Enter a world of mayhem and prepare to stay there for a long time

User Rating: 9 | Just Cause 2 PC
By ddlagarry | Review Date:
I recently finished GTA IV after it went on sale on steam. I was absolutely floored by that game and its open world approach to action gaming. It was as if you took all the things you love about cheesy 70's action movies and created an interactive experience out of it where you decide the pace.

Just Cause 2 does the same thing for the "Spy Action Thriller" genre. This is immediately evident with the opening music with a melody right out of James Bond. I am again lost in a gamewold and having a GREAT time. There are a few flaws however, keeping this game from being a perfect 10.

The Good:

1. The game world is HUGE (like 400 square miles, like it would take about 10-15 minutes to fly across it in a fighter jet huge - has anyone actually tried this?) and the landscape varies from ocean, to tropical, to snop capped mountains, to desert. Each environement is accompanied by excellent ambient sounds, from the sound of the soft surf lapping your feet at sundown to the whistle of the cold snowy wind at higher altitides.

2. There are a large variety of drivable/pilotable vehicles. There are prop engine planes, jets, helicopters, fishing boats, speed boats, APCs, sports cars, motorcycles, 4x4's, scooters, and a few vehicles that I did not recognize.

3. The gameplay is excellent and keeps you wanting more. There is an unlock system for weapons/vehicles, steam achievements, plenty of scripted story and side missions, a lot of places to discover, a lot of things to destroy, challenges... you will spend about 100 hours getting to 100%. The whole premise of destroying things to advance the game forward is a stroke of genius.

4. The missions are varied and fun.

5. The grappling hook as a tool in this game is indespensible and fun... this is good considering you use it constantly, and it has soooo many uses.

The Bad:

1. The car driving is sloshy. I have tried both the mouse/keyboard and XBOX controller... it can be difficult to maneuver a vehicle at times... definitely does not "feel" as good as GTA IV in this area. Driving an airplane well requires an XBOX controller, but this is expected.

2. The voice acting is atrocious at times... but then again this game is supposed to be a parody of cheesy action movies, and it accomplishes that in spades.

3. The damage modeling often seems unrealistic in terms of how it looks, how it sounds, and how your vehicle behaves. GTA did a better job of this. The eventual explosions are spectacular however.

These issues have not deterred from my enjoyment of the game however.

I highly recommend this game to anyone... in particular fans of Far Cry 2 or GTA IV.

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