In playing through Just Cause 2, it’s becoming apparent that this is a game that you simply can not play in the 10 hours I’ve spent on it thus far. Not even close. With only two main story missions down, and such a large area left to figure out, it’s clear that it’s going to probably take me a good 25 hours or more to really get a feel for this game. And as a GamerPop, 25 hours of play time might take a month or two. So, I’m taking a page out of Greg’s book and putting up my First Impressions on this title.
There are reasons why I’ve accomplished relatively little in a decent amount of time (I finished No More Heroes 2 in about 12 hours, by comparison), and these are things that would be good to know for those looking at this game.
The game world is HUGE – As far as sandboxes go, this is like Pine Valley Golf Club’s seventh hole, which features “Hell’s Half Acre”, one of the largest bunkers in the world. This means lots to explore, but it also means having to spend a lot of time travelling from place to place. Sometimes you’ll find yourself having to go halfway across the island or further. And if you haven’t been to an area yet, you can’t “warp” your way there with Black Market Extraction (you can summon a helicopter which can upgrade or buy weapons and vehicles, or extract you to another location). This has taken a decent portion of my play time, though there are lots of different ways to get from Point A to Point B, and these can be entertaining in their own right.
Learning curve – Just Cause 2 doesn’t really ease you into anything. Your tutorial is a mission. And once you get the basics, you can do anything you want. No new skills to learn, just upgrades to weapons and vehicles. This is good on one hand because you can do whatever you want, however you want. On the flip side, you almost have too much available right away, and it takes quite a bit of time to figure out what you can do, and how best to do it.
True sandbox – The island of Panau is your playground. And my, is there a lot to do there. Sometimes, on my way to a mission, I’ll drive through a town and get sidetracked searching for items or figuring out how to destroy stuff. THIS has been the biggest timesink for me so far, along with trying to locate items/destroyable elements to try and complete a village or base. OCD completionist nerds beware, there are thousands of things to collect and likely hundreds of areas to try and “100%”. Of course, you might just want to fly a helicopter or a plane around for a while or do some base jumping with your endless supply of parachutes. Thankfully, the game pretty much lets you explore at your own pace. Nobody has called me yet asking to play a game of darts, or go see some “big American *******, cousin” while I’m trying to play around.
So what about the game itself thus far?
What’s Just Great
Grappling – The Grapple Hook is just awesome. It is your main weapon and there’s so many ways to experiment with it, either for destruction or for getting around. I’ve only scratched the surface, and I’ve already used it to pull bad guys over ledges to fall to their deaths, pull them in the air and shoot them dead before they hit the ground, hang guys on a wall and beat them senseless, use a fire engine to pull a statue down, etc.
Destruction – Destruction is not only encouraged, it’s mandatory. Destruction is a main method of building Chaos, which is what progresses the game, opening up new missions, weapons, etc. Stuff done blow up reeeeaaallll good here. So have at it, cause there’s lots to destroy.
Regenerating Health and the Heat System – You’re one guy against an army. So unless you’re going to throw health packs all over the place, then you’re going to need to regenerate health. Sorry, it is what it is. But unlike the Uncharted/inFamous method of regenerating full health if you stay out of trouble long enough, Rico only regenerates a portion, depending on how much damage he’s taken. It’s a nice balance. The Heat system is basically how much attention you’re receiving from the enemy. It’s a very nice mix of the systems used by Assassin’s Creed, Metal Gear Solid, and Grand Theft Auto. And as you progress, so does the potential for various levels of Heat.
There are Two Blimps Holding Up a Platform Which is a Nightclub – If you think I’m going to review this game before I’ve had a chance to do something terrible at the Mile High Club, you’re nuts. I can’t wait to see what Rico has to do here.
What’s Cause For Concern
B Movie Tendencies – The music is cheesy. The characters are shallow. The story, so far, is borderline laughable. The voice acting and dialogue is uninspired. Actually, these might be strong points, but only if they’re going for irony, which, given the nature of the game, isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Glitches! – I get it. Q/A of a game this big in scope is probably not the easiest job in the world. But do I really need to see light posts seemingly standing on their own with complete sections missing? Or is the technology on Panau so advanced that they use transparent aluminum for some parts, cause I see the wires coming out of the ground. And then there are guns suspended in mid-air. Or how I can sometimes parachute right through a tree one minute, but then clip a branch and have my plane explode the next. As a percentage of surface area, the glitches are probably on par with other games, but the ones I’ve seen are fairly obvious and laughable in some cases.
Repetition - Stronghold Takedown missions so far have all been the same thing. Land with other members of the gang you’re helping at the moment, protect a technician as you kill government forces, find a way into the base, kill more forces, take out an advanced soldier, kill more forces, and shoot down a helicopter. I hope some variety gets added to these. Other more minor side missions have had lots of variety so far.
This is one of those games that currently sees the positives making up for most of the negatives, as long as you’re not too picky about those negatives. If you like blowing things up, killing lots of bad guys, and sandbox-style games, and don’t get too hung up on things like draw distance for oncoming vehicles and tech glitches, there’s a lot to like in Just Cause 2 at this point. And the way the game is set up certainly can present value at first glance, though time will tell if it starts to get repetitive as a whole. Stay tuned for a complete review once I get closer to completion.
Oh, and while it should be obvious at this point, your kids shouldn’t be playing this game. I can see maybe mid to late teens being appropriate. The destruction is just what it is, but there is a LOT of killing to be done, and guys do spew blood when hit, though the bodies disappear relatively quickly after they’re killed, so you aren’t leaving a trail of corpses in your wake.
