Just Cause 2 Review (PS3)
Story
This game takes place in a fictional country called Panau. Rico, an agent of the Agency is tasked to find his old mentor and kill him. In order for him to do so, he need to help certain Factions in the country to gain information of his whereabouts.
The story is rather interesting, but the characters in the game are mostly unlikable. The voice acting of many characters seem highly exaggerated, but not in a good way like Saints Rows games. Only Rico has the most likable personality, to me.
Gameplay
This game is an open-world and action genre. The game's map is massive, with over 300 Locations to discover spanning throughout a number of regions. Each location has their own collectibles and destructible objects for you to destroy.
The game's progression is rather different than usual open-world games. To unlock the next Agency Mission (a.k.a Story Mission), you need to accumulate a certain number of Chaos points. To collect Chaos points, you need to destroy any government controlled objects such as statues, propaganda trailers, water towers, and etc. You may also collect collectibles such as Faction Items and parts for your weapons to get Chaos points.
Freeroaming is rather simple, as you can simply explore every unknown locations in the game, collect Chaos points and get upgrades for your weapons and vehicles. As there are variety of vehicles to be driven, you can even use jets or boats to traverse from different regions faster. As you progress, you can do Fast Travel to any visited locations. You can also use your grappling hook to climb high places faster, use parachutes to glide, and other cool actions such as climbing on cars and maneuvering around it to avoid gunfire.
The combat is simple, as it is mostly third person shooting. You may use any weapons dropped by enemies or stored anywhere in enemy locations such as bases, or you may purchase weapons from your friendly Black Market dealer. The dealer also sell vehicles, which you may buy for quick escape from enemies. You may equip one main weapon such as an assault rifle, two sidearms such as two pistols and explosives such as hand grenades. In different Heat levels, enemies will come to you with more firepower and may call in helicopters to kill you. Enemies will use variety of weapons to kill you, including rocket launchers and sniper rifles.
As you explore different locations in the game, you will find parts to upgrade your weapons or your vehicles. You need to spend them in order to upgrade them. You may also find armour parts which increases your health, which is quite vital when playing in higher difficulty levels.
There are many, many side activities to be done in this game, such as participating in Races. Races may include different vehicles, such as helicopters, speedboats, or even motorcycles. You may purchase more desirable vehicles to win the Races if you want to. Not only that, you may also opt to complete Faction Missions, which involve a variety of objectives such as delivering a VIP target to a destination and others. However, you need to complete Stronghold Takeover Missions first to unlock all Side Missions in the game, and there are several of them spanning out throughout Panau's regions.
The gameplay is simply good and fun. Clearing out enemy bases is simply fun, and doing crazy stunts such as hooking a car on a helicopter to kill enemies are just absurdly fun. The game also offers a lot of content to unlock, as well as fun activities such as sabotaging enemy's structures and races. However, the game can be a bit repetitive in a while, as you won't be fighting any notable enemies outside of main Agency Missions, where you will fight bosses. Controls are overall good, although the driving controls for air vehicles may take some time to get used to. The Agency Missions are rather short and have repetitive objectives, however.
Graphics
For a 2010 game, this game has amazing graphics. The design of Panau's regions are well-designed, with different landscapes to travel such as forests, snowy mountains, and sea. The character models are well-designed, and the vehicles are nice to look at as well. The game's performance is solid, although some screentearing occur during certain cutscenes.
Sound
The soundtrack is good, fitting in most of the game's scenes well. The voice acting is mediocre, as well as somewhat exaggerated and humourous in a way. However, I still prefer Saints Row: The Third's voice acting, as it is much more well-done. The exaggerated accents for many of Panau's characters do not help much either.
Replay Value
Needless to be said, this game has high replay value. You can opt to complete every Faction Mission, Stronghold Takeover, Races and get 100% in every single location. Getting a total 100% in this game will take a long time, and can be difficult if you don't know where to look at as some enemy structures and parts are not located in named locations.
Conclusion
This game is a solid open-world game, with lots of fun to be had in many, many ways. The sheer amount of side-content makes this game worth a long playing time, even after finishing the game. Despite the short main story and repetitiveness, any players who like to play fun open-world games may enjoy this game. The unlikable characters and exaggeratedly voice acting can be an issue to some players, however. Highly recommend check this game out if you like open-world games.
Score
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 7/10
Final Score: 8.5/10.0 or 34/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting story.
- Rico is a strong lead character.
- Panau is an amazing place to explore.
- Fun combat.
- Crazy stunts to be done in the game.
- Grappling hook is fun to use.
- Lots of side-contents.
- Easy to upgrade weapons and vehicles.
- Good graphics.
- High replay value.
Cons
- Many unlikable characters.
- Slightly repetitive.
- Agency Missions are a bit short.
- Exaggerated and poorly done accents by many voice actors in the game other than Rico's.
Rico is an agent sent by the Agency to hunt down his former mentor.
