(funny review) Now this is gonna be fun… KABOOM!
The setting for Jesus Christ 2 has returning Hollywood stuntman & mercenary, Rico Rodriguez being sent to the island nation of Panau to stop an overthrowing ruler. He works for an agency called the… 'Agency' (the creativity is literally busting at its seams). This story is into to paper thin characters, stereotypes, and very cliché dialogue. But don't worry; Just Cause 2 is clearly placing every last marble it has in something it knows how to do really well.
It's your job to free (as in destroy) Panau by disbanding all resources the government's harsh communism has enforced. This creates chaos; the more chaos, the more the government enforcement breaks down which will bring light to the prime target(s); and hence, the motives for the main missions. Anything painted red and white is something that can be destroyed to create chaos and income. In fact, everything from missions to collectibles, diversions, and new districts of Panau are all dependent on chaos. This means you are free to lollygagger between missions until you satisfy the God of Chaos… or get somebody really angry. You encounter 3 different factions who will task you with everything I already mentioned. There are also races where you drive a vehicle (plane, helicopter, motorcycle, car, boat, etc) to go through a wild course of obstacles. Who says boats can't drive on land? Just Cause sure doesn't; however, vehicle control is a pain. Most any car drives like there's a jet engine under the hood which causes a lot of over steering. Heavier cars are good enough to make sure you don't intentionally vroom right into a building (or the local terrain).
Combat is obviously going to be a huge part of the game when we talk explosions (and there are thousands of them). You'll dish it out like Rambo with all the regular bad boys and a few of each different vehicle classes. You can even grapple onto any vehicle and take multiple positions to take out soldiers; upon taking them out, you can then hijack the vehicle via a simple Quick Time event. This all works very well; however shooting enemies on a car suffers from some collision detection issues. Half-the-time you need to navigate your new car to get to its weapon (thus compromising driving control); it's almost as if it was designed for a cooperative play (but that exists nowhere). At any time, you can grapple onto anything, as well as swing and fly so fast and far that the game's camera may have trouble keeping up with you. With the parachute, it becomes one of the best means of traversal for an undisputable, by leaps and bounds, the largest environment I've ever seen.
As you progress, Rico will accumulate a stockpile of weapons, vehicles, and a fast travel option supplied by the agency. Beyond completing missions there are well over 300 optional locations to 'complete' by blowing 'em to bits or snagging up resource items. These resource items upgrade your health, vehicles, weapons, or supply money. Beware however, for the military power of Panau is quite strong and aggressive. This mortal enemy of seemingly every person they encounter reminds me of a swarm of bees; as in extremely angry bees, with guns, who drive like maniacs, and wish death upon you with their macho one-liners. How so, doing anything that is even slightly suspicious around them sounds a full blown alarm (sometimes, you may be attacked for no reason other than standing beside them). The escalating situation can lead to something similar to a small war; that's where a quick escape comes in with the grappling hook.
You might not believe this but a game 10 times the size of most other games still looks excellent; the terrain and ease of scaling are just the start of quite a nice looking game. Everything is well detailed, crisp looking, and the frame rate almost never takes a dive. You can literally 'destroy' some little things but folks, the explosions are spectacular as they not only look big and umm, explosive but they come in all different shapes and sizes. Character models look a little simple and the landscape isn't anything special; but this is a playground, not a paradise. The sound effects sound quite good too; when the visuals shine, the sound design shines. The music also sounds pretty good; but the acting is anything but good. How much bang you'll get for your buck is entirely dependent on how committed you are. If you wanna just blast through the main game, it'll take you 30 hours; beat every mission in the game? About 50 hours. Finally, if want to 100% the game, you might lose track of time, however I'm drawing the line at 120 hours.
Just Cause 2 is my personal favorite PS3 game in my collection thus far; but for good reasons. What really makes Just Cause 2 such a highlight experience is the tech being pushed way beyond what we've ever seen; the size, the stunts, action, chaotic speed, and havocking physics. When all that the next-gen tech developers talk up their ass finally is harnessed, the freedom and just plain bananas situations you can create become something where the technology really makes the difference. I can't tell you how many times I was blowing Panau to kingdom come and I just wanted to do something dumb to see what was going to happen. Some of these incidents include:
#570 -Finding out what happens if I shoot one of my C4 charges (at a close range)
#12321 -Shooting the tire of a high-speed vehicle
#97 -Riding a compressed gas container high into the sky
#2306 -Driving vehicles over gigantic cliffs
#16 -Trying to wipeout gas stations with a car (and evading the successful explosion)
#22000 -Grapple-flinging enemies off of tall buildings
#353 -Using a motorcycle to evade a helicopter firing its chain gun
#1-Narrowly escaping especially large explosions
#100 -Improperly using vehicles to create an interestingly creative situation (planes on roads, boats on buildings, flying cars)
#33 -Tethering enemies to anything you know will cause pain
+Plenty of content
+Technically excellent graphics and sound
+Combat & physics can lead to chaotically hilarious situations
+Lots of freedom and ease of navigation
-Vehicles are a basket case
-Write off characters, story, and dialogue