Never made a review on this site before so why not cover one of my most disappointing games of last year. I have 60 hours in the game (10 of which was trying to fix issues or leaving the game running)
Just Cause 2 was easily in my top 10 best games of the last generation. Bought it on sale for my 360 then bought it again a couple years later on what is now my old PC, it was that good. There was nothing quite like it. Destruction, action and set pieces were over the top, unique landmarks set the game even further from the rest of the pack and then the multiplayer mod arrived on PC which turned the insanity up to 1100. So when we found out that another one was on the way with more advanced destruction and physics, wingsuit, new grapple and tether system, map just as big as JC2 and some of the best explosion, fire and smoke effects in the industry, whats not to like?? Well when you play it after a while there is plenty of things to not like about it.
Lets start off with one of the biggest issues with the game, the map itself. For a game that is 400 sq miles there sure is a lot of nothing in it. Huge areas of nothing but trees, grass that sit unused and that you will rarely ever visit unless you are looking for collectibles or accidentally jump out of your plane. The mainland is mostly barren especially towards the north. The volcano is only there for the final mission, thats it. Surely they could have done more unless they have plans for it in future DLC. Settlements follow the same cookie cutter formula. Police station, speaker system, billboards, statues and beacons. Some throw in the occasional water tower or propaganda truck. Bases do a little bit better job of changing it up but I would have liked to see more of them with new stuff to blow up. I can't help but think the game would be better off if it was half the size but maybe 50%-100% more settlements with a greater variety of chaos objects to blow up. I mean where are the unique landmarks?? JC2 had dozens of unique locations like the mile high club, WW2 Japanese island, Three Kings, secret lair, racetrack, the giant radar dish, rocket launch pads, multiple cities with skyscrapers, the big airport, the casino towers, and many more. I guess you could count the Centcoms, some of the bases and the Stargate easter egg as memorable but thats about it.
Driving is still an issue even though it was one of the most requested features to fix in the next game. They even said they improved it in this game but I don't see it. What's surprising is they nailed driving in Mad Max but went the opposite direction in this game. Some cars are decent but there are a lot of them that handle poorly, especially the bikes.
Some small issues that bother me are various bugs and AI issues, no New Game+ or reset all settlements and/or provinces option. Have to reset each settlement individually. Would have liked a little more weapons variety, agency vehicles are missing, grapple should be longer and not as many easter egg like in the last game which was filled with them.
Game isn't a total disaster as I make it seem. It't still over the top and blowing shit up is better than its predecessor now that the physics and visuals have been upgraded. There is nothing quite like watching 2 or 3 sphere oil tanks blow up from a distance at a buttery smooth 60 fps. Taking out the the supports of a train bridge and watching trains derail in just insane fashion never gets old. And by insane I mean they sometimes launch thousands of feet into the air.
Some small things the games does well are unlimited C4, rebel drops with multiple items and a vehicle (was only 1 item per drop in JC2), hacking SAMs, plenty of ammo and easy to obtain more, and most of the sounds are great.
What I would like to see added to the game is a photo mode, bug/AI fixes, DX 12 that is stable and improves performance, driving fixed, longer grapple, FOV slider, rebel allies muted, rebel allies jump into your aircraft or tank if there is room. They only jump into small vehicles like the humvee with the turret, jeep, civilian.
Don't get me wrong the game is good but it could have been a lot better. Feels like they were rushed. It takes 1 step forward and 2 steps back. Sky Fortress DLC looks cool but Im just going to wait for the expansion pass to get a sale.
If you liked the last game then I would wait for the complete edition to drop.
Some games make up for a lackluster story with excellent gameplay. These are some games with average storylines but great gameplay.
Who decides if a games story is average idefinitely ain't listening to no reviewers. I don't agree with most of then anyway. I think alot of them are to harsh on games so they can get clicks
zelda has a story line? Actually do any nintendo 1st party games have decent (not even good) storylines?
Zelda average story line!? Zelda Story sucks, most time It comes to "save the princess", Nintendo sucks at story outside Fire Emblem and perhaps 1-2 other IPs.
Actually the Souls games and Zelda games share something in common, which is that they reward gamers for seeking out the story rather than thrusting it in their faces. Not saying this is better or worse, but it's unfair to say they don't have them.
People will be surprised to learn that if you dig a bit deeper into Zelda games, there's a whole lot of really dark and crazy stuff happening.
@DOMination
Thrust in your face??? I assume by that you mean basic story-telling 101? Lol.
I platinumed both Niohs but for the life of me, couldn’t tell you what happened in the story lol! I can namedrop Nobunaga, but that’s about it.
The pinnacle of bad story but great gameplay is Destiny and Destiny 2. What is the Traveler? What is the Darkness? What the heck is happening? No one knew. But shooting the aliens and robots felt so good.
Article os about "average" story. But If you wanna talk about bad story but great gameplay you need to look at Nintendo, they are the masters at making poor shirt story on great gameplay.
@deus. If you want more of the story fleshed out in detail I'd recommend the destiny grimoire anthology 1-6 25 bucks each. It's really good I loved the backstory on the guns.
"I don't even have time to explain why I don't have time to explain."
Is my favorite line from Destiny's "story" lol
This week in gaming deals we have Mass Effect Legendary Edition the cheapest it's been so far, along with great deals on other games
Overpowered guns can often ruin the balance of a game but they can also be a ton of fun. Unless you're on the receiving end, of course.
You said that this was one of the most disappointing games of last year and that it was 'one step forward, two steps back' and yet you still gave it a 7/10?
You forgot. NO RUNNING, ZOOM AIM-behind unlock, NO MINI MAP, No rolling. You can't grip the front of cars no more. Damn thier was alot of stuff taken out.