Gaming Just Cause 2 Review

http://www.bit-tech.net/gaming/pc/2010/03/25/just-cause-2-review/1

With more explosions and parachutes than you can shake an assault rifle at, Just Cause 2 sure looks to be a gloriously over the top and exciting third person shooter - but is the gameplay any good? We weigh in on the merits and flaws of Eidos' latest sandbox game.

 

So, wait, hold on a second... a game with a terrible story, mundane missions, next to no immersion in the characters, and QTEs to steal cars gets an 8 and a Recommended because you can blow stuff up and use a grappling hook? This score seems to be off-balance... still, subjective professional judgement, and all that.

 

To be fair, that's a little bit of focusing on the negative. The QTEs, for example, are tiny and really easy. You basically press 1, 4, 2 to steal a helicopter - the challenge actually lies in killing the passengers first so there's only the pilot left.

The story is crap. The action and freedom is amazing. There's a clear precedent of games with awful story but cool action compensating for it. Just look at Quake, for example.

 

That's cool.

 

If you played the demo you'd probably understand. I think I played it about 3 times because it was so much fun.

Just because it doesn't have the stuff that makes other games good, doesn't mean that it hasn't got it's own things. If you want a game with a meaty storyline and solid gameplay you're better off playing with something else, but this has a different appeal.

Games aren't necessarily about critically analysing whether a particular game mechanic is technically well executed or whether the script is worthy of an Academy Award, they're about how much fun you have in them, and I think that's why it got the score it did. When it comes down to it, who cares about all those things if you're enjoying yourself.

EDIT: Just pre-ordered it on Steam. Boy Square Enix sure are getting a lot of my money this month.

 

Sounds a bit like another Red Faction Guerrilla or Prototype. Both those games were enormous fun for the first day. But after 2 or 3 days of doing the same re-hashed missions over and over, even the running up buildings or blowing them to tiny pieces got boring.

What is a game without a decent story and missions to hold it together? It's a rental that's what it is. Or as is more likely these days..a pirated copy.

 

Sounds exactly like the first one, which had IIRC about four 'necessary' (Agency) missions, some of which were pretty epic - culminating in a rather impressive jump-from-fighter-jet-grapple-into-huge-cargo-plane, via a chase-ballistic-missile-sequence. The best bit of the game was the rest of it, though - as here, you spent most of your time jetting across the tropics with a big black parachute and dual revolvers. I preferred the tropical island to the deserts, but we'll see...

 

If you pirate it, then you're a moron.

And that's the last discussion or encouragement of piracy we're going to have in this thread, thankyouverymuch. That includes any long-winded insights or opinions on whether piracy=lost sales etc. It's not relevant to this game.

 

Thanks for the review Joe. Already pre-ordered my copy on Steam.

Although, I do miss your graphic option break-downs as they were a nice guide to how the game would run and look. But I do understand that doing these would be fairly time intensive.

 

I wasn't speaking personally of doing such a thing, nor condoning it. Merely making my point that a game without a solid story/missions to hold it together is not worth buying. Which I term to be a rental. It just occurs to me that many people these days will likely go down the other road.

Can't a guy even express an opinion without someone jumping down his throat?

 

To be honest, it was as much to do with the fact that they weren't ever really useful for much as it was the time. It always boiled down to "If you put AA on full then the lines look smoother, but you might sacrifice a frame or two per second depending on your hardware, so best to read the recommended requirements."

It's just easier and more informative to take that as a given. We still use our own screenshots and we take them with everything on full so you can see how the game is supposed to look, but we don't dwell on it. Naturally though, if there are performance problems (GTA IV) or the graphics are an essential part of the game pitch (Crysis) or are really disappointing (Section 8) then you can bet your ass that we'll discuss them in all the detail they require.

 

That's not how it came across, so apologies if my reaction seemed a bit severe.

But, at the end of the day, we operate a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to discussion of piracy. People are obviously allowed to discuss the problem and solutions as long as they are making legitimate and relevant statements, but when the PC side of the games industry is in this state then we're not going to appear to be part of the problem by allowing people to advocate piracy - which is how I took your statement. It seemed like you were saying "I'll just rent this, or, more likely, I'll pirate it."

 

Does it have a first person view?

GTA 4 could have done with a first person view. I spent so long in that game holding the aim button I all but developed RSI. I'm not prepared to play another third person shooter for another year or two.

 

Thanks. I didn't mean it to come across that way. Like I've edited above I just meant that to me a game such as that I call a rental. It just occurs to me that many people these days will likely go down the other road. Also didn't realise this forums policy either so sorry for using a dirty word

 

Yes i too would be interested in Graphical settings also i request to put a video review also.

 

OK, thanks. Didn't realise you did all your own screenshots, I just assumed they were PR shots. That's good to know.

 

None of that stuff matters. It does for an RPG, it doesn't here. Just Cause 1 was very shallow too, but it didn't matter, it was great fun when you got into it.

 

Ordered this after paying the demo - great fun

 

Would be trying the demo and possibly ordering (at first I thought it was console-only - who says PC gaming is dying?!) but Steam is telling me it's down and won't update

 

i miss the way you can unlock safehouses with helicopters in them, it saves a lot of time, i've played through more than 5 side missions (for factions, not the agency) yet all i got was to spawn in their base.

i want a fully armed jet plane when i spawn, or more frequent planes overhead that fly within grapple hook distance.