Games don’t come much bigger than Just Cause 2.
But can it build on the flawed-but-ambitious original?
His mission is to track down his old mentor, now a rogue agent.
This is a truly enormous game world, dwarfing anything offered by other sandbox titles.
Avalanche Studios has done a sterling job in creating a vast, open playground.
And a playground it really is.
This time Rico can also use his double hook ability.
This is a game designed around fun, and sharing it with others.
Oh, and you’re free to blow things up too, which is nice.
First and foremost of these issues are the terrible vehicle controls and dated physics.
This is particularly prominent when driving faster sports cars, but is even an issue with slower vehicles.
This is compounded by some very poor collision physics.
Its horrific, but impressive.
Just Cause2, on the other hand, is the other end of the scale.
Even more disturbing is the apparent lack of consistency.
Your foes, contrastingly, are not so troubled by these trifling forces of gravity.
This was demonstrated perhaps most elegantly in an early mission in which you have to steal an armoured car.
Now, this thing is a fully armoured, caterpillar-track tank that must weigh around 10 tons.
Ok, fine, pretty normal.
What isnt normal, however, is the severity of the attacks.
Thats one harsh regime.
No wonder Rico is trying to overthrow it.
you could hide in some rare instances, but often youll be running away while under extreme fire.
This high level of combat isnt all bad, though.
This is an action game, after all, but the controls also suffer under hectic situations.
Not good, and a sign that the game really needed more development time.
It has so much potential oozing out of the box that I cant help but want to play it.
The things the game does get right are excellent.
Need to kill a general?
The content on offer is huge too.
Its also strangely addictive trying to complete settlements and bases to get a 100% rating for each.
To do this you better find all hidden resource crates and destroy all important structures in the area.
Just Cause2 is one of those games that I cant help feel annoyed with.
Rating:
3 out of 5
