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Game Rant reviews Just Cause 2
Released back in 2006, Just Cause had all the makings of a great sandbox game: a giant game world to explore, great graphics, and over the top action.
had all the makings of a great sandbox game: a giant game world to explore, great graphics, and over the top action. Sadly, it fell short of expectations as it was rushed out of development teeming with glitches and a lack of gameplay variety.
Fast-forward to the present and the recent release of its sequel: Just Cause 2 . Having been one of the many who eagerly anticipated the first game only to be thoroughly disappointed, I didn’t go into this game with very high expectations. Whether you were one of the few who enjoyed the first game or one of the many who hated it, you will be happy to hear that Just Cause 2 improves on the first game in almost every way possible.
Story And Sound
If there’s one thing this game does wrong, it’s story. I understand that sometimes action games sacrifice a compelling plot in order to pack in the maximum amount of action, but when there’s no interesting reason to push forward, you lose interest rather quickly.
Having just completed the game, I couldn’t relay the storyline back to you. It was entirely boring, but at the same time, constantly threw names of people and places at you, making it almost impossible to even know what you’ve been sent to do until the very end. By the third story mission, I had just stopped caring. I understand that the developers intended for the plot to be reminiscent of a B-movie, but that doesn’t mean it has to be completely uninteresting. While there were two sequences that just oozed with action, and managed to make me smile amid the atrocious writing, this is one of the few games in which I actually had a hard time making it through each cutscene.
While the plot itself was bad enough, the voice acting was just as terrible. Again, I understand that it was made to feel like a B-movie, but the characters’ stiff voice acting, coupled with the extremely bland plot, made the wait for another burst of action all the more difficult. For a game focused on over the top action, it just felt extremely strange seeing almost every cutscene boiling down to two people standing in place, talking endlessly about small, unimportant details, awkwardly breaking up the action.
Now finally, as someone who loves music even more than video games, I’m always interested in seeing what developers choose to implement into their games in terms of music. While it was not bad by any stretch of the imagination, I just didn’t end up caring about the music in Just Cause 2 . Sure, it gave the player the feeling that they were on a giant tropical island, but there was absolutely nothing outstanding or notable about the music. It was just there. Nothing more, nothing less.
Gameplay
Now, having got all of the negatives out of the way, I can safely tell you that Just Cause 2 is a ridiculously fun game. It takes a lot to motivate someone to suffer through the cutscenes in this game, so believe me when I say that this game provided me with some of the most fun I’ve had in an open-world game. Ever.
At first glance, Just Cause 2 seems very similar in gameplay to its predecessor. While this is true in a few respects, one minor alteration has changed the game completely. Simply put, Just Cause 2 is all about making your way through a massive open-world island, causing as much chaos as you can. This gives you the freedom to do whatever you want, whether you’re moving from town to town, tearing down military encampments, helping the local gangs, or simply racing others on the island. By causing enough chaos, you then unlock new missions, and new items to airdrop in at any time — even in the middle of missions.