Despite the weak elements, Just Cause 2 is quite a blast.
Rico Rodriguez is an agent of the US government, working for an agency aptly named, The Agency. When the president of the Panau islands dies and his son takes over and turns the countries back on the US, they send Rico to find out why and take of things. How? By doing what he does best, kicking as much ass and causing as much chaos as he can. After a rather rocky landing, Rico finds himself in need of allies and is forced to work for the criminal factions of Panau to gain the information he seeks and find an old friend. The story of Just Cause 2 is rather silly and it's certainly not one of the stronger elements of the game but that's what adds onto the charm Just Cause 2.
Rico Rodriguez is an agent of the US government, working for an agency aptly named, The Agency. When the president of the Panau Islands dies and his son takes over and he turns Panau's back on the US, they send Rico to find out why and take of things. How? By doing what he does best, kicking as much ass and causing as much chaos as he can. After a rather rocky landing, Rico finds himself in need of allies and is forced to work for the criminal factions of Panau to gain the information he seeks and find an old friend. The story of Just Cause 2 is rather silly and it's certainly not one of the stronger elements of the game but that's what adds onto the charm Just Cause 2.
In Just Cause 2 players will spend most of their time exploring the enormous island of Panau performing crazy stunts with the grappling hook, searching for a plethora of upgrades and blowing tons of things up all in the name of chaos. Chaos is everything in Just Cause 2. It's the only way to progress through the main story, gain faction missions and unlock other weapons and vehicles on the black market. Blowing up military installations and taking out other forms of propaganda offers plenty of benefits from cash to slowing down the military when Rico has them on alert. Blowing up large communications towers hinders the militaries response to Rico's actions and taking down statues of Baby Panay will encourage citizens to take up arms and join one of the three factions who aid Rico in the game. There's a very wide variety of transportation for Rico to utilize and traverse the island of Panau that range from beaten cars to jet planes. Using the transportation however, is one of the more frustrating parts of the game. Maneuvering vehicles like cars and trucks is problematic. They often spin out, flip and soar through the air at the slightest touch of any kind of foreign entity in the game. Upgrading your vehicles will make them tougher and some may even gain machine guns or rockets when fully upgraded but that hardly makes the land vehicles more fun to use. Navigating the map using the Black Market's "Extraction" feature and using the grappling hook to slingshot Rico to his destination is usually the best way to go about things.
As you liberate settlements and take down military bases you'll come across hundreds of upgrades for the black market for either your guns or vehicles and even armor upgrades to give Rico a boost of health which you'll need because the soldiers in Just Cause 2 don't play around. Rico will often find himself facing off against numerous enemies and it's easy to be gunned down since Rico doesn't fully recover from serious injuries and the enemies often pack some serious weaponry. Upgrading your weapons and vehicles will help thin the herd and make Rico's job much easier later on in the game. Rico will be able to hold more ammo and do more damage. Gunplay, like the driving, is also one of the weaker aspects of the game though. It's not as frustrating as the driving but it can be an annoyance when the crosshairs turn red targeting a foe but the bullets hit the object Rico is trying to take cover behind. Rico also can't seem to move or fire a gun in a crouched position.
The island of Panau is very large and very pretty, unlike the hideous character models. Players will notice how much detail was put into the various environments and those who search the nooks and crannies will be thrilled to see all sorts of to goodies hidden in the game. The sound effects such as the explosions are great but, then there's the voice acting which is... well, absolutely terrible. Just Cause 2 may be a game that doesn't takes itself seriously but that's no excuse to purposefully include nauseating voice acting into your game. Let's not forget that when a character is talking during gameplay, they often repeat a word three or four times before finishing.
Despite the weak driving and shooting elements, Just Cause 2 is still incredibly fun and a large improvement from the first. Infiltrating a military base and blowing it sky high is a blast. Using your grappling hook to yank enemies from high places or stringing them up to high places and beating them like a piñata is entertaining. There's a ton of variety for players to explore. Ramming a vehicle into a gas pump to take out a gas station and then hijacking a helicopter and using it to take out a communications outpost only to be shot down by SAMs is exciting. If anyone is looking to wreak some chaos then Just Cause 2 is certainly the way to go.