Just Cause 3

Weapon of mass destruction right there ^^

Quite a few years back I played a game that would eventually become one of my favorites ever -- spanning greater than 80 hours of my PlayStation 3 era -- and it was very unexpected. 

A completely underrated gem of last generation (and one of its best videogames), Just Cause 2 let its players have copious amounts of awesome, unadulterated fun. What could have been just an average third-person shooter wound up with a genius innovation that completely revolutionized its gameplay and made it a highly unique experience: the grapple and chute. 

This combination of the character's (secret agent Rico Rodriguez) wrist-attached grappling hook and his infinite parachute added a level of maneuverability to the genre than had never been seen, and one that was highly addicting. With the quick aim and press of a button a player could scale up buildings, glide off a cliff, attach to a vehicle, or attach two objects together (my favorite of which being an enemy to a fuel canister). 

Without delving too much further into the past, it was a game that I loved and cherished, and still do today. It's a shame that it wasn't more widely recognized/praised, but luckily it did well enough to warrant a highly anticipated sequel, Just Cause 3. 

One of the best levels in any game, ever.

It's called falling! With style!

Just Cause 3, exclusive to the "new" generation of consoles, promised to be bigger, more full of explosions, and better. At first it seemed like the developers bit off more than they could chew as early reviews indicated that the game had some serious technical difficulties with framerate and slowdown. Because of such a busy game season this Winter, I waited on purchasing it until a few weeks after release and didn't really start diving into it until mid January. My game was almost completely bug free and outside of a handful of occasions, suffered very minimally from slowdown. A few patches could have changed that, yes, but know that the game I'm speaking to and eventually grading will be off what I encountered and not what may have potentially existed before I started playing. 

The game's main story, arguably not its strongest point, was still decently great. My biggest gripe with Just Cause 2 was that the story missions could be completed within the span of 6 hours easily and it was merely just a construct for the rest of the game to exist. Just Cause 3 however sees its hero, Rico, head back to his fictional Italian/Spanish home island of Medici. Medici is now run by a violent and menacing dictator, Di Ravello, who was surprisingly a good villain. Rico has come back to liberate his people from the regime and the whole story (missions and cutscenes) is closer to 20 hours this time around, with some very memorable missions throughout. Have you ever played a game where a mission sees you steal an enormous cargo plane, "surf" the top of it, and take down pursuing enemy jets with a sniper or grapple hook? Yeah. Didn't think so. Some of the missions are more standard fare, but I appreciate the developer's approach to really address the single biggest complaint many players had about the first game with some awesome results. As I alluded to, the story is nothing revolutionary, nor is it surprising, but for a game as large as this that basically got away with not having a story last time, it's pretty awesome to have a good/great campaign to accompany all the extra stuff the player can do.

Trophy Awarded: "Jaw Dropped"

"Did I do thaaaaat?"

And there's definitely a lot to do. I've heard several reviews/players cite Just Cause 3 for being repetitive and eventually boring. I don't necessarily disagree with them but this series is really what the player makes of it. If all you do is go around running and gunning, it will get old very fast. But for those who use the tools/physics/weapons creatively, it's a blast of constant experimentation. The game (outside of the single player campaign) mostly consists of liberating territories by taking over cities/outposts from Di Ravello's army. It boils down to: go here, shoot and/or blow up all the things marked red, rinse, repeat. Again, I reiterate that you get out of the game whatever level of creativity you put into it. Some of these outposts are very small and may only take one well placed explosive charge, while others would take upward of 20 minutes to destroy everything. The map is so massive (more on that later) that there are tons of these throughout and completing them opens up more potential activities for you to partake in. There are several types of challenges that the player may complete and performing well in these challenges results in the ability to upgrade your gear and unlock new abilities. Some of the challenge types are rather dull -- target practice and boat racing come to mind -- while others led to some highlight moments of the game. My two favorites were Blast Run challenges (think Speed with a mini nuke and you bail out at the last second) and the Wingsuit Courses that were often just as gorgeous as they were challenging.

