Just Cause 2 Review

We have started to see an increase of open-world sandbox games flowing into the gaming world such as Grand Theft Auto, Saints Row and with Red Dead Redemption on the horizon it seems to be the genre of choice. Now we have arrived at Just Cause 2 and the question that I have to ask is, can this game bring anything new to the table?

Just Cause 2 starts off with, and then continues, with a bang. You play as Rico Rodriquez an agent for the originally named agency, 'The Agency', under the alias of 'Scorpio'. The aim of the game is to break the governments hold over the people of Panau, a fictional country spreading across 400km². You do this by destroying government buildings, bases and propaganda material (e.g statues) with an arsenal of dirty great weaponry, grapple hook, parachute, vehicles and badass one-liners. To aid you in this task, you meet three anti-government organisations which will send you on missions to help overthrow Baby Panay (The ruler of Panau, ironically named Baby due to his old age). The organisations will then slowly take control of these areas as you destroy the governments influence.

The first thing that I noticed when entering Just Cause 2 was the sheer scale and beauty of the island of Panau. Like I said earlier, this country spreads across 400km² which I can tell you now, takes a very long time to cross in the fastest of vehicles, let alone on foot, this could possibly take the title as the largest single playable area seen in a game. There are a multitude of different islands within Panua which the different organisations will, sooner or later, come to control. What I did find irritating about the scale is that if you want to have a change of pace and help out a different organisation for a bit, you have to fly/drive/walk all the way over to another organisations mission. You do have the option of being dropped there by helicopter (sort of like a taxi service) but this can only be accessed if you have already visited the location once so get ready for some long commutes.

The three organisations that you help out are all very different. Sadly, this cannot be said for the missions that you must do. It seems that there is one set of missions that you must do but then you have to repeat them three times over (once for each organisation) in, what seems to be, exactly the same order. The missions consist of helping a technician into a stronghold (eliminating all enemies along the way), blowing up bases, collecting a vehicle or escorting people. This may sound like a fair variety, but after the third time of doing the same type of mission, it gets pretty sickening. Because of this, I found that I strayed from the missions quite a lot to go on high speed chases across the islands which turned out to be more fun than the missions themselves!

The vehicles come in many shapes, sizes and speeds which varies from a scooter to a Harrier jet. This variety of vehicles adds quite a nice spin on the game after the repetitive nature of the missions. Not only are there a lot of vehicles but they all handle differently. This, plus the magnificent graphics, made the game very realistic for me. One thing that I did find out whilst driving around was that everybody else's vehicles seemed so much more appealing; so with the aid of the grappling hook, parachute and some good old spidey-skills, I found myself jumping from vehicle to vehicle more and more and after a while it just became second nature to me.

The grappling hook, to me, gives this game its main appeal. If used correctly, the grappling hook can transform ‘normal’ secret agent Rico Rodriquez into Puerto Rican Spider Man, zipping around effortlessly whilst using the parachute to cover great distances in minimal time. The grappling hook is good for about three things. Firstly, it can be used to get around a lot quicker. Secondly, you can use it to catch-up with cars and then steal in a most brutal manner. Thirdly, you can use it to attach two objects together. If one of the objects is in motion e.g., a car, and the other is a light-weight object e.g., a pedestrian, then the light-weight object will be carried off with the object in motion which is always amusing and useful. I can tell you now; this grappling hook got me out of the fair few sticky situations. The grappling hook can also be used to tear down statues and flip over upturned cars.

Along with the grappling hook and parachute, you get a mass of weapons. These include such things as the Desert Eagle or H&K MP5 and you can even use your grappling hook to melee with. The one-handed weapons can be dual-wielded at any point which can have a devastating effect on any enemies that get in your way. Along with this, you will be able to use mounted Gatling guns. These are on most government and organisation vehicles. When you come across mounted machine guns, you can dismount these and walk around with them making for more carnage. Ammo is not exactly scarce, so there is no need to conserve but it's not always advised not to go mad because you never know what’s around the next corner.

If you happen to find yourself running low on ammo, weaponry or transport, you can use the Black Market utility. This utility allows you to pick and choose weapons or vehicles which will then be dropped down from a helicopter. All of this doesn't come free though, oh no. You must use cash to purchase all of this gear and trust me, it's dear. For example, a Desert Eagle will set you back $20,000. The only way to get hold of money is to complete missions, rid the island of government sections (statues, propaganda trucks etc.) or find money crates.
You can also upgrade the gear available. You do this by collecting Weapon Upgrade or Vehicle Upgrade parts. These are collected by completing missions or picking up crates.
You will at first only be allowed certain drops but as you build up Chaos, more weapons and vehicles will become available. You earn Chaos by completing missions or blowing up government property. Another way of gaining both money and chaos is to collect Skulls or Drug Drops. These are scattered around the island.

All in all, Just Cause 2 is a beautiful game. I mean, what more could you really ask from such a game? You got bad ass one-liners, the ability to zip around, parachutes, guns, explosions, high speed chases and sleek looking designs. The only thing that I think could have made this game better is slightly more variety in the missions and jiggle-physics. It is definitely one for the collection.