Game review: Just Cause 2 - PlayStation 3 (From Your Local Guardian)

Game review: Just Cause 2 - PlayStation 3

10:39am Thursday 22nd April 2010 in Freetime By Simon Bull

It’s hard to think of how a game could be any manlier than Just Cause 2.

If this game was a smell it would be Brut aftershave.

If it was a bodily function it would be loud belching.

This game has so much testosterone I’m worried my PlayStation might grow stubble.

Of course, being a testosterone-fuelled, stubbly-faced bloke I enjoy stepping into the shoes of an action hero for some tough-talking, no-nonsense, gun-toting mayhem - which is probably why I’ve found Just Cause 2 from Square Enix to be really rather bloody good.

In the game you play as Rico Rodriguez, a grizzled off-the-books hotshot commando for a secretive organisation known as The Agency.

Rico looks a bit like the Milk Tray Man who’s walked into the wrong casting call, or maybe his fashion sense is more Action Man meets Russell Brand.

Either way, don’t let his slightly camp attire fool you because Rico is one tough, rugged, don’t-mess-with-me sort of guy.

Anyone who crosses his path or looks at him a bit funny is likely to meet a creative yet painful ending.

For Rico, think of Jack Bauer on a bad hair day.

In this game Rico is posted to the island of Panau in south-east Asia. His objective is to free the island from an evil regime and also to track down his former mentor who may have gone rogue.

It’s a far-fetched and generally ridiculous plot, in keeping with the rest of the game.

Along the way Rico takes on fairly conventional missions for this type of action-adventure game such as retrieving vital items, rescuing people and taking out military facilities.

The missions help drive the game forward but Just Cause 2 is a sandbox game, meaning you have the freedom to play around causing as much chaos and wanton destruction as you like on the way to fulfilling your assignments.

You can jump into any of a large assortment of vehicles, from cars and tanks to helicopters and jet planes. You can blow or smash up many things, such as fuel tanks and SAM sites. And you can unleash all manner of firepower from machine guns and grenades to cannons and rocket launchers.

JC2’s fun doesn’t come from the core tasks that you’re asked to carry out but from the ability to go completely wild within the massive game world.

With such a great looking, expansive playground to explore it would be a crime not to go a little crazy in your tropical surroundings.

The game never takes itself very seriously – either in terms of its storyline or its gameplay. It’s a game which invites players to sit back, buckle in and enjoy some pure explosive entertainment, in much the same way that a big Hollywood action flick doesn’t demand too much thinking from viewers.

There is plenty of basic running and gunning to do in JC2 but there are also a huge variety of other extraordinarily daring and dangerous activities you’ll end up doing, from shooting bad guys while standing on the roof of a fast-moving truck to hijacking choppers mid-air, from scaling (and jumping off) tall buildings to leaping across canyons on a motorbike.

Developer Avalanche Studios has given players many hours of amazing action to enjoy, but has also created a game which looks superb, with impressive detail and draw distances enhancing the gaming experience. Explosions in particular are visually stunning.

In much the same way as inFamous provided a fresh twist on the normal open-world shoot ‘em up / combat format with its electrical superpowers, JC2 also has an awesome secret weapon up its sleeve.

The grappling hook is a fantastic tool for Rico to have at his disposal whenever he needs it.

With a range of around 100 metres, it provides almost limitless possibilities for movement.

With a quick shot of it Rico is able to climb buildings, get over walls and reach many tricky spots that would otherwise be completely out of bounds. When he needs to make a rapid descent or escape from a dangerous situation, Rico has an endless supply of parachutes to bail him out.

When he’s on the ground and needs to get somewhere quick Rico can attach his grappling hook to something and then zip towards his target at great speed.

The grappling hook also doubles up as a very nifty weapon. Showing its versatility even more, the grappling hook is great for tethering two items together, such as hooking bad guys on to vehicles or fuel tanks, or tethering a moving vehicle on to a fixed object and then watching the hilarious chaos this causes.

Making full use of Rico’s grappling hook leads to some very unlikely and almost certainly physically impossible stunts but it’s all fantastic fun.

Nitpicking at the game’s defects, there are a few things to mention.

Weapon aiming is quite fiddly and imprecise, the controls take some getting used to, it takes too many direct hits to kill bad guys, it’s too easy to run out of ammo, the voice acting is terrible and the gaps between save points are too long. There are also some occasional audio and graphical glitches which also detract from the game’s overall quality.

Individually and even collectively, these things and a few other shortcomings only have a minor impact on overall enjoyment of the game.

Just Cause 2 is a non-stop blast to play which serves up an all-you-can-eat buffet of explosive, adrenaline-pumping, absorbing action gaming. I reckon Rico would be decidedly unimpressed if you didn’t join him on his quest, and you wouldn’t want to get on the wrong side of him.

Verdict: 9 out of 10 – Unashamedly blokey, Just Cause 2 should satisfy even the most demanding trigger-happy player’s lust for havoc and hellraising.