Despite some issues, Just Cause 2 is fun game with some over the top gameplay and the biggest sandbox world to date
The game's story revolves around Rico descending on the island to find a rogue agent (Tom Sheldon) and also to remove Baby Panay, an evil dictator with vendetta's against the USA, Russia and Japan. The story is quite poor due to bad writing and obvious plot twists. But of course no game is made great because of it's story and the developer's wanted to focus on the gameplay itself.
JC2 releases you into the absolutely enourmous world of Panau as soon as you complete the first mission. There is so much to find and do that you'll have your hands full most of the time. Panau is divided into a capital city, icy mountains, deserts and many jungles and oceans in between. With 104 different vehicles and an extraction feature, the island becomes easy to traverse. The aim is to cause chaos through blowing up goverment property and finding over 2000 upgrades for weapons, vehicles and armour scattered around the 400 square miles. Doing this unlocks faction (Side) missions to further increase the chaos, new black market items to buy and agency missions to progress the story. Consistant searching can uncover some secrets too such as a mile high club and a giant satelite dish. Though some remote islands are disappointingly empty and some places cannot be returned to after completing a mission. You'll be surprised how quickly the story plays out but there is plenty to do afterwards. Most will be disapointed by the lack of coop play however.
JC2 is divided into shooting, driving and platforming mechanics. Up to 20 weapons are at your disposal from a frag grenade to the mighty rocket launcher. These are used in tandem with Rico's incredibly useful grappling hook. There are many techniques to use in combat from pulling an enemy owards you and tying one to the back of a vehicle. The game ecourages you to be creative in killing and destroying but the targeting can sometimes be fiddly due to a generous auto target system. This happens especially during a firefight. I found myself grappeling to a ledge instead of pulling an enemy down. Heat measures how much the enemy are chasing you and this scales based on chaos throughout the game. Sometimes it can be overwhelming with helicopters and heavily armed troops bearing down on you, though vehicles can also be hijacked and used. Dying sends you back to the nearest faction base which is ok but there are only a maximum of nine and these are sometimes far from a mission start point. Also some missions are frustrating as they often make you start again with none of the items you found before. The checkpoints aren't as terrible as Bionic Commando but they can be annoying. The game overcomes these issues thanks to intense chase scenes, crazy stunts and dramatic getaways. JC2 is one of the most action packed games ever made and this keeps the game from feeling shallow as a shooter.
JC2 boasts an amazing looking island with multiple weather and time patterns though some textures look flat up close. No player will ever tire of the explosive madness always taking place on screen at break neck speed. Rico is well animated though facial animations are sometimes awkward in cutscenes but the game still looks great from a distance. I'd advise flying a helicopter or plane to get the best views.
JC2 is a fun game that succeds at retaining the action movie feel. It may not make superb status but sandbox games get no bigger or action packed than this and any action fan should consider this.