I need to blow stuff up .. lah
Rico, the main character who works for an agency called "the agency" is simply an errand boy but skilled at getting jobs done no matter the task given to him. These factions all have one thing in common which is to take over the government that is oppressing the people and Rico needs to help capture strategic areas of the map for these psychos to overthrow the greedy government of Panau.
Forget the storyline which disappears as soon as you really get into the heart of the game which is causing chaos and lots of it. Blowing things up and hunting Generals has never been fun. Getting around the Island is easier as you can perform a grand theft auto all over the Island with any car, bike, truck, chopper, jet fighters and even planes. You have a choice on how you want to approach a particular mission. Stronghold missions involve you leading an engineer into a facility and taking it over. Standard missions are given at random and can range from mediocre to top class. Agency missions progress the main storyline. In order to get a new agency mission, you have to cause enough chaos to activate an agency mission. This is always fun until it gets boring quickly.
Auto targeting helps in gunning down enemies. It is not the best shooter out there but it works. You get the standard guns like a pistol, shotgun, rocket launcher, grenades, etc which are all upgradable to be more deadly and your shooting gallery. When you proceed in the game, you get unlocks to different equipment that help you survive the Island ranging from better guns to gunships.
Other ridiculous things you can do on this Island is grappling onto anything. I mean anything. You can grapple onto a moving plane, van, truck, boat, etc. You can Jump from the topmost floor of skylines and grapple onto an enemy helicopter, beat the pilot and hijack the chopper with ease. There is even a club in the sky where you can party. You can grapple onto a gas tank and onto an enemy at the same while you watch as the tank takes your foe into mid air. Focusing on ground combat will get repetitive quickly but engaging in everything the Island has to offer is far more rewarding. Apart from the missions, there are challenges you can perform all around the Island. There are car races, boat races, point to point air races and so on.
The storyline took me about 22 hours to complete according to the game and I only completed 30% of the whole game. Just Cause 2 is a gorgeous looking game to boot. Panua is probably the most beautiful looking open world game I have ever encountered to date with cold conditions to the north of the map, desert plains and cities with skyscrapers all with a night and day cycle. Planes, jets and helicopters handle beautifully and was easy to pick up without crashing even the first time. Flying over Panua is a thing of beauty until you get shot down. Sound design is very good despite the bad voice acting. Explosions and gun shots sound just right and make it feel like your military paraphernalia carries weight. Rico and co are the only characters that receive better animation while the others look plain.
Just Cause 2 is not a serious game and deserves to be treated that way. It is a goofy over the top action game with lots of stunts to make Hollywood jealous but under the hood it is fun and addictive for any one who wants to blow stuff up