Review No. 75 Just Cause 2 - PC (18+)

Strong Points:
Massive world to explore
Lots of weapons
Lots of vehicles
Lots of collectibles
Lots of fun
Good humour
A few twists
Good challenge
Nice graphics and scale
Grapple mechanics are excellent and great fun
Ninjas!

Weak Points:
Joining one faction doesn't affect the other one's
Not much variety in terms of enemies
Patchy voice acting
Story is a bit generic
Physics engine for vehicles is not very realistic

In-depth Review:

Release Dates:
North America: March 23, 2010
Europe: March 26, 2010
Australia: April 1, 2010
Japan: June 10, 2010

Controls:
General:
W/A/S/D: move
E: interact
F: grappling hook
Spacebar: jump/parachute
Left Alt: stunt jump
Left Shift: sprint
Tab: evade
Q key: melee attack
Left Control :crouch
F1 : PDA

Weapons
Left Mouse Click: fire weapon 1
Right Mouse Click: fire weapon 2/explosives
C : fine aim, scope
R: reload
Mouse Wheel Down : next weapon
Mouse Wheel Up: previous weapon
G: toggle explosive
1: toggle one-handed weapon
2: dual-wield
3: equip two-handed weapon
4: equip beacon

Swimming
W/A/S/D: swim (aim mouse in direction you want to go)

Sky Diving
W: dive
S: slow down
A/D: steer
Spacebar: open or close the parachute

Land and Sea Vehicle's
W/A/S/D: move
Left Shift Key: bike tilt forward
Left Control Key: bike tilt backward
X Key: handbrake
Mouse 1 Button: fire weapon 1
Mouse 2 Button: fire weapon 2
Left Alt Key: stunt jump
Spacebar Key: open parachute
E Key: enter, exit
C Key: look back

Helicopter Controls:
W/A/S/D: move
Left Shift Key: increase altitude
Left Control: decrease altitude
Mouse 1 Button: fire primary weapon (if equipped)
Mouse 2 Button: fire secondary weapon (if equipped)
Left Alt Key: stunt jump
Spacebar Key: open parachute
E Key: enter, exit
C Key: look back

Plane Controls:
W/A/S/D: move
Left Shift Key: increase throttle
Mouse 1 Button: fire primary weapon (if equipped)
Mouse 2 Button: fire secondary weapon (if equipped)
Left Alt Key: stunt jump
Spacebar Key: open parachute
E Key: enter, exit
C Key: look back

This game is a lot of fun. While the story is a bit generic (although not without its twists and turns), as are the characters, this game still has plenty of humour and excitement. The grappling hook is the main feature of this series, and it doesn't disappoint. With many different ways to utilize this tool, from connecting enemies to moving cars and toppling explosive barrels over enemies heads, to quickly jumping onto a moving car and of course, the infamous grappling hook and parachute combo. This is the fastest way of getting to places (without the help of extraction or a jet) and is definitely one of the most fun. All you have to do is shoot your grappling hook out and mid traversal open your parachute. Then just grapple the floor in front of you and move. If you want to go faster, then, grapple at an angle and you can even close your parachute mid grapple to go quickly to the ground and then open it up again (this parachute can open and close an infinite amount of times).

The story is classic secret agent. Rico Rodriguez (you) is tasked to save the island of Panau from the dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay (who is suspected to have killed his father, the last leader of the island), as well as track down his old mentor Tom Sheldon who is suspected to have gone rogue. To find Sheldon, Rico has to join at least one of the factions of the island. There are the Roaches - a Mafia like group - the Ular Boys - a tribal group - and the Reapers - a gang which craves revolution. You can take over different parts of the island for the factions by participating in stronghold missions although these parts have been predetermined, like a jigsaw so there's no chance of faction wars.

The next thing is destructible environments. To progress in the story you have to cause chaos, and to do that you can complete other missions, kill colonels, destroy vehicles, complete settlements or destroy government property (which is nicely marked with the Panuan symbol). Government property can take the shape of propaganda trailers and water towers to industrial columns and satellites. All of it can be destroyed, provided you have the weapons.

The way to get weapons is via pickups from boxes or enemies or the black market. The black market slowly increases its inventory of weapons and vehicles with the amount of chaos you have. I do have all the DLC though (which is a bit cheating), so I already have jet planes and rocket launchers readily available. There are some great weapons in Just Cause 2 from the ol' reliable pistol and SMG combo (you can dual wield) to the Gatling guns attached to helicopters.

There are also quite a lot of vehicles, with spy planes and rickshaws showing the amount of variety. There is also a lot of collectibles (weapon/vehicle/armour parts and faction specific items) as well as just a lot of ground to cover. The map is huge! Also for stat trackers, this game gives you updates every time you do something that could be recordable.

The voice acting is patchy with some bits being good, some bad and some downright shocking. Also the civilians don't have much variety, with all the soldiers looking the same. The controlling of vehicles is nice although the collisions are a bit odd with some cars just bouncing off of you or going under you although bits of the car do fall off depending on where you hit, which is nice.

The graphics are good with the scale of the game being superb although there are some texture qualities which could be improved (could just be my settings). The controls also take some getting used to (especially for a left-hander) and as there are so many controls (just like anything else in this game) it was difficult for me to find places to put things.

From what I've played of the game so far (I've played around 9 hours), I've had great fun and that is what games are really about. And with that inspiring quote, this review is at an end.

Rating: 90%

Thanks for reading, Satamer.