Just Cause 2 - Review

29 hours 30 minutes. Just Cause 2 is no doubt the biggest sandbox game this generation and probably the biggest sandbox game of all time. But bigger doesn't always mean better. Does this sandbox game flop for all 30 hours, or is it the sleeper hit of 2010 so far "just cause" it's so fun?

I really tried to like the "story" of Just Cause 2, but I just never liked it. Its attempts to be funny fails and it's as boring as any other war game. Rico an agent from America is called upon to take out some greedy pigs that want to get all the oil for themselves. He slowly but surely gains trusts from factions and causes chaos in Panau until people revolt against its greedy government. The story is barely there unless you're playing agency missions and even then it just never captivates you. It's probably because of the way Rico is presented. A badass with just no personality. You really can't feel any emotion and especially towards the end where story tries to be intense but a stupid cutscene just deprives any sympathy I had developing towards the end. So, so stupid.

The game surely has some crazy side missions but none of them actually have a story. Just Cause 2 likes to show off its impressive visuals, which I'll go in detail later, and the amount of content it has in its huge sandbox. The story is just there to emphasize how badass Rico is during cutscenes, which is undeniably true, and perhaps a small opening for a Just Cause 3 in the ending. Besides that, very very very uninteresting stuff.

The game is not very good with its whole audio either. The soundtrack is mediocre, even when it rarely plays. It might randomly pop up while you're in a parachute or when you're fighting groups of enemies. The sound effects are good. Explosions sound great to be honest and cars crashing and enemies moaning while they are flying from a propane tank are charms to hear. The game is terrible with its voice acting though. The accents are extremely aggravating and alot of times during the game I wanted to shoot myself. The leader of the faction Reapers is by far the worst voice I've heard this generation.

The audio also cuts during cutscenes. It might stutter unintentionally or the cutscene might abruptly end while someone's in the middle of saying something. Yes I did watch the repetitive 30 second cutscenes at the beginning of every faction mission.

But like I mentioned before, Just Cause 2 is all about chaos and explosions. Sound effects and cutscenes are great with the chaos and action in each and if you don't take the game seriously, you might even like it. The story might be mediocre and the voice acting might be bad but the unique action offered in the game is there.

The visuals in the game are great. During gameplay, they are outstanding. Freefalling down at an icy mountain and gaping at the unlimited forests below it leave you breathless. The game is extremely polished compared to its huge size. Rico looks great during gameplay as well. Notice I say gameplay. During cutscenes, the graphics look inferior though which surprised me. Rico's model looks plain and looks botched up. There are also stiff animations and the lack of polygons used is apparent. Explosions look and sound fantastic and the airplanes and vehicles are all detailed. I dislike that there are not alot of gun names and models since all guns are named by their type. Like the "Assault Rifle" or the "Sniper Rifle". The water effects look great and the whole setting of the game is overall great. The devs also putted in dozens of easter eggs to motivate players to explore.

Rico's animations are fluid and smooth and probably the most innovative thing about this game which I will go into detail later is the hook and parachute. After getting used to the unnecessarily complex controls, you can explore the island just by hovering around with your parachute. Enemies' animations are predictable and won't challenge you. Other than that the game is presented in a good way and taking into consideration the outstanding world you have infront of you, you will overlook most of the flaws in graphics section.

The gameplay in Just Cause 2 is mostly good but has its flaws as well. It's a shame since if this was great I'd score this game higher. The game was very interesting in the beginning. I was eager to explore (since the map is all unlocked) and the amount of faction missions gave me a variety of things to do. Overwhelming but nonetheless exciting. The game gives you endless freedom. When you're not doing faction missions you can cause chaos in strongholds and race challenges. I also found myself just roaming around with boats and airplanes. Very fun in the beginning. Sure it grows stale after some time but the game never got too boring outside faction missions. Problems I have are: the map being too big sometimes and the black market. The map is sometimes too big and sure you have extractions to take you to places but in order for that to happen you must unlock bases by going there and making them appear in your map, a la Saints Row 2. You unlock these easily if you're going to explore with planes but not everyone is going to like the world as much as I did.

The black market if flawed. The lack of ammo in this game generally needs you to buy alot of ammo. Makes sense right? No ammo. You must buy the weapon again and get ammo from the newly bought weapon. You can also upgrade weapons by finding weapon parts. A simple upgrade system that shows little development to guns. Each gun has 6 levels and there is every type of gun but only one model for each type. No 2 assault rifles or different types of rocket launchers. It would expand the chaos caused but oh well. Another annoying part of the black market is the vehicles. You can upgrade them and buy different vehicles but will only use them once. So if you buy a plane and you crash it immediately your money is all wasted. No saving vehicles option or anything. Might as well just hijack vehicles but that's not always the option. When you're in deserted areas where people are lacking, the black market is a necessity. Sure you gain money fast in this game but never have enough to try out other guns in the market. I also advise just upgrading your SMG or Assault Rifle to full because they are the most helpful firearms.

Missions in this game are a mixed bag. You get faction missions and agency missions and 9 stronghold takeovers. To unlock the seven agency missions in the game you must cause enough chaos by completing faction missions or just generally making shit blow up. To unlock faction missions you must complete strongholds. I don't know there the 9th stronghold is but anyway. Strongholds are the same thing EVERY FREAKIN TIME. Take your crew to a door. Hack it ( a simple quick time event which is unecessary), open the door and take your engineer to make him hack the place or whatever. You must protect him while this happens with a mini-gun usually which has unlimited ammo. Probably the most fun part of the whole mission since a helicopter also spawns and you take it out in a matter of seconds. The missions are fun the first two times but 9 times in a row? Too much.

Faction missions give a bit more a variety. Like picking up samples, sniping witnesses and even gunning down smugglers on a boat. But they are too short usually and just not enough to make them too memorable especially with the lack of oomph they should have. There are 49 of these and towards the end they get stale despite their different objectives. The coolest one I've played and sadly never recorded since it was before I purchased my card, was one where you take down 3 signal posts and take out a huge ass generator in a deserted island where it always rains. Intense mission that took me 30 minutes.

Agency missions are longer than strongholds and faction missions and towards the end the amount of ridiculousness and over the top humor it presents is laughable, in a good way I suppose. Just Cause 2 is a very unique sandbox games. Good and bad at the same time.

The gunplay in Just Cause 2 is good but the auto-aim gets frustrating. You might want to headshot someone but kill someone else and gets too easy when you get used to it. There are more ways to take down enemies though like suspending them on walls with your hook and meleeing them with your whip than appeared from Rico's ass. The parachute and hook are a great way to move around the island but the place is still too big . Land vehicles handle like crap and are very slippery. Aircrafts are the only way to get to places fast besides extraction. One huge gripe I have for airplanes is how you can't REVERSE when you crash somewhere. The game tried to make it realistic? Oh like the unlimited parachutes diverging out of Rico's back right? The enemy AI is generally dumb and bosses are easy to fight against when you learn a tactic. Predictable. It's the lack of cover and the awkward crouch button that makes the game hard. Crouching is only there when Rico is standing still and the game has no cover system so you can rarely avoid fire unless you roll all over the place. Health regenerates slightly and you can find health packs frequently which never make it TOO frustrating. You also have enough explosives to make those foreigners pay. Blowing up stuff is always fun. Always.

Overall, Just Cause 2 is better than its predecessor. It's a good game but when things grow bigger they usually have more flaws. This game is worth a buy for the person that only cares about content and overlooks some serious flaws. For me I found it to be an enjoyable long rent. Nothing special to return to in terms of story but a worthy challenge to 100% maybe in the future.