Just Cause 3 (2015)

The bar was set pretty high after Just Cause 2, and this sequel, albeit a good game, just doesn't deliver the same glitz and glamor of its predecessor.

The game looks great, with better graphics in a much brighter crisper looking world, but a lot smaller in size with less to see.

With towns and cities that don't differ much in style and size, and with a lot less to destroy, it seemed like much attention wasn't given to the map like it was in Just Cause 2. More detail is given to military bases, that seemed more numerous than the villages. All that while much of the land in between is plain and add much to nothing to the game.

Just Cause 3 is more story driven than the previous, but again lacks in substance due to its underwhelming surroundings and becomes uninteresting and relies on cliché antics.

This game is fun and has its fair share of moments, but is missing the ambiance that made Just Cause 2 so great.

disclaimer: I've only played up to the beginning of Act 2 and reached the second region. I would hold off on writing this until I completed the game but I just literally don't think I will lmao

So, I opened up this game not because I wanted some amazing story, but just because I wanted to have FUN, to blow shit up, to topple an evil regime!!! while technically i did do the latter two, I had almost no FUN!

• Gunplay sucks

• Vehicle combat sucks

• THE ONLY JOY is explosive weapons, but your ammo is so limited unless you're willing to do the dumb challenge missions for upgrades

• The air vehicle controls? JAIL

• The driving is too weighty, why is THAT where we draw a line of psuedo-realism

• Why does Rico stumble about as if drunk when on a boat

• The main missions..... electric chair

• WHY DID THEY FINISH ACT ONE WITH A SHITTIER VERSION OF THE EXACT SAME MISSILE LAUNCH MISSION THAT WAS IN JC2

• the challenges? keep it. if i liked the gameplay maybe these would have been fun, but to me they just spotlight all the aforementioned problems

• the game doesn't look awful but girllll we need square enix to make sure those shoulders match them hips (im on One X, the textures and pop-in, i-)

• the towns are literally lifeless copy pastes with the same ugly police station

• the collectables system sucks and there are SO MANY (FOR WHY)

Positives:

• the script is funny sometimes
• traversal is fun

Gameplay: 4 /5 Story: 2.5/5 Presentation: 3/5

Basis:

Story= plot progression, intrigue, characters, world

Gameplay= Mechanics, gameplay options (freedom), repetition, goals, difficulty

Presentation= graphics, animation, environment/character design, Art direction, Script, music

The game was fun to play. I really liked going from wingsuit to parachute. so much mayhem during combat. Sadly after only about 3 hours of gameplay the game continuously failed to get past their crummy 5 minute long intro. Steam really needs to make sure their games function properly. So I gave up on trying to figure out what was wrong on their end.

JC3 is a lot of messy fun: Driving, flying and parachuting around a beautiful island, killing lots of soldiers with varied weaponry and causing lots of explosions on different terrain types and on all kinds of vehicles.

The story is as trope-y as you can get, not taking itself seriously (riding a missile, anyone?) and impressive ability to save collateral damage done to cars and bases.

Still, beyond the quite-long campaign, the base- and town-liberations can get quite repetitive and I'd suggest playing the game in short bursts over a long period of time rather than binging on it, as that makes the issue worse. The challenges can help.

Personally, I could never get the hang of using airplanes.

In addition, the boss fight in the ending is craptastic bullshit and utterly devoid of value.

There’s bad AI, and then there’s Just Cause 3...

Especially teammate AI. I just failed a mission twice because on both occasions my teammate flew a helecopter, with full health, into either another helecopter or the ground. I get that the game must have a lot under the hood to allow for the degree of freedom present, but man does it ever fail at some basic things.

Eh. this game is alright I guess. I have issues with the shooting, side objectives, and the way upgrades are handled. I used Cheat Engine, which is probably the only reason I got some enjoyment out of this game after about 5-10 hours.

*Score isn't an actual review score. Just a representation of how I feel right after playing. I don't plan on reviewing this game.