Just Cause 2

this game is just awesome. the graphics are brilliant, the physics are clever and the gameplay is immense. there is an in-game video recorder built in, and if you have an internet connection, you can upload it straight to youtube. the map is huge, and for a map this size, the graphics are not limited, in fact, they are better than most of the games i've seen. the use of the parachute and the grapple is incredibly fun. this game is a mix of gta4, gta san Andrea's, cod, and the original just cause game. i would recommend this game to anyone.

Just Cause was never a game I particularly enjoyed, it was too buggy, too ugly and surprisingly too boring. So I wasn't expecting much from it's inevitable sequel.

The game gets straight to the point on the first mission by dropping you into fully fledged rampage, with lots of big guns and gadgets at your disposal. Basically, all you do is blow stuff up, fuel tanks, broadcasting towers, generators etc.. Which doesn't sound great but honestly, it is one hell of a spectacle watching propane tanks flying into the sky carrying a soldier with it... then blowing up... then watching the man who is barely alive falling to his demise... then watching his blood and guts splatter all over the floor. It's amazing and it all happens in about 3 or so seconds, it's so fast paced and it flows so well with the rest of the gameplay you just walk through all the missions but the carnage never stops. The missions, to keep variety going, have loose objectives, but you barely notice them as the primary objective, you just want to blow stuff up on the way. The first mission for instance has you collect data files that have fallen from your helicopter. But they just so happened to fall into a big explosive fuel station. Great!

But the main missions, called agency missions, play a very small part to the game. Just Cause 2 is massive... Literally. It is a free roaming game, and the space you are able to roam in is mind bogglingly big! around 1000km2 which consists of countryside, jungles, snowy mountains, deserts and a city which by itself would qualify to be a game map it's that big. The islands all come together to form a country called "Panau" which is cluttered with towns, villages, airfields, Oil rigs, Military bases and so on, all of which you can takeover and keep as your strongholds in which you can store weapons and have your own sort of gang to stand guard or take with you on missions and taking over other facilities.

Having the amazing map with loads in it is one thing, but what's even better is that you can destroy it! Almost everything explodes in this game, and when you cause explosions, you cause chaos, and when you cause chaos, you earn err... Chaos points, which go towards new things like Agency Missions, Stronghold Missions, Faction Missions and best of all, Black Market Items. Now when you earn alot of chaos points in one go, you also earn alot of money. and money is spent on black market items. You can see the greatness of this system. The Black Market has just about everything, from measly parachutes to to heat seeking rocket launchers! All kinds of vehicles are available too, from boats, cars to Apache helicopters. All of the items you can buy on the black market are also upgradeable, which is made possible by collecting weapon and vehicle parts that you find all over Panau. Another neat feature of the Black Market is that you can have extractions from one part of the map to the other, and it's completely free! It really helps as it takes along time to drive around. My only complaint about the Black Market feature is that you can't keep your bought items, you have buy them each time you want them, you can't just store them in a garage like you could in GTA. It can prove quite expensive. Also you can only purchase one item at a time, so if you want multiple items at one time, you have to wait for the menu to load up and off. Gets annoying...

That isn't games only flaw, there are a few. First off, Loading times, seriously, I know the game is massive but waiting for the damn thing to load is sometimes frustrating, and it has to load quite alot. When your wanting The Black Market, When you die, when you start the game. Another thing is the controls, they work great in most areas of the game but sometimes they really let you down. For instance, I want to land my helicopter which I intend to get back in after, to descend in a helicopter you hold "L2". Which makes perfect sense. But "L2" is also used to drop grenades. You can see where this going. I land the helicopter get out drop a grenade next to my helicopter, my helicopter blows up that causes an explosion which causes chaos which means feds. are now after me and i have nothing to escape in! ...And I wasted a grenade! One last thing that bothers me is that the game is still very buggy, like the first Just Cause, only Just Cause 2 can be patched... I await that patch.

The game technically is amazing, the graphics are beautiful, as good as GTA IVs, i'm not joking. Except the vehicles look a bit cartoony' but it's ok. AI. is surprisingly quite intelligent, just a few mishaps occur when the enemy is driving, but it's quite funny to watch so it's all good... I love this game, i haven't yet became bored, just exhausted. A definite buy for anyone who loves adventure and/or action!

I like free-ranging sandbox RPG games and bought this on the back of strong reviews.

Stuff I don't quite like.
I took a while to get into this game. I find the hero unlikable with little personality, and he seems all but homeless. The game seemed so open I found it difficult to know where to start. So, I found it took some getting used to. I dislike being dumped back in crummy autosave bases with little fun equipment in them. It seemed a bonus just to get a helicopter. Why can't Rico have a beach house where we can park cars / trucks acquired, and a chopper or two? Oh well. For this I knock off an overall star.

Stuff I do like!!
While some complain the lack of ammunition stalls the game, I find it's not so bad: enemies drop plenty and careful choice of weapon lets me pick it up easily. But I find it's more fun to think laterally. How handy to have all those propane bottles, gas cylinders and fuel drums in strategic places! The grappling hook is a key piece and I can do all sorts with it! In one stretch of game play I grappled and hijacked six helicopters. Everything, even an unarmed helicopter, can be a weapon. Car all but wrecked? Point it at a petrol station and jump out.

The manic government of Panau and its hapless soldiers are a treat. And after each mission we hear the government's increasingly desperate radio broadcast spin on damage caused by Rico, for instance "...we are pleased to announce next Tuesday will be Happy Execution Day...". The enemy AI is amusing; in road chases their bikers and motor vehicles - even helicopters - meet all sorts of self-inflicted disasters. Great fun seeing a security jeep rush in only to hit an embankment and go flying right overhead to its explosive doom - and not a finger lifted on my part. As for tying soldiers to propane bottles and firing at the bottle...need I say more?

OK, vehicle handling is not brilliant but varies (as it should) with vehicle type and some are nice to handle; I like the military bikes. Despite the handling I often use the handbrake to corner and really enjoy hurtling around. Oncoming traffic and obstacles are a fine way to scrape off pursuit with outrageous crashes. Planes and choppers are also enjoyable to use. So five stars for fun.

The graphics.
Given the vast land and waterscapes available, the life in them, and the huge range of activities, I think it is ungenerous to moan about graphics. I've played a lot of games and I think JC2's graphics are pretty good - way better than many games but not as complex as the top end ones. I think the developers should be given huge credit for their creation. The weather and day hours are dynamic - I love the thunderstorms. I think the landscapes / waterscapes look gorgeous and a lot stands up to close examination as well as providing detailed long-range panoramas. Explosions are rendered really well; big fuel dumps are a treat! So far as I know, there are very few interiors beyond FMV sequences, but the exteriors are completely explorable. Only certain targets can be damaged; it is not all destructible. Sound-wise the environment is good (try putting some quality headphones on and find a quiet jungle spot). And there are some great Easter Eggs tucked away.

My conclusion.
I find this game great fun, very over-the-top and rewards off-the-wall thinking and action. If it feels repetitive after a while, then I just use different ways to get results. I am surprised at how many ways I can tackle things and how much fun I can have with the place. And there is just so much of it! If I had to ask for improvements, then I'd say: give Rico a home in Panau and let him have a life outside being a robot with a grapple. Let's have some interiors, see the social side of Panau and the human side of the characters with some added personal storylines. The publishers are releasing DLC - my suggestion is to add this as a pack and let us really get into Panau!