Just Cause 2 - Xbox 360

An Open World Game Packed With Spontaneous Excitement

2010-03-23T19:41:00Z

The original Just Cause was a unique but flawed open world game. A variety of bugs, boring missions, and a complicated control scheme soured the fun of exploring the game’s gigantic tropical island. Avalanche’s second installment not only fixes these problems, but presents one of the most enjoyable sandboxes for players to experiment in this side of Grand Theft Auto.

Those who played the first Just Cause will be familiar with the premise. Rico Rodriguez once again finds himself trying to overthrow a maniacal dictator on a tropical island. To do this he performs missions for three different gangs to create Chaos, the currency that unlocks the main story missions that advance the plot. The story is Just Cause 2’s weakest link: It only becomes vaguely interesting towards the end when bosses (and ninjas) start showing up. Aside from their ridiculously bad and borderline offensive accents, the game’s characters are forgettable and one-dimensional.

Virtually everything else is improved, including the missions. You still won’t care why you’re supposed to be chasing down an informant or blowing up a missile as it launches into the stratosphere, but you’ll have a blast while doing it. Even the most formulaic side missions are still fun, thanks to impressive visuals, Hollywood-tuned physics, and smooth controls for the numerous tricks at your disposal.

The grappling hook and parachute still take center stage, and make navigating the environment a cinch. Whipping through tree tops and propelling yourself over cliffs and buildings with only inches to spare is exhilarating – especially when leaving countless explosions in your wake. After a period of acclimation, the controls allow for a level of precision that puts web slinging and bionic wife arms to shame.

The new ability to tether two objects together is less handy during combat, but can be a lot of fun when goofing around between missions. After toppling a statue of the island’s dictator by tethering it to my helicopter, I spent a good 20 minutes trying to swing the still-attached stone head into the traffic below me like a wrecking ball. An unseen overpass ended the hilarity in a fiery explosion, but not before giving me a dozen other ideas of things to try out.

Unlike franchises like Modern Warfare or Gears of War, Just Cause 2’s best moments are completely unscripted, the result of player-driven experimentation. It’s something the game actively encourages: There’s no penalty for dying outside of missions, and generous checkpoints during missions keep frustration to a minimum when something unexpected happens. Perhaps most importantly, the ability to call in a helicopter for extraction cuts down on mindless travel time when traversing the gigantic playing area.

The new island of Panau is not only big, but sports a ton of variety. In addition to jungles, you’ll swing your way through forests, desert plateaus, and snow-covered mountains. Zooming out on your map to reveal the game’s total real estate is overwhelming, and while I’m not sure if it’s the largest open world game to date, the attention to detail is unparalleled and makes open-world games that focus solely on urban environments feel downright mundane.

Which is not to say Just Cause 2 is lacking in concrete, either, with a whopping 368 locations to discover and explore. You can check each location off your list by blowing up anything with the government’s insignia on it and collecting crates that upgrade your weapons, vehicles, and armor. Some of these locations are small fishing villages with just a few upgrades to find, while others are sprawling military bases with dozens of targets to blow up, or full-fledged cities filled with skyscrapers from which to base-jump. Rarely will the trip to a mission not get diverted by a new settlement to pillage, a high-ranking colonel to assassinate, or just a cool-looking vehicle to chase down and hijack.

In the end only a few disappointments surfaced. Until you upgrade your weapons or get your hands on some heavy-duty firepower, the gunplay feels underwhelming. Ammo for the more powerful weapons is usually scarce, limiting your time with the best of Just Cause 2’s arsenal. Later in the game the difficulty ramps up to levels that border on frustrating, with enemies spawning endlessly until your Heat level diminishes, transforming you from a lethal acrobat to a bullet magnet.

The biggest disappointment by far is the lack of multiplayer, which is understandable giving the game’s ambitious scope, but a missed opportunity nevertheless. But none of these issues diminish the countless memorable moments Just Cause 2 provides, born out of the spontaneous chaos the player creates while simply exploring the world.

To see Just Cause 2 in action, check out this exclusive 10-minute gameplay video.

