Just Cause 2 Review - Xbox 360

8

Gameplay: 10
Graphics: 9
Audio: 8
Innovation: 8

Game developers can sit in their conference rooms, or their murky office, or even their mother's basements pondering on what sort of combination of equipment could make a game the best imaginable. Take Quake for instance, with rocket launchers that don’t kill you but actually help you if you fire it at your feet while jumping, and Grand Theft Auto, where the combination of hookers and being able to kill hookers has kept the series running for more than a decade. The developers at Avalanche Studios and Eidos have created a series this generation which, after some major tweaking, can shine in all of its glory. Just Cause 2, with the help of a trusty grappling hook and disposable parachutes, is an experience like no other.

Gameplay

Just Cause 2 is 007 film after 007 film of explosive action missions. The first mission, your "tutorial mission", has you assaulting a military base high in the snowy peaks, jumping out of a helicopter. From there on, the game has a couple more main story missions before placing you in the open-world extravaganza of fictional country Palau. Based heavily on practically any revolution story you've ever heard of, you must help rebel gangs rise up against a corrupt government while secretly having the "Agency" fund your endeavours. The whole story is very cliche, but it fits.

Your two main pieces of equipment are your parachute (your backpack has an infinite supply) and grappling hook. Guns are an optional extra, and it would have been nice to see some sort of achievement where you complete the game (or even just a mission) without using a gun, as your grappling hook is one of your most violent and fun weapons, especially before you've upgraded your guns. You are now able to grapple one object to another, and this creates countless hours of hillarity and fun as you grapple enemies to the back of a plane, or grapple a car chasing you to a tree. There are actually achievements for using your grappling hook in unique ways, which is great as we feel some of the hardcore shooter fans may neglect to use it as much as they should.

The game is laid out very similarly to the most recent games in the Grand Theft Auto series and has you traversing around the country for missions, races, hidden items, and just carnage. In fact, the carnage is tallied up in the form of Chaos Points, which you need in order to unlock missions throughout the game.

When you enter a town or a military base, a percentage score comes up on the screen of how anti-government the place is. Once you destroy all of the key government structures, which include propaganda vans, water towers, power generators, fuel tanks, and collect items scattered around, including cash boxes, weapon upgrades, and vehicle upgrades, your percentage score will increase. Some of the smaller villages may only have one or two things to destroy or gather. Once you complete 100% of an area, you ...