Just Cause 2 Review
The game offers open-world fun, but unfortunately cannot sustain it long enough to keep the player's attention
Aside from Rico’s grappling hook, Just Cause 2 offers a wide variety of weapons and targets to shoot at. There are three weapon slots, one for a primary weapon and two for secondary weapons. Rico can either wield the primary weapon, dual-wield the secondary weapons or wield only one secondary weapon and use his free hand for grenade throwing. The switching between these setups is a bit clunky at first, but players should be able to get used to it. The shooting mechanics feel unpolished, but this is in line with the original game, so players shouldn’t expect precise and fluid controls. Just Cause 2 features a criminal heat system similar to other titles (GTA4 once again comes to mind). Once you shoot enough military members, bigger and better enemies will be sent your way. However, given the grappling hook, it is often very easy to escape and lose the line of sight, which is all that’s required. The AI isn’t very bright, they will simply get within range and unload clips into the player, taking no effort to take cover and simply back away slowly if you approach for a melee kill. Often, it is actually a good idea to cause some trouble so that the military sends a helicopter – which you can hijack – and then travel much faster to your destination than by any other method. As mentioned earlier, the missions are very spread out, so travel time takes up a large portion of the game hours. The vehicle handling is very loose, so traveling by car is often not a very good idea. Bikes are a bit better, offering better speeds and added maneuverability. Rico can also simply float around using his parachute, but this method is slow and boring, which only adds to the burden of long travel times.
Visuals are easily the best part of the game's presentation
One of the highlights of the title is the setting. The island itself is huge, very beautiful and its unpopulated areas are wonderful to explore. There are easter eggs hidden throughout, though it is a long shot to find them unless you look up a guide. The views are great, and even running on older hardware, the game still looks very nice. The daylight cycle is used to full effect, though the game world changes little between day and night. Avalanche Engine has been upgraded to version 2 and runs the game very well, offering scalability for older machines and incorporating PhysX into the destruction. As mentioned before though, one of the letdowns of the game is presentation. The island doesn’t feel engaging and there is nothing particularly memorable. The dull characters in the game aren’t helped any by the poor voice acting and dialogue. There are fake accents throughout, and lines that were seemingly written in a hurry. The sound and tunes of the game only come through during cutscenes and the main menu – the game world itself is quiet and lacking anything as simple as a radio station to pass the time.
Just Cause 2 stays true to what the original game set out to accomplish. It offers an open world that looks great and can be the playground of your wildest stunts. Steps were made to ensure that there is more to do between missions, but the effort ultimately falls short. The game sets out to utilize the huge open world to full extent, but doesn’t quite give the players reasonable means to progress with any kind of reliable transportation or travel checkpoint saves. Even fans of the original may find that Just Cause 2 doesn’t offer enough variety to once again enter Rico’s world. While the endless sandbox possibilities are there and tons of fun is to be had, many players will find the lack of focus to be a major gameplay annoyance. Unless you are the type of player who may spend countless hours in Garry’s Mod or other seemingly goal-less titles, consider sticking with other open world games for now.
Our ratings for Just Cause 2 on PC out of 100 (Ratings FAQ)
Performance
(Show PC Specs)
CPU: Intel Core i7 CPU 930 @ 2.80GHz
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 1GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 5870 Vapor-X 1GB
RAM: 6GB DDR3
OS: Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
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Apr 19, 2010 20:23:48 (Apr 19, 2010 20:23)