Our First Hour-And-A-Half With Just Cause 2

2009-11-13T18:45:00Z

When issue 200 of Game Informer hits your mailbox, you’ll find our latest impressions of Eidos’s Just Cause 2, but we wanted to give you something special for our online coverage. Earlier this week, I got to spend a little over an hour-and-a-half playing the new game and causing chaos all across the island setting of Panau alongside fellow GI editors Tim Turi, Dan Ryckert, and Jeff Marchiafava. Read on for a full document of that first hour and some fun new video footage. Just please keep in mind that we’re not this insane and messed up in real life. I swear.

…Okay, maybe Dan is.

0:00 -- We spawn on top of a dirty mountainous area as suave protagonist Rico Rodriguez. After gaining our bearings, we leap off the mountain and parachute onto a paved road below where we immediately grab a vehicle. We drive down a dirt road for a while until we noticed a small paved path off to the right. Turning onto this road, we discover a mansion and decide to explore.

0:05 -- Walking around to the mansion’s backyard, we stumble onto a bunch of armed enemies guarding one of the game’s 60+ colonels. We survive the barrage of bullets to take out the colonel and his guards.

0:10 -- After all the enemies are dead, we grapple to the top of the mansion and steal the dead colonel’s helicopter. As we’re flying, we realize we’re under attack by a military chopper, so we drop out of the helicopter and parachute down to a small settlement below.

0:15 -- Once we drop down, we manage to destroy one military chopper. A second shows up, and we grapple onto it in hopes of hijacking it. Before Rico can pull himself up to the helicopter’s door, it flies low and drags him across a hill. Luckily, we survive with only slight emotional scars and rip the helicopter’s driver out of his seat so we can take over.

0:20 -- Free of the heat, we fly to another settlement and jump out to explore. Suddenly obsessed with the idea of using the grappling hook to tether things together, we attach a civilian to a street lamp, where he hangs helplessly and yells. We run in the opposite direction.

0:25 -- We end up blowing up a gas station. Then we blow up a propaganda van. Then we blow up another gas station. We stand a little too close to that last explosion and accidentally die.

0:30 -- On our second spawn, we quickly grab a truck and begin driving around. We find a huge biofuel station and crash the truck into it. Opposition surrounds us quickly, and we die again shortly after leaving the truck.

0:35 -- Spawning on the mountain once again, we parachute down to the buildings below and spend five minutes attempting to tether random people in the area to a vehicle and drive it off a cliff. We are unsuccessful.

Just Cause 2: Revolution Has Never Been This Absurd

2009-09-30T22:58:00Z

It’s been a good while since we first heard word of Just Cause 2, but this month finally gave us the opportunity to see the game in action. Packed with missions that fill a positively gargantuan game world, those aren’t the features you’ll notice first. Like us, as you parachute into the action, you’ll spend the first few minutes laughing at how totally insane this game is.

Rico Rodriguez has received a makeover since his days in the first Just Cause. As the game opens, we see our newly rugged hero dropping through the sky into the fictional southeast Asian island of Panau. Your stunt chute is extremely maneuverable, allowing for quick turns and fast dives toward the ground. Stopping on one of the towering mountains, we look out on the sprawling vista stretched out below him. Dropping down onto a speeding car, Rico sets to work blowing up everything in sight as the vehicle beneath him veers and crashes. Causing chaos is the major path to unlocking new missions, so there’s no reason Rico shouldn’t go absolutely crazy as he demolishes vehicles, takes out guerilla soldiers, and topples buildings. Even if one of your three currently equipped weapons doesn’t cause enough destruction, the ground is positively littered with explosive objects. An easy-to-aim grappling hook pulls you around to any part of the environment, slingshotting you up to redeploy your chute and go flying off in some new direction. Alternately, the grappler can be used to tether two objects together, such as an enemy soldier and a propane tank. Shoot the tank, and proceed to watch your foe get pulled screaming into the air as the gas shoots skyward.

Cause enough chaos, and more of the 50 story missions will unlock across the massive island nation of Panau, which stretches 32 kilometers across at several points. The map is littered with settlements, military bases, airports, and more, all placed to encourage your unique breed of shenanigans. The 100-plus vehicles in the game include everything from helicopters to dune-hopping motocross bikes, each with their own specialties. Some are great for the expansive desert, while others are designed to get you through the snowy mountain peaks near the center of the island.

Wherever you go, and however you get there, the focus in Just Cause 2 seems to be squarely set on insane stunts, broad freedom of activity and movement, and a constant flow of action. We came away impressed, and eager to get our hands on the full game and experiment for ourselves.