I had no interest in Just Cause 2 until I played the demo earlier today. It's safe to say that this game is going to be a lot of fun, however I've never played the first game. Can someone tell me if the two are similar based on the demo for the second game. I know that there was the same basic concept of doing crazy ass stunts, but is the first one fairly tamed?
 
Just Cause is only about $8 at Gamestop at the moment so I may end up buying it anyway.

theres a reason its only 8 dollars the first one was terrible. it had great potential but the execution and gameplay faulted and the overall experience was not poor.
 
although this is my own opinion and i suggest you look up gameplay vids online to get a feel for the old game. many people did like it for its great ideas and different gameplay. but for the most part a lot of people didnt like it.
 
JC2 is looking to be what JC1 should have been.

I only tried the the demo for the original Just Cause. And judging from that demo, the game really sucks. Like Peanut Panda (second post) said, JC2 is looking to manage pulling of what JC1 didnt. Keep in mind though, I've only played the demos for both games.I would NOT waste me $8 on JC1 if I where you!

The first game was great fun.  You have to remember that it was originally an Xbox game that got ported to the 360.  Therefore, there's a lot of great things it did on the last generation of consoles...but on today's generation, it was still lagging a little. 
 
I picked it up for about $10, and it's definitely worth checking out just for the insanity of the shit you can do in that game. 
 
I mean, seriously...you can target your grenades and shoot them to blow them up! 
 
YOU CAN TARGET...YOUR GRENADES...AFTER YOU THROW THEM...AND SHOOT THEM...IN FRONT OF A FUCKING ENEMY...AND BLOW THEM UP!!! 
 
We NEED more of this kind of shit in video games!!!

" @Killroycantkill: agree the cars in JC1 were all like driving rocket sleds that dont turn. "

I thought the first was horrendous.  It had a bunch of good ideas, but the execution was atrocious.  I understand people have affection for it in a weird... ironic sense, but I couldn't get into it. 
I admit, the new one looks great, but I can't say that I'd recommend playing the first one.

" @The_Laughing_Man: it was but the physics in jc2 while driving a jeep off a mountain and into a thicket of trees puts those to shame. "

" @The_Laughing_Man: yep  i just hope that jc2 isnt plagued with problems from the release day. like mercs 2 "