Just Cause

(Written October 2006) 
 
Games often require one to accept things that may not be possible in reality. Picking up health packs to save you from death or having unlimited ammo for a weapon are common things that we see in games all the time and often ignore how ludicrous they really are. Just Cause from Avalanche Studios isn’t just asking you to bend the rules of reality. It wants you to break them and kick them while their down. Its action is over-the-top, silly, but usually entertaining. Unfortunately, many other aspects of Just Cause are dull and sloppy making it a game worth messing around with, but not necessarily worth buying.

In Just Cause, you are placed in the stylish boots of Rico Rodriguez, a CIA operative called to the fictional Caribbean island of San Esperito in an effort to topple the corrupt rule of President Salvador Mendoza. It seems the United States government is not too happy about his dealings there and wants to make sure he doesn’t make it to the next UN meeting. After meeting up with your contacts Sheldon and Kane, they send you on a wild romp around the whole island, as if jumping on helicopters was a normal, every day activity. Throughout the 21 story missions, you’ll make alliances with drug cartels, blow up nuclear stockpiles, kill a whole lot of bad guys and, ultimately, send Mendoza to his grave. While the story itself is serviceable, it rushes along too fast and never really makes you care about the characters. Plus, the whole thing is only about five to six hours, and doesn’t really leave you with a satisfying conclusion. You don’t feel like you’ve accomplished much, despite all the shooting and skydiving you’ll have done by the end.

The island of San Esperito is massive. It is much larger than anything seen in most Xbox360 titles and there is little pop-in. You’ll be able to see the whole island from high in the air, and if you can see it, you can get to it. There are no invisible walls to prevent you from scaling the tallest mountain or diving down into the deepest sea, and loading times are no where to be found. However, with the exception of a few villages and cities, most of the landscape is forest and ocean. It all looks good, but this means little variety in the environments, making it somewhat dull to explore. Unless you really enjoy admiring the scenery, you’ll find this a bit disappointing.

The main attraction of Just Cause is the completely impossible stunts you can perform. Rico has a parachute with him at all times that can be used to save him from a nasty fall and glide in for a quick entry. It’s unrealistic that the parachute never runs out and can effectively be deployed feet from the ground, but you’ll grow to not care since it looks so cool. It never gets snagged on tree branches or telephone lines either, so feel free to land in that dense forest without fear. It’s all very visceral and exciting the first time you do it and stays fun throughout.

As if the parachute weren’t enough, Rico can leap onto any vehicle, including helicopters and planes in flight, and either jack them or hang on for the ride. Rotor blades and propellers have no effect on Rico whatsoever, so he can just dive right though them without hesitation. You can even jump from vehicle to vehicle, although it seems Rico chooses proximity rather than praticallity, occasionally resulting in him jumping to a vehicle that is on the brink of explosion, or even one underwater. You’ll earn a grappling hook early on that allows for even more crazy combinations, like jumping from a boat and latching onto a helicopter that flies overhead.

While the stunts are fun to mess around with, many other gameplay mechanics are not as well thought out. Since Rico is expected to liberate a country, it’s no surprise he’ll be getting into a lot of gun fights. There are many enemies to shoot at, but it’s not challenging nor satisfying to do so thanks to a generous lock-on targeting system. It works fine, but it’s far too automatic. There is no button to be held down; just point in the general direction of your target and he’ll be highlighted with a circle. This makes gunplay a matter of looking toward your enemy, pumping the trigger, and moving on to the next one. It also doesn’t help that your enemies are not bright. They are all horrible shots. You’d think that five people with automatic weapons would take care of Rico in a hurry, but it’s simply not the case. It seems that as long as you’re moving, they can’t seem to land a hit. You'll want the enemies to put up more of a fight. Sadly, they don’t. These attributes combined make the shootouts boring and overly easy.

Driving is also a chore. While the controls aren’t bad per say, they feel loose and the physics are really unpredictable. Sometimes you’ll smash head on into oncoming traffic and come to a dead halt, while other times your car will go flying tens of feet into the air. While it’s certainly possible to get used to the driving mechanics, it never feels quite right. Cars bounce around more than they should and result in some pretty frustrating circumstances. The enemy AI is much more aggressive on the road and will do everything in its power to stop you. They will attempt to make you spin out or just ram you constantly. You can’t shoot while driving either, forcing you to leave the safety of your car and fight on foot. But, as previously stated, once on foot you’ll quickly dispatch of the bad guys, allowing you to be on your way.

The island of San Esperito is truly a sight to behold. It’s big, bright and beautiful from afar and seems to showcase the power of the Xbox360. But, once you get up close to it, you’ll notice some low quality textures and really awkward animations. Rico runs like he just had a bad night in a prison cell and his jumping animation causes a jerky transition, resulting in a second long pause before he actually jumps. The real major complaint with the graphical design is the cutscenes. They just look weird. None of the characters look like real people. Instead, they look like clay slapped over a skeleton and the backgrounds sometimes appear to be flat paintings. The characters look cartoon-like, and it doesn’t seem to fit with the in-game appearance. The whole game seems to have a light hearted attitude, but this is just pushing it too far.

Sound design is a bit better than the graphics. The voice-acting is decent, although it does seem odd that everyone on a Caribbean Island speaks fluent English and Rico occasionally sounds like he’s bored. The driving and gunfire sounds all do their jobs, but they aren’t anything special. What really stands out in the sound design is the music. The Latino inspired guitars, drums, and vocals all fit perfectly and sound great. Unfortunately, the music can’t be turned on whenever you wish. It comes in during specific moments, such as when an action sequence begins or when driving in one vehicle for a long time, but when exploring out in the world all you have is the ambient sound of birds chirping or waves lapping, which gets old quick.

There is a lot to do in Just Cause. The back of the box advertises that there are over 300 missions. Technically, this is true. There are a large amount of side quests to accompany the 21 story missions, but you can ignore all of these if you wish since they aren’t required to finish the story. All of this would be great if the side missions didn’t get old and repetative so quickly. They all involve going from point A to point B, killing someone or stealing something, and going back to your employer. These missions tend to take anywhere from three minutes to thirty seconds to complete depending on which vehicle you have. The only reason to do these are for the games achievements, but a lot of time and effort must be put in and since they stop being fun in a hurry, it doesn’t feel worth it.

Just Cause could have been something special. Its idea of over-the-top stunts and high flying action certainly make for a fun combination, but most of the game feels unfinished. It’s shooting and driving are sloppy and unsatisfying and the side missions feel like a waste of time. Here’s hoping this idea evolves and more effort is put into making sure that the rest of the game compliments the stunts. It’s serves as a fun rental to mess around with but, with all its faults, Just Cause is one revolution you don’t have to sign up for.