It also features the runway
from Fast and Furious 6!

Continuing on with my master-level segues, the wingsuit brings up another plus and probably the game's strongest aspect: game mechanics. The gunplay is unfortunately just as shallow as it was last time and easily the game's weakest platform, but traversal is the true "name of the game" and Just Cause 3 is completely unrivaled in this sense. The game introduces the wingsuit this time and it's just as revolutionary as the chute n' hook was, especially once you unlock some of its better uses. Within a few hours most players will have their own unique style of moving around using the combination of grapple hook, infinite parachute, and wingsuit. Personally I became really good at combining the grapple hook and wingsuit to move along, but it took a considerable amount of practice. Watching Rico get around can be hilarious (when you mess up) and poetic while you watch him float across tree tops, zip around buildings, and fall between canyons. Once combat begins, managing your traversal becomes a bit more complicated, but even more important and the game really does have some insane possibilities for the player. There weren't too many times where I wondered, "Can I do that?" and the answer was no.

And then there's the map. The gorgeous, absolutely insanely large, variety-filled map. There aren't many open world games that have maps anywhere close to the same size as Just Cause 3 and even fewer that pack in its variety. You have jungles, fields, snowy mountains, cliffs, small towns, skyscraper-filled cities, caves, beaches, ocean, even a freaking volcano. While the graphics of cars/weapons/people aren't amazing (they aren't bad either), it's the game's display of its world that is awe inspiring. The sun sets behind beautiful vistas, fields of purple flowers blow in the wind, ocean glimmers reflect mountainous tree lines...the list could go on and on. For a game this large to look this good is quite the achievement. 

"Gotta get to the grocery store fast! I'll take the quickest route!"

I've praised the game for several paragraphs now and that's because its a hard game to really be harsh on. There are bugs here and there and when a lot of explosions happen on screen it definitely slows down. I also think that it lacks some creativity when it comes to all the outposts/towns you have to liberate. No matter how creative you get, by the 40th time you are often going through the motions to a certain degree. The game also has some pretty dramatic load times both in death and definitely with initial boot-up. Most of these issues are being consistently addressed by the developer and I know that I personally have seen improvement from when I started playing. 

"I can almost smell the wheat!"

If you're one of those people who remained on the fence about Just Cause 3 because of the supposed performance issues, I assure you they are largely in the past now. It's a shame that so many major outlets had poorly performing experiences with the game because in just a couple months time I really believe this is a true gem to be had of this gaming generation. It's still one of the most innovative games around when it comes to player movement, but it also offers up endless scenes of awesome, impossible mayhem that you most definitely won't find anywhere else. 

I mean for f**k's sake...what other game let's you surf on top of a F-16? 

CONS:

• Some performance issues still linger, especially when things get really hectic
• Long load times
• With so many outposts/cities to liberate, the process eventually grows a bit stale
• Some lame single player missions
• No new innovations to gunplay. This would be an absolute iconic game if there was some type of cover system

PROS:

• Much improved single player campaign with a good story, solid cast of characters, and violent villain. Features some really fun and memorable missions
• Tons to do outside of missions. Liberating locales is a ton of fun but I also really enjoyed the challenges
• The wingsuit for the win. So. Much. Win.
• Fantastic environmental graphics. The game is increasingly gorgeous with the more of the countryside that you can see
• Medici is a fantastic map with a lot of variety. Nearly unprecedented in size and scope, it's a wonder the game looks as good as it does
• Great assortment of vehicles and weapons. Some real treats in there
• Realistic sound effects and a good original score
• Unrivaled when it comes to game mechanics. The chute+hook+wingsuit combo is nothing short of genius and allows the player to really play their way. Trust me when I say that it makes it really hard to go back to other third-person games that only offer a "sprint" button
• These game mechanics bleed over into all other mechanics like driving, flying, falling, etc. It's a really well thought out and designed system
• FUN. There aren't many games that can match the level of pure joy and mayhem that Just Cause 3 seems to do so effortlessly

Rath's Review Score: 9/10