast that you’ll often spiral out of control. Some land vehicles feel awkward to control and corner extremely poorly, but others seem to give the driver the respect he deserves and allow you to get the balance between accelerating and braking ensuring a smooth passage to your next destination. Fortunately you’ll soon recognise those vehicles that offer the best stability and it’s then simply a matter of finding them and hijacking them with the grappling hook. All vehicles, whether on land, in the air or in water, allow you to use Just Cause’s stunt mode.
Click for larger imageStunt mode is a great way to a hijack a vehicle, escape from your pursuers, or travel across the land in a new and exciting way. Stunt mode basically allows you to use your grappling hook on another vehicle whilst travelling at speed or to jump from vehicle to vehicle. Whilst driving any vehicle you can adopt a stunt position such as standing on the roof of a car or the wing of an aeroplane and launch yourself with the use of the grappling hook onto any form of transport. We’ve used stunt mode for driving off cliffs when being pursued. By pressing ‘A’ to jump on the vehicles roof, whilst driving towards a cliff, you can press ‘A’ again to parachute from the vehicle at the last moment, ensuring a James Bond-style escape.