Being creative in creating chaos with some interesting tools to your disposal is the perfect way to describe the Just Cause series. If you’re looking for some mindless “blowing stuff up” or “launching people into the air” while you’re performing incredible stunts, then “Just Cause 4” might be the game for you. However, you’ll have to turn a blind eye to all the bugs and the uninteresting story… Let’s dive right into it!
Rico Rodriquez discovers the truth about the death of his parents in Just Cause 3. It was not Di Ravello who killed his parents, as Ravello was just a mere pawn in the bigger picture that’s been created by Oscar Espinoza who is the former leader of the island “Solis”. The island of Solis could be the perfect honeymoon trip with its pearl white beaches, deep blue seas and an easy-going sun. If the inhabitants of the island weren’t in conflict with their beloved dictator Espinoza. Espinoza doesn’t only have the island in captivity but with its highly invested technology that’s been developed by Rico’s father, Espinoza also controls the weather. With the touch of his fingers, he can create devastating tornados, heavy thunderstorms, and sandstorms. Looking for Espinoza’s family and getting righteous justice won’t be an easy task for Rico as he has to go through the eye of the storm to get some revenge.
All these elements like getting revenge for the death of Rico’s parents and the confrontation with this “evil” dictator that wields incredible “power” could have been the ultimate story with some top-notch action scenes that the series deserve. However, it seems that the story is tasteless and takes on the form of glue that’s only being used to hold the puzzle pieces together. Yes, there are over-the-top action scenes but it’s only because you, the gamer, creates them. It’s all because of the new physics engine that the game uses which opens up a lot of opportunities and delivers lots of abilities to create your own “personal” action movie.
“Avalanche Studios created an amazing open-world sandbox game where creativity is truly key for your own pleasure.”
The new engine opens up the use of the incredible weather system. The weather system has a tremendous impact on how you play the game and the environment you’re in. Yes, you will be able to do stunts and become even a better stuntman than before, but you’ll have to consider the weather system to become successful. If there’s a thunderstorm going on, you’ll have to glide with your wingsuit as low as possible, otherwise, you’ll be struck by lightning. It raises the skill level of the player to some new heights. Once you’ve learned to use the environment and weather system to your liking, you’ll enjoy this new sandbox game even more than previous ones.
Even though this game raises the bar when it comes to “the use of physics”, it doesn’t soar to new heights when it comes to the repetitive missions. Rico is, of course, the main protagonist in the story, but it doesn’t feel like the game is based around you. It’s more about freeing the people of the island. You’re really all about creating chaos and using this chaos to your advantage, as you’ll be able to support the rebels even more. You’re just traveling around this big island, blow stuff and overtaking bases to inspire the rebels by doing so. Just like in AC Odyssey, you’ll have to destroy main bases to weaken the enemy’s defenses or power within these areas. Once you’ve done this, you’re able to recruit some squads and move up the frontline into that area’s direction. These “missions” (more objectives) can be fun for a while but in the end, you’re constantly doing more of the same. There’s a lack of creativity from the developer’s side when it comes to the mission design. The only reason you’ll still be playing the game after a couple of hours is the freedom that you have to take on these bases. With the tools to your disposal, you’ll be able to use your own creativity to tackle some of the problems that you’ll be confronted with. Don’t get me wrong, the big explosions and killing the enemy’s forces with your gadgets in ways you didn’t know were possible are fun… while it lasts.
Rico’s important weapon is the grappling that can be upgraded to your liking. There are 3 upgrades that’ll open up possibilities to become this “creative” killer machine: balloons, retractors, and boosters. All these upgrades can be combined with each other to create the ultimate fun toy. Balloons can lift objects or even persons into the air, retractors can link objects or persons with each other and pull them towards each other and boosters can be placed upon persons or objects to send them flying. You’re probably already thinking about some interesting elimination ways to get rid of your opponents, right? With this simple feature, the developers have created an open world playground to test out the sadistically part of your brain and this is where the game truly shines. These different upgrades can also be changed to tackle another problem that needs to be fixed. For example, balloons can lift almost everything into the air, but you can also create “air mines” by filling these balloons up with flammable gas to create an explosion to bring helicopters or airplanes down. The possibilities are almost endless.
Avalanche Studios created an amazing open-world sandbox game where creativity is truly key for your own pleasure. The new physical engine opens up ways to make the game even more challenging for Just Cause veterans and it’s amazing to see that the developers tried a more experimental approach to make the game a bit more different than other Just Cause titles. However, you can see that the developers neglected a couple of important parts of the game. Graphically speaking, the game is okay, but it seems like it has been developed for the previous generation of gaming. I can imagine that a sandbox type of game has a great demand for power usage and technical aspects of a certain engine, but this can’t be the only “focus” part of the project. As a gamer, you’re constantly looking at the graphics, so I find it more than normal that developers should also invest in the graphical part of the game. This was something that threw me off instantly when I started to play the game. Don’t get me wrong, the environment itself has been designed very well. There’s a huge variety on the island when it comes to the “fauna and flora”- part of the game but the graphical engine just lacks in presentation. We’ve also encountered a couple of bugs/ glitches, but they didn’t necessarily break down my immersion while I was playing.
Conclusion:
Just Cause 4 soars to new heights within its own series but it doesn’t bring a lot of new things to the table. When you’re buying Just Cause 4, it’s because you like open world sandbox games that can be bend to your will with all the tools at your disposal. Just Cause 4 creates an interesting environment for the player to get creative with its kills and destruction of the enemy’s bases. The story is neglectable and graphics wise, the game could use an upgrade. Yes, there were some bugs and glitches, but you can’t accuse the developers of not trying something new. Their new physical engine is definitely something “good” that made the series even better than before, but I do feel like other parts of the game like graphics and mission design should be revised when they want to create the ultimate Just Cause game.
