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ACTIONTRIP SCORE
6.5
Above Average 

HIGHS
Pretty, great terrain rendering, Rico's aerial stunts, huge landscapes, sense of immersion you get from being able to do what you like in the world;

LOWS
Lacks character, flimsy story, Rico doesn't have the presence and charisma needed, no real incentive to play once the main campaign is done.

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PLATFORM   PC

Just Cause Review

GAME INFO
publisher: Eidos Interactive
developer: Avalanche Software
genre: Action

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS
PIV 1400, 512MB RAM, 5.8GB HDD, 64MB video card
ESRB rating: M
homepage:
www.justcausegame.com/

release date: Sep 26, 06 (released)
» All About Just Cause on ActionTrip


October 06, 2006
Uros "2Lions" Jojic

Of all the unlikely superheroes, Avalanche Studios' latest title, Just Cause, seems to have nailed the unlikeliest - a suave Latino hero (black ops operative) by the name of Rico Rodriguez. Being a black ops operative and all, Rico wears a tight black outfit, has greasy hair and a cross on his neck chain. Rico is a killer with the ladies and has one serious (and I do mean serious) parachuting fetish. I can already picture this guy freefalling from the sky and onto a toilet seat when he needs to take a dump. The extra gel in his hair is by no means a stereotype of some Antonio Banderas wannabe - it's a neat little trick to make Rico more aerodynamic. After all, it's not easy to parachute off a mountain, use a grapple hook gun to hook onto a helicopter in mid air and then hurl yourself somehow onto a flying helicopter (with a spinning rotor and everything), jumping into the pilot seat in the process.

Rico can do all that and more as he wreaks havoc all across a make-believe banana state in South/Central America, the island nation of San Esperito.

Hopefully, my introduction made it quite clear that Just Cause is an over-the-top action game favoring, well, over-the-top stuff. It has a flimsy, clichéd storyline which borders on B movie/soap opera "quality," with characters that are exaggerated and cartoon-ish in almost every way.

Just Cause delivers a free-roaming, sandbox type of gameplay experience. The island nation is pretty huge and the idea is for the player to have one main story line and then a number of side missions that will allow for the unlocking of new weapons, vehicles and such.

The territory of San Esperito is exceptionally large (250,000 acres of mountains, jungles, beaches, cities, and villages to explore, according to the official site), and the landscapes look great. With volumetric clouds and full 3D backgrounds, the landscapes are very much reminiscent of Far Cry's paradise island. Gameplay-wise Just Cause takes some cues from GTA, minus the actually engaging story and characters.

The great thing about the action itself is that you can man all sorts of vehicles and really take Rico wherever your heart desires. During the "liberation missions," the combat can heat up nicely with massive fire fights, and once you get the hang of the stunts, they will occasionally provide some good few minutes of fun.

The bad side to the game is that the main story is really unappealing, mostly because it's so trite and clichéd. The same can be said about Rico who has the action appeal of Roberto Rodriguez' anti-hero gone terribly wrong. No, wait, let me rephrase that - he has the appeal of Mike Horner playing an action-hero, or Sly Stallone in movies where he has control over the "creative direction." In other words, Rico is not as appealing as Avalanche hoped he would be.

On top of that, the vehicle handling is off, and the AI and animation of the bad guys are far from what you'd call good. Especially the death animation. To be fair to the game, the way that Just Cause works, this is hardly intended to be its strong point (the AI that is), so this doesn't take away from the gameplay as much as one might expect.

Ideally, the game allows for such neat stuff as province control where you get to change the balance of power in the game world by building alliances with the local guerrillas and drug cartel.

Theoretically, this should ensure for quite a bit of replayability. Sadly, this is not the case, as once you've finished the main story and unlocked some of the most powerful choppers and weapons; there isn't really much of an incentive for the player to keep playing.

Just Cause had plenty of potential, and in terms of the engine and the technology behind it, it delivers quite nicely. In addition, just looking at the crazy aerial stunts that Rico performs, the game comes off as looking rather spectacular.

Unfortunately, these fun elements simply don't gel well together, so the end product seems rather flat. That's the best way to describe it really. For a game that tries hard to create a flamboyant image for itself, Just Cause simply lacks the punch and the personality to truly deliver on that front. On the bright side, Avalanche does show a lot of potential. Hopefully, they will learn from their mistakes and come back with a stronger contender next time.

PAGE 1




8 post(s)
Reader Comments
Roboman [mail] Oct 06 2006, 12:35 pm EDT
yeah, the vehicle control in the demo was definitely fucking horrendous...it felt like i was driving on the damn moon. and i mean really, do i need a cinematic camera angle when i drive off of a FIVE FOOT HILL AND FLIP ONTO THE ROOF!? what the fuck is that...aside from that, the gunplay was so damn boring. to say the least, i didnt even finish the demo because of the stupid time limit (bad idea for a demo), and then i uninstalled it.
Pavarotti [mail] Oct 06 2006, 12:51 pm EDT
i never liked GTA's engine.I'm talking about 3 , Vice City and San Andreas.Sure , they were good , adictive games , nice storytelling and gameplay, but the puppets that walked the streets , the shooting system , the car driving , it sucked! . Another thing was cars that always disapeared. I park the car, eneter the house and the car isn't there and it was a NICE CAR!!!. That is what bothered me the most. I see in more "close to perfection gta like game" a combination between DRIV3R's driving and solid car destruction , the water and jungle from Just Cause :) and something from Mafia, i don't know exactly , the lightining system....the feeling.... I hate this stupid bloom efect as well , it's hurts my eyes!! and it's not that realistic!!!.Anyway , Just Cause is an embarassement .
  cpd: I hated the cars disappearing too. So so so bad.
blitsie: The bloom made me wear sunglasses
BadCRC* [mail] Oct 06 2006, 06:27 pm EDT
The 360 demo looks pretty nice. The terrain is very beautiful and all, plus the action can also be quite satisfying. All in all this is a good game!
skribb [mail] Oct 06 2006, 07:27 pm EDT
Well it IS their first game after all... not that a dev's first game has to be just above average, but still :)
blitsie [mail] Oct 07 2006, 09:56 am EDT
When will the gta ripoffs stop?!
  Vader: When someone invents a better way to make millions of dollar...
GrimshawUK [mail] Oct 07 2006, 10:04 am EDT
The best way to experience this game is on the 360. For me games with vehicles have always not worked on PC. You have to give Avalanche credit for creating a very beautiful and absorbing enviroment that in terms of scale blows away GTA. The story and characters are weak i agree but the potential is there for future development. Maybe GTA should licence the engine that would be incredible.
daftshadow [mail] Oct 07 2006, 01:26 pm EDT
The gameplay is terrible compared to GTA but it pwns GTA in graphics.
Papa [mail] Oct 09 2006, 10:34 am EDT
cant wait for GTA IV
  COMMENTS PAGE 1  


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