2015 saw the first eighth generation release from a franchise that found its footing a generation ago by providing unyielding destruction, chaos & machismo with “Just Cause 3”. “Just Cause 3” proved to be a very unique experience as a game featuring next generation physics & visuals in regards to the destruction its series protagonist Rico Rodriguez could produce at any given moment, the story & mission structure felt like something from the Playstation 2 era where developers were still trying to understand how to make a unique open world game. “Just Cause 3” was also hampered with a copious amount of bugs & optimization issues that overall hurt the game’s performance; resulting in developer Avalanche Studios having to work extra hard in ensuring the next sequel wouldn’t be slaughtered by gamers & critics for poor craftsmanship. With “Just Cause 3” being my first experience with the series I entered this sequel with the anticipation for more crazy action that sees my entertainment fade relatively quickly as I partake in repetitive missions and blowing up buildings somehow gets old.
Did I Complete “Just Cause 4”?
“Just Cause” series cover boy and apparent superman Rico Rodriguez enters a South American civilization with the intent of liberating the land of Solis from a private army known as the “Black Hand” looking to control the weather headed by antagonists who show up in the narrative’s beginning, disappear for the story’s majority, then reappear as the plot reaches its conclusion. By joining a group of rebel forces, Rico goes throughout the multiple provinces making up Solis to showcase his tying skills, shoot a copious amount of faceless enemies & blow up almost everything around Rico even if innocent lives are lost because Rodriguez is helping people.
I only had a few goals when it came to getting the full experience of “Just Cause 4”: finish the story, liberate Solis, and maybe even pick up some odd trophies here & there including getting my name on all the competitive feats usually connected to distances or kill streaks. After fifteen or so hours I wrapped up the story and was free to liberate the rest of the map (a feat that took me only an extra hour). But just like “3”, the fun began to wane quickly without a story; making this around a twenty hour experience unless you want to complete all the stunt challenges and mundane side missions that would easily take a player an extra twenty to thirty hours to complete depending on their skill level.
Did “Just Cause 4” Live Up to the Hype?
After “Just Cause 3’s” turbulent release featuring major glitches, crashes & overall an inability to play the game, “Just Cause 4” promised to be a better experience both from a gameplay perspective & an optimization standpoint. The action of “Just Cause 4” directly ties into Rico’s mission to liberate a nation at war with the Black Hand while discovering some truth behind his father’s untimely death. The story doesn’t last long or have incredible moments outside of the latter missions focusing on the game’s newest system implementation: “Extreme Weather Effects”. Blizzards, sandstorms and most emphatically tornados will occur throughout a player’s time exploring the diverse terrain of Solis and even some story missions are built on working through these catastrophic events of nature that prove to be the best missions of the game. Unfortunately the weather barely makes an impact on the overall experience with everything but tornados rarely occurring during a gameplay session even when Rico is moving through the areas made to freeze, soak or blind Rodriguez.
The entertainment of sailing through a lightning storm courtesy of Rico’s infamous wing suit is only matched by the repetitive nature of almost every other mission the player must complete in hopes of liberating Solis. Instead of having to fill up a “Chaos” meter before an area can be liberated like in “Just Cause 3”, the player will take part in “Region Strikes” that are usually a either escort missions or moments where Rico has to flip switches & protect a raised satellite from destruction by taking on waves of enemies (sometimes all the boring elements mentioned come together for a particular “Region Strike” such as having to flip switches & then escort someone to a computer panel before having to protect them from waves of enemies as they hack the console). Timed missions such as driving explosive cars into nearby beds of water can become incredibly strenuous when the game can’t stay stable. Side missions attached to three minor characters both add variety to the mission structure and reiterate the game’s repetitive nature. One minute Rico is working with a tomb raider, the next he’s stuck babysitting brain-dead ally AI who refuse to help their leader tear down the radio towers they were meant to destroy as a part of their training.
In the middle of it all is the “Front Line Advance” function – a gameplay modification to the overall liberation of Solis. With the filling of a “Chaos” meter in the top right corner of the screen, Rico gains soldiers ready to join the war. Depending on what area has been liberated and/or features Region Strikes completed, Rico can “advance the troops” to take control from the Black Hand; yet there is no micro-managing or protection of these taken areas as one would expect from this apparent real-time strategy implementation. Instead, these liberated sections just provide loot a player can request such as specific weapons or vehicles to be dropped anywhere at almost any time.
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 parachute, and the tether (the game’s answer to a 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. Once the player gets the hang of it using these three items together it makes jetting around Solis a lot more fun than using a jet itself – especially considering the way vehicles handle don’t make using cars, bikes or planes a fantastic experience especially when a majority of the game’s glitches are attached to vehicles.
