Just Cause 2 Review

Open world games have been getting steadily more immersive as technology improves, but these games are often forced to make certain trade offs to attain their high level of player freedom. Tossing someone into an enormous sandbox and giving them little direction about where to go or what to do can cause just as much frustration as it would to heavily restrict and direct their experience. There's a balance that needs to be struck when creating games of this type. The newly released Just Cause 2 comes close to hitting the sweet spot, but a handful of rough patches keep the title from completely nailing its mark.
Just Cause 2 puts you in the boots of returning protagonist Rico Rodriguez who is tasked with taking out the dictator controlling the island nation of Panau. After a few brief but helpful tutorial missions you're turned loose to explore the island at your leisure. The map is staggeringly huge, and it'll take you a little while to even comprehend just how much there is out there for you to do and see.

The environments you'll travel through are one of this game's biggest strengths. Steamy jungles, crystal clear waters filled with tropical fish and snow capped mountain peaks are just a few of the gorgeous features you'll come across. Standing on a cliff and looking down at a world that seems to go on forever in every direction is really an amazing feeling, especially when you realize that the game allows you to go out and explore every last inch of what you're seeing.

You're not here to work on your tan, however. Various military installations and other bits of government property throughout the island are your targets. Other than the occasional scripted story mission, you're free to approach these targets as you see fit. Do you sneak into a military base and plant explosives on everything, or risk leveling it from the air in an attack chopper? Maybe blasting your way in through the front door with a tank, or a few strafing runs in an attack jet are more your style? There are as many ways to do things as there are people playing Just Cause 2, but that open endedness is a double edged sword.

This is a game that is consistently over the top with its action and combat. Not content with just giving players a huge island and a whole arsenal of guns and vehicles, the developers have also included a grappling hook and parachute for you to use. The grappling hook can be used for many obvious things such as pulling yourself up onto a building or yanking a guard out of a tower. Combined with the parachute (which you can open and close at will) you're practically Batman, swinging around and pulling off crazy aerobatic stunts while confused guards spray gunfire at you wildly. Getting into and out of tough spots is an adrenaline filled “Hell yeah!” moment almost every time. There's nothing like bailing out of your own burning helicopter in midair and then using the grappling hook to hijack an enemy's ride right out of the sky. The environment, vehicles and the tools that you're given all combine perfectly to form endless numbers of amazing, Hollywood style action moments that will leave you grinning every time.

While these high points are incredibly satisfying, they're tempered somewhat by low production values in other areas of the game. Most players will be too busy blowing stuff up to care much about the story, but it's really quite awful. Bad dialogue is only made worse by cringe worthy voice acting, including some accents that make me wonder if the developers were trying to be sarcastic. Story missions are often repetitive, with many of them being simple redresses of the exact same mechanic found in a previous level. The combat isn't the best, and the targeting feels loose and imprecise. Luckily the guns were designed with this in mind, meaning that you rarely need to be all that accurate with your aim.

Various upgrades as well as new weapons and vehicles that can be unlocked will motivate you to keep playing for quite some time, but sooner or later the game does get tiresome. It would've been nice to see cooperative multiplayer, though the technical limitations involved in including such a mode are understandably an issue.

If you're into action games or Michael Bay movies, this is definitely the game for you. Those who aren't sure should check out the free demo, which will let you play around on a portion of the island for 30 minutes and give you a taste of the sandbox style destruction that it offers. Personally, just writing about Just Cause 2 is making me want to fire it up for another round of chaos and explosions. It's not a perfect open world game, but it does a lot of things right.


Title: Just Cause 2
Price: $59.99 (Xbox 360, Playstation 3) $49.99 (PC)
Platform: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
ESRB Rating: M for Mature
Score: B+