The “Just Cause” series was not one that immediately drew me in, not because of the franchise being terrible, but because I simply didn’t try. With a known limited budget, the first two “Just Cause” games flew under my radar for a long time until I had the chance to play the second game for a short session. Thanks to the greatness of Microsoft’s “Games for Gold” program, I was able to eventually own “Just Cause 2”. The plan of playing the second iteration before “Just Cause 3” was released didn’t pan out. Instead of being patient, I just went on and decided to play the latest game first. With experienced players of the series stating going from “2” to “3” actually makes the latter feel less fun in comparison helped reinforce my decision. Thankfully that didn’t mean “Just Cause 3” didn’t completely suffer from the dreaded “sequel-itis”.
Did I Complete “Just Cause 3”?
“Just Cause” series cover boy and apparent superman Rico Rodriguez returns to head the latest game from Avalanche Studios with the intention of liberating his homeland of Medici from a bona fide homicidal dictator, General Di Ravello. By joining a group of rebel forces (who are actually called “rebel forces” for a majority of the game), Rico goes throughout the multiple provinces making up Medici to free people from being physically and economically abused. How? By blowing up any and everything possible!
I only had a few goals when it came to getting the full experience of “Just Cause 3”: finish the story, liberate Medici, and maybe even pick up all the collectables while exploring the world. After fifteen or so hours I wrapped up the story and was free to roam, but technical problems impeded my plans and left me unable to actually liberate a particular area (uninstalling, restarting, or playing offline didn’t help the matter). With the fun diminishing not just because of the tech issues, but also the repetition that comes with doing the same thing over and over again convinced me to call it a day on “Just Cause 3”.
Did “Just Cause 3” Live Up to the Hype?
“Just Cause 3” had the initial promise of being better than its predecessor thanks to a bigger budget, half-a-decade of development, and the power of eighth generation consoles. Unfortunately the reality of everything coming together to create the next great, or at least memorable “sandbox” style game falls short of high expectations while somehow providing something worth playing for a good amount of time. To save Medici and help its people, Rico goes on a crusade of obliteration through both towns and military bases featuring more explosive objects than one can shake a stick at (or in this case, a rocket launcher). See those guard towers standing relatively close together? Why not take them down to create a domino effect of destruction. How about that innocent looking fuel tank? That enemy vehicle would be the perfect catalyst for a fiery explosion that not only wipes out armed adversaries, but also opens up a concrete wall so rebels can enter and help Rico fight the good fight. The level of creativity that comes with simply tearing the world asunder is absolutely phenomenal – and what a world it is. While liberating towns or destroying Di Ravello’s army it becomes apparent that the land crafted for this game is meant to awe the player with its increase verticality. The ability to scale upward and into the depths rivals, if not outdoes several games in the genre. Soaring from the top of a snow-covered mountain and witnessing the white turn green as you near a dense forest is only matched by the sparkling sea that lines the various coasts. It’s actually a nice way to tug at the player’s heartstrings as one can state, “This is what I’m fighting for.”
To traverse such a grand land is less of a chore and more of an experience thanks to three key items: the aforementioned wingsuit (a new addition to the series), a parachute, and the tether (the game’s answer to the grappling hook). Gamers can string together all three items to fly through the digitized clouds like a murdering eagle. Use the tether to reel Rico in, only to tap the “jump” button to open the parachute and gain maximum height that allows for another button tap that sees the hero turn into a living bird with his wingsuit. While it takes some getting used to, once the player gets the hang of using these three items it makes jetting around Medici a lot more fun than using a jet itself – especially considering the way vehicles handle don’t make using cars, bikes or even helicopters a fantastic experience. But the tether isn’t just a way to take Rico from one point to another. Actually, the tether proves to be one of the Rico’s greatest weapons. The tether caused a majority of those “domino effect” moments of chaos during my time playing. The tether allows the player to attach two or more things and pull them together; be it soldiers firing at Rico or a propaganda-spewing van ironically being slammed into a gigantic statue of Di Ravello. The tether is essential in completing goals and simply destroying almost anything that isn’t an actual building or mountainside (though there are times where the player can accomplish the prior).
It seems like developers felt that gunplay improvement was unimportant when compared to not only the other tools for the player to accomplish his/her plans, but also other open-world games in this day & age. During the first mission it becomes obvious this game plays like the original “Saint’s Row”. That’s right – a game released in late 2015 has the same gunplay style as a game from the early seventh generation. There is practically no cover system with the player being forced to make their own cover by hiding behind a brick wall or steel beam if they can find one in time. Rico can’t crouch. Strafing looks incredibly awkward as Rico’s top half stays in the line with the direction of the camera while his waist and legs moves in full motion. Melee isn’t much better as it only allows the protagonist to throw a forearm without any type of accuracy.
The AI, both ally and adversary, is lacking. The enemy AI settings are either set as “dumb as dirt” or “sniper with a shotgun”. Fighting enemies with weaponry can be like shooting fish in a barrel as the faceless soldiers just stand around waiting for the inevitable or go into survival mode with the precision and accuracy of a sharpshooter no matter what weapon the target is holding. Enemies are also “bullet sponges” who are blessed with incredible life bars thanks to the game’s iffy hit detection. Obvious headshots sometimes don’t register. Shooting an enemy in the arms or legs doesn’t give Rico an advantage as it doesn’t affect walking, holding a weapon or shooting in the least. When it comes to allies they don’t help as much as they hinder success by usually being plain stupid and easy targets who, if their health is depleted during missions where the allies are in the trenches with Rodriguez then it’s “Mission Failed”.
