Reviews

The original Just Cause game was something of a sleeper hit, with the finished article a far more polished and interesting affair than the rotten demo that preceded it. It also proved to be something of a technical marvel, with a massive map that was even squeezed down onto the Playstation 2. Almost four years later, Rico Rodriguez has returned, this time without any previous generation hardware to hold him back.

Set in the fictional Asian nation of Panau, JC2 sees Rico desperately trying to overthrow the corrupt government who are hell bent on eliminating any and all foreign influence from their nation, a process which isn't limited to rounding up and capturing any non-locals. This is no easy task, especially given the fact that Panau is abso-flipping-lutely massive.

One of the things that the first game was best known for was its death-defying base jumps and parachute landings. Therefore, it comes as no real surprise that the first action of the game sees you plummeting from a chopper and coming to a landing on a snow-capped mountain. Fail to land within the designated area, and you'll be taken to the "Restart from Checkpoint" screen, something that you're likely to become very familiar with as you progress.

While the bulk of the game involves free-roaming around the massive landscape, you're kept on something of a leash to begin with - forced to play the opening two missions of the main story before you're given license to wander. Once you are let loose, you have to earn further progress in the story by causing as much chaos as possible. Travelling between towns, villages and big cities, you're required to destroy government property and collect pick-ups which add to your various chaos meters (PS3 owners can even record and upload videos of their antics). As the meters fill, you'll unlock new story and faction missions, as well as stronghold raids, and you'll even gain access to bonus weapons and vehicles on the black market.

It's very similar to the Respect system found in the Saints Row series, though the four meters fill at different speeds. Naturally, the agency (story) missions bar fills up the slowest, but that's because you can count the number of those missions on your hands. These missions are also a lot lengthier than the faction missions and stronghold takeovers, and are generally split into several parts. It's the faction missions that crop up far more regularly, and generally feature the age-old GTA style objectives of "go there, steal that/rescue them, bring it/them back".