Just Cause 2

[Astor]

As I was walking to work this morning I noticed in the window my local GAME that Just Cause 2 has just been released here in Europe today.

 

Is it any good?

 

I liked the first game, so if it's anywhere near similar as that i'm probably going to enjoy the sequel as well, but I was wondering if anyone here has played it, and if they could give us the lowdown on if it's worth a play or not.

[swphreak]

I got my copy earlier this week, and have played 10 hours so far. The story is pretty much forgettable, and people complain that the voice acting is terrible (doesn't really bother me that much). The real draw for Just Cause 2 is the hugeass sandbox you get to play in. I can't remember what they said the map size is, but google tells me 35 Joystiq says 400 square miles.

 

There are tons of vehicles to drive: cars, choppers, planes, and boats. You got the usual mix of weapons: pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and special weapons.

 

You progress through the story by completing missions, and you get more missions by "causing chaos" (destroy stuff with the government star logo).

 

I find myself putting on headphones and listening to podcasts while playing the game. There are tons of villages and military bases to explore and destroy. One of my goals is to get 100% for every village/base/etc.

 

I'd give the game a 3 out of 5. Not terrible, but not spectacular either. I'd wait til the price drops to $30 or $40. I only got it because I had Amazon gift balance, and I had a $15 off promotion. Plus, I'm getting another $15 off a future game.

[True_Avery]

Download the Free Demo. You get an hour timelimit, but unlimited resets but only about 4 square miles to run around. You have all the basic stuff, but you have access to a plane, some choppers, and a decent amount of running space so if you enjoy the Demo... you'll probably enjoy the whole game.

 

Been saying this a lot lately, but this is a game to be enjoyed with others. It is single player, but it is just one of those games where fantastic things happen on a pretty regular basis. Think of the funniest crashes, game breaks, etc in GTA4, then basically assume this game is built around them.

 

The game does not make a good first impression, however. IMO, it is a pretty ****ty PC port and plays much smoother on the Consoles. Me and my friends first reaction was "wow... this is it?" and put it down for a day. We decided to pick it up the next day and did some google searching on how to do some of the trailer stunts and bam, f'in hilarious game. Once you get some decent control of the grapple (which actually has a steep learning curve to master due to the controls) and your parachute, it basically becomes spiderman with assault rifles.

 

That aside, its worth at least downloading the Demo and going as high up as you can to just get an idea of how enormous this map is. The Demo section is probably the collective size of one of the islands in GTA4, and probably doesn't take up more than 7% of the entire map. The world is breathtakingly huge, and I believe is the largest constant environment is gaming so far.

 

So, in summary, this is really a game that needs to be tried on its own and that is where the Demo comes in.

[swphreak]

Oh, forgot to mention, I'm playing the 360 version. It seems the PS3 version has some youtube recording/sharing feature, and some people claim the game itself is slightly better on the PS3.

 

 

The game would definitely have been better with co-op. Specifically, free range co-op. Not like Mercs 2 where you had to stay together a certain distance.

 

Like Avery said, give the demo a try on whatever platform you own.

 

Edit: According to Joystiq, the map is 400 square miles. Which sounds right since it takes forever to get anywhere.

[Revan 411]

Story and characters are forgettable at best and the PC port is horribly made, designed, utilized and broken. The lip syncing in cut-scenes are way out of place and cheapens the entire experience for me to the point where I HAVE to skip the cut-scenes so that I get to blow up stuff in the game's sandbox.

 

Speaking of sandbox, it is indeed quite huge. And its also one of the most detailed designed sandbox world I've ever seen in a video game. I guess my final comments on this game would be this: Wait until the price drops to 20 or 30 bucks and then get either the Xbox or PlayStation 3 ones instead. Whatever you do, AVOID the PC version... (Horribly optimized.)

 

In fact, I'm probably going to play this game in the future on my 360 when the price drops to $30.00.