This is made even worse later in the game where enemy waves grow more profound without the enemies themselves getting smarter – just artificial difficulty thanks to the addition of mounting numbers rather than actual challenging enemies. These enemy waves usually come from the magical ability of teleportation that Di Ravello’s men apparently have whenever Rico’s back is turned. The amount of times during a firefight I’ve turned around after running from two shooting enemies to recover Rico’s regenerating health to discover an entire firing squad now ready to put me down were numerous.
Easily one of the weakest parts of the game has to be the story. While many long-time “Just Cause” players wouldn’t consider the plot ever being a reason to enjoy the game, developers promoted it as an improvement compared to its predecessors. Having not played the first two games in full, it’s hard to determine whether they failed or succeeded in their goals. But when judging the story on its own it’s nothing short of disappointing mostly thanks to a disassociation between the paint-by-the-numbers plot focusing on an action hero killing a bunch of people for the downtrodden, oppressed people and the actual people caught in the crossfire. The player can indiscriminately kill any civilian and not get punished unlike, say, the first two “Infamous” games. It makes no sense and doesn’t reinforce the fact Rico is a “freedom fighter”.
The forgettable story wouldn’t be so terrible if the missions connecting each plot point and cut scene weren’t so uninspired; and not “uninspired” from the perspective of comparing them to other sandbox style games like “Grand Theft Auto”. With only twenty-five story missions, “Just Cause 3” actually recycles missions without any significant changes. One mission where Rico has to sneak into a secret base via an underwater cavern to blow up three generators is actually used three times through the story. Even Rico remarks that his current mission is “awfully familiar” in what is supposed to be a tongue-in-cheek, fourth wall-breaking moment, but just reinforces how lazy the developers were when crafting the story and the missions that holds it all together.
Sometimes the plot hinges on liberating towns with missions actually being locked until you free a province that can range from one outpost to five locations featuring the game’s equivalent of “fortresses” or stereotypical Mediterranean towns. The liberation of provinces also brings forth “Challenges”. Unlike games like “Far Cry” where players are given experience points to buy upgrades for finishing both main and side missions (or “Encounters” in the case of “Just Cause 3”), this game’s type of EXP (“Gears”) are solely attached to particular Challenges that can be anything from flying through rings with Rico’s wingsuit to collecting balls with a tether car. Unfortunately, the player isn’t informed what challenges open up with each liberated area until after completing all the necessities – meaning if you enjoy a particular Challenge or want to upgrade one specific thing like the tether or how many grenades Rico can have at one time it becomes something of a wild goose chase – helping take away the special feeling of completing something that should be optional and a way to extend gameplay time. And don’t even get me started on the annoyances of the intrusive online leaderboard that tells the player every time “Random Joe” outdoes his/her “Headshot Kill Streak” when the gamer is most likely asleep or at work. All of this produces a package of repetition and unfulfilled bold proclamations.
But a showcase of repetition and the lacking narrative doesn’t compare to the game’s biggest flaw: technical issues. “Just Cause 3” can be an absolute nightmare when it comes to glitches, extended loading sequences (even when resetting challenges), frame rate drops and software crashes that can happen at any time. What read and sounded like an exaggeration by gamers proved to be anything but once I actually started playing the game. Midway through when the player is afforded more tools to destroy everything around Rico, frame rate slowdown becomes a problem. And sometimes the frame rate dips aren’t even associated with the action as a particular weapon cache slowed down the entire game as the weapons’ names struggled to appear on my TV screen. Several glitches caused me to fail missions like one particular assignment where I had hang from a helicopter, only for the helicopter to fly away with Rico just hovering in midair without an ability to move and stop the warning timer before the game told me I had failed for letting the helicopter get away. Unfortunately this proved to not be an isolated incident when it came to riding or hanging from vehicles during missions (though I never had that problem out of missions). The level of frustration that came from issues beyond my control is one of the main reasons why Medici was never fully liberated by yours truly.
While it might come across like “Just Cause 3” is a terrible experience, it really isn’t. There is a lot of fun to be had causing explosions galore and using a wingsuit to fly over the relatively beautiful and large map. But beyond all of that there is no real heart or substance to make the game memorable beyond moments of self-adulation thanks to the insanity one can create without a care in the world.
Should You Play “Just Cause 3”?
Sadly, thanks to the shallow foundation and feeling of “been there, seen that” that comes with “Just Cause 3” after acquiring a majority of the destructive tools provided, the game shows just how mundane blowing up everything from enemy helicopters to water towers can get after doing it over and over again in spectacular fashion. “Just Cause 3” is a pure example of “diminishing returns”. With a terrible story, forgettable missions and intentional experience grinding in an open-world sandbox style game, “Just Cause 3’s” only real draw is blowing stuff up. And when that stops being fun so does the game. If you can enjoy tearing down that ninetieth billboard or group of speakers to liberate some random town without worrying about genuine substance then the fun will never end. For others, “Just Cause 3” will be an exciting experience for a while, but you’ll soon realize there’s not much else to draw someone in.