But the tether isn’t just a way to take Rico from one point to another. Actually, the tether proves to be one of Rico’s greatest weapons. The tether allows Rico to attach objects and pull them together; be it soldiers firing at Rico or a tank into a fuel tank. An interesting addition to the tether is the ability to modify its abilities including adding “Boosters” or “Lifter” balloons that can propel objects & enemies or send them flying before popping & dropping to the earth respectively. Tether mods are attached to completing character specific side missions, tombs and the returning “Challenges” now known as “Stunts” which removes the “Gears” system that saw players having to replay “Challenge” after “Challenge” in hopes of getting the best score to earn enough “Gears” with the intent of upgrading Rico’s weaponry & abilities in “Just Cause 3”. “Stunts” in “4” simply have Rico going through rings under certain scenarios & conditions like flying with a wingsuit or speeding through the goal at a specific speed to earn experience that eventually total into tether modifier points that will allow for better & more unique “Booster”, “Lifter” and “Retractor” (the latter being the typical tether function of pulling things together or Rico himself to whatever the player is aiming at) options; though sometimes attempting to test out Rico’s new toys will prove to be underwhelming when in the middle of a firefight.
Gunplay remains the same; feeling like this generation’s answer to a “Saint’s Row” game with Rico running & gunning without much finesse as enemies pour into the “arena”. Auto-aim (which is automatically on when the game begins) doesn’t function with the character or moving enemies; meaning the player will have to work double to make it effective. 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, but Rico can at least crouch now. Melee isn’t much better as it only allows the protagonist to whip his tether outward without any type of accuracy and may even take Rico in the opposite direction of where the player intended.
The AI, both ally and adversary, is still severely lacking. The enemy AI is either “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 & accuracy of a sharpshooter no matter what weapon the target is holding. Enemies are also “bullet sponges” blessed with incredible life bars thanks to the game’s iffy hit detection, though the problem with headshots not causing one-hit kills in “Just Cause 3” has been fixed here. 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 just like in the previous entries. When it comes to allies they don’t help as much as they hinder success by usually being plain stupid & easy targets who, if their health is depleted during missions where the allies are in the trenches with Rodriguez then it’s “Mission Failed”. Thankfully it seems buddy AI has bigger health bars this time around (or maybe it’s because the enemy AI has such a hard time hitting their targets). 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 including moments of obvious enemy teleportation in areas where there’s no way an enemy could’ve entered without the player seeing them.
The intrusive online leaderboard returns to tell someone every time a friend outdoes the player’s “Headshot Kill Streak” has been outdone – a function that was more profound in “Just Cause 3” when the leaderboard was global in nature instead of just focusing on the player’s friends’ accomplishments.
But a showcase of repetition and the lacking narrative doesn’t compare to the game’s biggest flaw: technical issues. While not as bad as “Just Cause 3” in regards to optimization as loading screens are relatively fast, frame rates stay stable a majority of the time, and not once did the game crash, “Just Cause 4” is incredibly unpredictable in regards to glitches that can result in vehicles driving themselves or helicopters randomly exploding in the middle of a mission when a person is attempting to land. As the game progressed the more intrusive the glitches became, hurting the overall fun as moments of planning can easily be ruined. “Just Cause 4” essentially feels like a game that exists – a sequel that doesn’t do much better than its predecessor while failing to overcome the benchmark set by not only what came before it in the franchise, but also all the other impressive open world games that came out during 2018.
Should You Play “Just Cause 4”?
Similar to its most recent predecessor, “Just Cause 4” is definitely a game stuck in the past. While the traversal system is still impressive and destroying helicopters by attaching them to fuel tanks feels wonderful, the problems that plagued “Just Cause 3” still ring true here (and at times are even more profound in their lacking creativity when looking at what “3” had to offer) as majority of the missions are uninspired. The only real additions to the gameplay boil down to nonexistent or underwhelming in execution – the “dynamic” & destructive weather system, and tether mods that usually aren’t great tools to play around with in the heat of battle. Add that to the fact the story is incredibly lacking in emotion while attempting to be as serious as a tornado ripping apart a town; especially when in contrast to Rico humming “Rise of the Valkyrie” when repeatedly firing off rounds from a helicopter. Then there are the retuning technical issues that range from hilarious to counterproductive in regards to completing a mission. Even some of the destructive elements from “Just Cause 3” are missing here; removing one of the key reasons its prequel was so fun (specifically the fortresses where unmitigated destruction was the only way to complete a takeover). Other than the improved optimization in regards to frame rate & crashing, there’s not much here that “Just Cause 3” doesn’t do better. It’s sad that the “Just Cause” series has crafted a fun formula that hasn’t advanced in presentation and results in feeling like more (or even less) of the same instead of being a brand new experience worthy of your time & money especially if you already own “Just Cause 3”.
