Just Cause: The Seven Hour Tech Demo Sold For £39.99
Sandbox games. What isn't to like about them? Having an entire world to explore and city to interactive with hold as the template to GTA 3 and Spiderman 2 of previous sandbox fame. Now imagine this; an action B-movie inspired sandbox release, complete with all the stunts, explosions, weapons, vehicles and tools a guy could wish for - this is indeed Just Cause.
Anyway, you're Rico Rodriguez, a guns for hire who has been set the task of assassinating the President of the fictional island of San Esperito. However in order to do that he's going to need all the help he can get in over-throwing the President's forces by forming an army of resistance fighters - with guerrilla warriors, cartel members and double agents all offering you work in repayment of aid.
The first thing you'll notice as you start up Just Cause is just how breathtaking the game actually looks on Xbox 360. The minute you dive straight into San Esperito, you won't help the lovely dense tropical forests, with clear blue skies and lovely golden beaches as the breeze ripples through your clothes and hair. It looks fantastic, with lots of detail and effects pumped into the milieu of Just Cause's setting.
Once you've approached the actual landing site of San Esperito's coast, with use of your handy dispensable parachute, you'll be firing the dual magnums like and vehicles Just Cause has to offer like nobodies business. Quickly after the first mission, you'll be introduced to your hideout, where you can replenish your lost ammo and health, and get to grips with the many tools and tricks your organisation has to offer you during the course of the game.
Very much like in Pandemic's mercenaries games, you can have vehicles dropped off to help you wish your missions. Its possible to have drop offs wherever you like at San Esperito which is convenient in moving around and about the place. The main story itself though will have you cause prison breaks, disturb shipments and deliveries of key resources and bombs as well as even sabotaging a rivel cartel's coca production. Like GTA these jobs are sequenced out separate and can be played out at will, with their own short cut-scene developing the characters are plot of Just Cause but are forgettable for the most part.
That isn't to say there isn't anything outside the story though, as gangs will want your aid in overthrowing rival territory and doing odd jobs - this increases their overall approval of you, meaning bonuses in the form of new weapons and vehicles are available. Unfortunately they don't vary all too often. However what does vary is the stunts, which are amplified with each new tool you unlock during play of Just Cause. And you'll find the dispensable parachute come in handy when tracking down foes by grappling onto their vehicles. Plus, it enables more than a number of ways to approach enemies and targets.
Say you need to destroy a base, then simply grab a helicopter and dive your way to the area where you need to plant the bomb, avoiding much of the possible confliction with any other route. Although you can just drive through the enemies also and jump off the vehicle to safe landing - ripping through your problems with a rocket launcher and grenades at side. Its spontaneous. But ultimately, there is a limit to Just Cause's entertainment values.
Just Cause is a surprisingly short title and ends almost unexpectedly. It also has largely stereotypical and forgettable characters which are poorly designed and annoyingly clichéd. Sheldon for example will be chattering nonsense to you for almost all the game and will no doubt annoy you because of that. This isn't helped by the equally as cheesy soundtrack.
For a sandbox title, Just Cause lacks depth in it's combat and can become quite dull and repetitive later on. It is also lacking much of the effort pumped into the core gameplay itself with seemingly stupid AI and easy combat on the whole. Just Cause lacks multiplayer too and doesn't feel much in-line with many other 360 games with poor presentation and not too much of a step up from it's PS2 and Xbox counter-parts otherwise.
But considering it's unique setting and bright vibrant looks, which the majority of 360 games lack, Just Cause still might be worth a glance at, especially with it's adrenaline rushing gameplay that no doubt will impressive for the first five to ten minutes of the game's play through. But the same kind of money goes a lot further with investments in games like Hitman Blood Contracts and Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter which, concluding, go further to stand-out from it's 128 Bit brethrens than Just Cause. Because of that and all other points in proportion, consider Just Cause only for a rental.
