Just Cause 2, made by the developers over at Avalanche Games, is one of the craziest, most over-the-top games I have ever played, featuring more huge explosions than any other game on the market today. Much like its predecessor the sequel boasts a huge open world environment, third-person action gameplay, and of course a grapple.

Story

The game takes place on the island of Panau, probably the most diverse piece of land on earth which includes high rising icy mountains, small tropical islands, and barren desert wastelands. You are put in the shoes of an American Special Agent named Rico Rodriguez, a very Nathan Drake like person with a rugged but stylish personality. Rico is sent to the island of Panau to find his old mentor, Tom Sheldon, who has just went missing and was sent on the mission to free the Island of its terrible dictator. Rico must team-up with the three gang like factions that oppose and want to overthrow the dictatorship government that exists, and all the while be on the lookout for Sheldon.

The story isn’t too incredibly deep but offers some incentive to pursue the main quest all up to the end of the game. However, in-order to receive faction/agent missions you must first cause some chaos, in-order to do that you must go to the over 300 separate towns and military bases and destroy anything with the government logo on it. Destroying anything big or small gives you the chaos needed to continue though the game which will unlock more than just missions, it also will give you access to what seems like hundreds of different races and a handful of items you can purchase from the black market, including attack choppers, snipers, and race cars.

The Missions in Just Cause 2 are a bit on the boring and repetitive side because they mainly require you goto point A blow something up and then take something to point B and only a few missions offer anything more than just that. Also each faction drop off point where you receive the mission only has three to five different animations, involving a boat or a car pulling up telling you must go to point A then point B and then drop off a box with some form of ammunition to help you through the mission. Early on in Just Cause 2 you will realize that the story is on taking itself seriously and is not the primary focus of this game.

GamePlay

Just Cause 2 has some of the most action packed gameplay ever seen in any game ranging from surfing a jet, to jumping form car to car while driving at high speeds and shooting the gunners nestled within, all the way to grappling your way up mountains then making the plunge down and not deploying your parachute until the last second and still surviving. All of this may be fun but first you must get used to the wonky controls and learn how to bet manipulate the grappling hook.

The shooting mechanics seem solid and the general moving of the characters feel smooth and natural. However, even if you play this game for 20 hours you will probably never be able to become an expert at piloting the airplanes found in Just Cause 2 because unlike traditional flying games, that put the flight controls on both sticks allowing you to better control your airplane/jet, Just Cause 2 crams them onto one stick making flying one of the hardest things to over come in this title. Once you overcome the controls, with the exception of the jets, you will find making your way around Panau a joy and will constantly find new things to do with the grappling hook.

The one thing that I feel truly hurts this title is the huge amount of traveling that you must do in order to get your missions and complete them. Throughout Just Cause 2 you travel hundreds of miles which at first is very fun but that it gets old fast, thankfully there is a quick travel option but in order to do so you must have first traveled there and 'discovered' the location, but after that you may visit the area as much as you want, so that problem works itself out over time.

Graphics

Just Cause 2 sports some of the best graphics I have ever seen in an open world game. Flying a helicopter high above the clouds looking down at the magnificent towering mountains is truly breath taking and the way the rising sun shimmers off the splashing waves in the ocean makes one’s jaw drop with awe. The game has exceptionally beautiful visuals, the explosions look better than most and the textures are on par with the rest, the only complaint here would be the animations and the voice over that goes along with it isn’t too great either. But this game overall offers the full visual package and anyone with a large 1080p television is sure to be in for a treat.

Conclusion

Just Cause 2 is a must play game offering unique experiences that can’t be found in any other game, from the huge open world to the awesome grappling mechanics, this game has everything I would want in an Open World Action game. And if you are on the fence about purchasing Just Cause 2, I would encourage you to purchase this fantastic game, or at very least rent, you will get many hours of fun gameplay and won’t regret the purchase.