This game takes place in a fictional country called Panau. Rico, an agent of the Agency is tasked to find his old mentor and kill him. In order for him to do so, he need to help certain Factions in the country to gain information of his whereabouts.
The story is rather interesting, but the characters in the game are mostly unlikable. The voice acting of many characters seem highly exaggerated, but not in a good way like Saints Rows games. Only Rico has the most likable personality, to me.
Gameplay
Your grappling hook will be the star of this game.
This game is an open-world and action genre. The game's map is massive, with over 300 Locations to discover spanning throughout a number of regions. Each location has their own collectibles and destructible objects for you to destroy.
The game's progression is rather different than usual open-world games. To unlock the next Agency Mission (a.k.a Story Mission), you need to accumulate a certain number of Chaos points. To collect Chaos points, you need to destroy any government controlled objects such as statues, propaganda trailers, water towers, and etc. You may also collect collectibles such as Faction Items and parts for your weapons to get Chaos points.
Freeroaming is rather simple, as you can simply explore every unknown locations in the game, collect Chaos points and get upgrades for your weapons and vehicles. As there are variety of vehicles to be driven, you can even use jets or boats to traverse from different regions faster. As you progress, you can do Fast Travel to any visited locations. You can also use your grappling hook to climb high places faster, use parachutes to glide, and other cool actions such as climbing on cars and maneuvering around it to avoid gunfire.
Cause chaos with your weapons and armed vehicles.
The combat is simple, as it is mostly third person shooting. You may use any weapons dropped by enemies or stored anywhere in enemy locations such as bases, or you may purchase weapons from your friendly Black Market dealer. The dealer also sell vehicles, which you may buy for quick escape from enemies. You may equip one main weapon such as an assault rifle, two sidearms such as two pistols and explosives such as hand grenades. In different Heat levels, enemies will come to you with more firepower and may call in helicopters to kill you. Enemies will use variety of weapons to kill you, including rocket launchers and sniper rifles.
As you explore different locations in the game, you will find parts to upgrade your weapons or your vehicles. You need to spend them in order to upgrade them. You may also find armour parts which increases your health, which is quite vital when playing in higher difficulty levels.
There are many, many side activities to be done in this game, such as participating in Races. Races may include different vehicles, such as helicopters, speedboats, or even motorcycles. You may purchase more desirable vehicles to win the Races if you want to. Not only that, you may also opt to complete Faction Missions, which involve a variety of objectives such as delivering a VIP target to a destination and others. However, you need to complete Stronghold Takeover Missions first to unlock all Side Missions in the game, and there are several of them spanning out throughout Panau's regions.
The gameplay is simply good and fun. Clearing out enemy bases is simply fun, and doing crazy stunts such as hooking a car on a helicopter to kill enemies are just absurdly fun. The game also offers a lot of content to unlock, as well as fun activities such as sabotaging enemy's structures and races. However, the game can be a bit repetitive in a while, as you won't be fighting any notable enemies outside of main Agency Missions, where you will fight bosses. Controls are overall good, although the driving controls for air vehicles may take some time to get used to. The Agency Missions are rather short and have repetitive objectives, however.
Graphics
Great graphics.
For a 2010 game, this game has amazing graphics. The design of Panau's regions are well-designed, with different landscapes to travel such as forests, snowy mountains, and sea. The character models are well-designed, and the vehicles are nice to look at as well. The game's performance is solid, although some screentearing occur during certain cutscenes.
Sound
Good soundtrack. Humourous voice acting.
The soundtrack is good, fitting in most of the game's scenes well. The voice acting is mediocre, as well as somewhat exaggerated and humourous in a way. However, I still prefer Saints Row: The Third's voice acting, as it is much more well-done. The exaggerated accents for many of Panau's characters do not help much either.
Replay Value
High replay value.
Needless to be said, this game has high replay value. You can opt to complete every Faction Mission, Stronghold Takeover, Races and get 100% in every single location. Getting a total 100% in this game will take a long time, and can be difficult if you don't know where to look at as some enemy structures and parts are not located in named locations.
Conclusion
Chaotic fun to be played with.
This game is a solid open-world game, with lots of fun to be had in many, many ways. The sheer amount of side-content makes this game worth a long playing time, even after finishing the game. Despite the short main story and repetitiveness, any players who like to play fun open-world games may enjoy this game. The unlikable characters and exaggeratedly voice acting can be an issue to some players, however. Highly recommend check this game out if you like open-world games.
Score
Story: 7/10
Gameplay: 10/10
Graphics: 10/10
Sound: 7/10
Final Score: 8.5/10.0 or 34/40
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Interesting story.
- Rico is a strong lead character.
- Panau is an amazing place to explore.
- Fun combat.
- Crazy stunts to be done in the game.
- Grappling hook is fun to use.
- Lots of side-contents.
- Easy to upgrade weapons and vehicles.
- Good graphics.
- High replay value.
Cons
- Many unlikable characters.
- Slightly repetitive.
- Agency Missions are a bit short.
- Exaggerated and poorly done accents by many voice actors in the game other than Rico's.
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