What's new

Just Cause 3: In Review

jc3.jpg


Many of you, like me, will have played both Just Cause and Just Cause 2. Both great games in their own right, but now we have Just Cause 3 to sink our teeth into. I have spent the past week playing and testing the game and I am going to tell you about my experiences.

Firstly, a little background. In Just Cause 3 as in the rest of the series, the player controls Rico Rodriguez, who has returned to his homeland of the fictional Mediterranean paradise known as the Republic of Medici to take down the evil dictator Sebastiano Di Ravello. Di Revello has seized violent control over Rico's homeland and boy is he unhappy about it. A storyline befitting a James Bond novel and a script that could easily be from Johnny English combine to make this a predictable but enjoyable story.

Yet again, the household name mercenary is back to use anything at his disposal to bring down the evil dictator and foil his every move. The player has access to a variety of tools with Just Cause 2 's signature features the grappling hook and parachute reappearing with improved mechanics.

The focus on chaos and exaggerated physics also remain; explosions are a beautiful affair and nothing beats sending a whole batch of gas barrels skyward and watching the ensuing explosive disorder. Just Cause 3 sees the introduction of a new wingsuit and allows players to glide across the world in a much faster way. As with the previous iterations of the series, the player can use their grappling hook to slingshot themselves across the map whilst using both the parachute and the wingsuit.

Parachute_over_town_1.0.jpg


Players can switch between using the parachute and wingsuit freely during missions or free-roam. In addition to the airborne equipment provided, a wide range of weapons like missile launchers and shotgun RPGs, as well as vehicles such as fighter aircraft, planes, ships, and exotic cars, are included in the game. These vehicles can be customized by the player by adding MODS and can also, as always, be used as weapons.

Other game mechanics have been completely overhauled and updated. The player now has the ability to attach and tether multiple objects together with his grappling hook, leading to all new levels of ingenious destruction and sickeningly funny ways to dispatch your enemies. The parachute mechanics have been reworked and you can now shoot enemies from the air while parachuting and thanks to the reworked physics, the whole thing is much more stable and smooth.

Another modified mechanic which stems from the developer leaving out in-game currency is the fact that enemy resistance now scales to what weapon or vehicle you decide to use. If you choose to ride in a tank, the enemy AI matches the power of it and adopts weapons that would be able to take down a tank. Another neat new feature is giving the character infinite C4. Unlike in the predecessors to Just Cause 3 that required players to purchase C4, Just Cause 3 provides this weapon natively as an infinite resource to allow for more chaos.

2807302-jc3_screenshot_fuelexplosion1_13_1422545241.02.15_03.jpg


Another cool feature about Just Cause 3 is the introduction of MODS. These are modifications that can be made to your vehicles or equipment. You can equip your C4 with a jet thruster to give your explosions that little boost they were lacking and you can equip your cars and boats with nitrous for that extra bit of speed to make your getaways.

As always with the series, the player will unlock vehicles and equipment that can be air dropped into their location at a moment's notice. So if you need more tank in your life, you can have it without going to too much effort.

Sadly though, the vehicle handling feels odd and clunky. It didn't take me long to realize that I would be spending most of my time gliding around the map to my objectives as not only can you soar high above the trees avoiding any enemies you may come across, but it is by far the most effective way to travel around from location to location. That is, once you finally end up getting the hang of it.

My first few hours in-game were filled with several curse words as I drilled myself head first into the ground, or in fact any stationary object, trying to get used to the wingsuit but I must admit that there were definitely some hilarious ragdoll moments as my character tumbled through the undergrowth having attacked a tree branch.

image_just_cause_3-27540-3114_0010.jpg


Now, is it worth it? I managed to snag Just Cause 3 at a reduced price thanks to an offer on the PlayStation store and with 20% off the store price, I definitely feel this game is worth the outlay. It is a game that literally gives you as many different ways to destroy things as it can while giving you enough to do to make sure that you will have plenty of hours of gameplay before it reaches the boring and repetitive stage that is common with games like this.

It should be noted that as yet, there is no multiplayer for Just Cause 3, though there are plans by the same modding groups that brought the multiplayer mod to the PC version of Just Cause 2 to bring it to the PC version of Just Cause 3. As it stands, no announcements have been made when it comes to a release date and how the multiplayer will compare to the Just Cause 2 version.

All in all, Just Cause 3 is the best in the series so far; they have managed to combine all that is great from the previous two in the series whilst giving us a whole new level of gameplay in the wingsuit and changes made to the grapple system.

Well, that's that. I'm off to ride a gas canister into the Ozone!
About author
The Irish Assassin
I do stuff.

Comments

There are no comments to display.

Article information

Author
The Irish Assassin
Views
2,127
Last update

More in Reviews

More from The Irish Assassin

Share this article

Top Bottom
Login
Register