Just Cause 2 Review (PC, PS3 [Reviewed], Xbox 360)
Developer: Avalanche Studios
Publisher: Square Enix
Released: March 23, 2010
ESRB: M – Mature

Just Cause 2 might be the only game I ever recommend ignoring the story of entirely. The reason is simple: it isn’t very good. The writing is bad, the voice acting is bad, and the cutscenes are laughable. Everything that would normally draw you into a world and make you care about the character you’re controlling is either lackluster or nonexistent here. But that’s completely acceptable in Just Cause 2, because just playing around and creating chaos is an absolute blast that every gamer should experience.

The island of Panau is massive. Four hundred square miles to traverse by land, sea, and air, and it doesn’t just look big, it feels big. That size is actually one of the problems with the story missions. It takes too long to cross the island just to advance a plot that isn’t worth your time anyway. You’re better off enjoying the world around you and maybe doing a quick faction mission when you happen to be near one.

The sheer scale of the island will also wreak havoc on completionists. There’s a staggering amount of stuff to do and collect. I pumped well over 30 hours into the game and only hit 31% completion, and that’s after beating the story and doing a lot of side content. It’s almost too daunting.

As open world games go, Just Cause 2 both excels and disappoints. As big and crowded as the world is, it feels lifeless in a way. The villages and towns don’t really differ from one another. You can’t talk to any characters or enter any buildings. You’re just a guy with a grapple hook and some guns, ready to blow stuff up and create as much chaos as you can. Given the scope of the world that’s forgivable, but it’s worth knowing going in.

Where the game really shines is as an over-the-top, absolutely absurd action experience that puts most action movies to shame. As Rico Rodriguez you’re nearly indestructible. You can roll down an entire mountainside and walk away with barely a dent in your health bar, drive through gas pumps and watch everything explode, survive crashes that should kill you ten times over, and even jump out of a helicopter at full altitude without opening your parachute and survive by grapple-hooking the ground two seconds before impact. That’s what this game is actually about, and it does it better than anything else in the genre.

Skydiving alone is worth significant time. I don’t know how many hours I spent flying a helicopter straight up over the ocean just to jump out of it. Driving and wrecking is a blast too, and the variety of vehicles available is impressive. One of my favorite things to do near the start of the game, during a mission where you’re protecting an informant driving to his home, is stand on top of his car while the military chases you and grapple-hook their jeep to the road. Watching them flip is endlessly satisfying.

This game is as silly as games get, and that’s exactly why it works. It isn’t the best shooter, doesn’t have a good story, and doesn’t have a world you can get lost in the way you can with Grand Theft Auto IV or Red Dead Redemption or even The Saboteur. But when you just want to blow stuff up, drive really fast off a cliff, and laugh as you somehow survive and drive off in a totaled car, nothing does it better. You may not play it for more than a couple of months, but you’re going to enjoy every minute you spend in Panau. Just skip the story missions.

Just Cause 2 gets a three out of five: SUBSTANTIAL.

If you enjoyed this one, you might one to check out the review of Just Cause and Just Cause 3 for more chaotic open world gaming. Or check out my review of The Saboteur. For more game reviews, click here.

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