Just Cause 2

 
Just a quickie because there isn't really that much to say about it really, it's been out long enough that you folk will know all about it already so just a run down of my thoughts.

The game has a story, the first third of which I don't remember seeing as how I played this game off and on over the course of the several months since it's release. But that doesn't really matter.
The story just gives you excuses to shoot guys and blow stuff up, but you really don't need one.
The simple act of shooting guys and blowing stuff up is reward enough for me. The game gives you a sandbox to play in and while the missions give you some direction the best fun you'll have with the game is the fun you make for yourself.

Like the first game you play as Rico Rodriguez, a secret agent posing as a mercenary with the ultimate goal being to overthrow Panau's corrupt dictator Baby Panay.

Panau is simply massive and probably one of the best sandboxes in any open world game out there, with plenty of room for all the crazy crap you'll probably want to pull with the games grapple hook, which now you can use to tether objects to each other.

Say for instance you want to hook a car to a helicopter and use that as a wrecking ball.
Well supposing you picked a light enough car or a strong enough helicopter, you can!
It's seldom practical to do so when shooting dudes in the fact will generally suffice, but the game certainly encourages the more experimental approach by tying a lot of the various methods into the achivements, which offers some incentive.

In addition to shooting guys in the face and grappling hook fun you'll also do a good amount of blowing shit up. Like shooting guys in the fact, blowing shit up is always satisfying and doing this causes Chaos! Not just chaos as in general mayhem, but it's something of a currency that gets used to unlock further missions.

Don't know what else to say really, Just Cause 2 is fun. Dumb fun.
Probably my favorite kind of fun! Technical issues aside about the only thing I disliked about the game would be lack of multiplayer. I'm not the kind of person who thinks EVERY game needs multiplayer, but some sort of two player co-op in this at least would've been fantastic.

I think Saints Row 2 and Crackdown prove that these sandbox games are 100x more fun when another real person is thrown into the mix, but regardless Just Cause 2 is terrific fun.
If you're a fan of shooting guys in the fact, blowing stuff up and pulling ridiculous stunts it's well worth a look.