By Peeps
Just Cause 2 is a sandbox style action game that offers extreme action stunts, hit or miss humor, and a massive world to roam. The setting is an adventure set in a fictional South-Eastern Asia setting; this allows for a few different climates. The grappling hook mechanic does allow for a lot of different combat options, but it does have some aiming issues and gets a few odd hiccups here and there. The shooting is odd at times, and does get frustrating during group fights. The weapon variety is pretty solid allowing for some neat combat options when combined with the grappling options.
The carjacking system can be fun, but during some of the missions it can be incredibly frustrating. The car handling is fairly touchy considering the terrain, and the camera has occasional hiccups during driving as well. There is a fair variety of vehicle types available, but many are not too useful in certain areas. The camera can be a bit dodgy at times, but for the most part it does well outside of driving sections. Graphics are excellent, and allow for more ease in item hunting. Environment design is great, and combined with the great graphics it is easy to get lost in the scenery and spend hours roaming. There are some graphical pop ups here and there, as well as a few invisible walls that I encountered in my playthrough.
The music is fairly downplayed, except during cutscenes or major events, it is however very suitable for the setting. The voice acting is a bit odd, although it is part of the “cheesy action movie” feel. The replay value is low, but there is alot of sidequesting to do, so it takes a very long time to get 100% completion. The missions feel as if they have great variety at first, but after a while begin to feel repetitive. The learning curve for some of the early missions can be a bit tough, but after some collecting many missions become easily manageable.
Overall Just Cause 2 is a solid action game for fans of the “sandbox” style of game. With great graphics and interesting, yet sometimes buggy controls, and a large world, this game will have many hours of gameplay opportunities.
