Easily one of the most fun games I’ve ever played, Just Cause 3 has the freedom of Grand Theft Auto, minus the Hollywood style script; it’s the kind of game you can jump straight into at any point and have a few hours of fun. Then, when you feel like it, maybe free some oppressed civilians, or take a nuclear-powered helicopter gunship to a giant satellite in the mountains and make a right mess. That just about sums it up. Ish…
Just Cause 3, developed by Avalanche Studios and Square Enix, introduces us to our hero Rico Rodriguez. He’s a cool and handsome freedom fighter, who’s in the middle of overthrowing his government in beautiful Medici, 400 square miles of gorgeous Mediterranean paradise. I won’t delve much into the career, but I will say it was not the greatest part of this game… the plot was slow and, if anything, just got in the way of what I wanted to do, which was cause absolute chaos.
The fun really begins when you’ve finally mastered the controls and begin to build up your arsenal, which includes grappling hooks, wingsuits and a whole lot of weapons. Each component of the game generally gives you the option to level up, which is fantastic as when a new weapon or skill is upgraded it gives you the option to play the game a little differently and ultimately have a lot more fun.
I’m sure, like most, you will soon become a huge fan of the wingsuit; when paired with your grappling hook, nothing is out of your reach. When you’re up high, and you catch the wind just right, the huge open world begins to come into view, and good golly gosh is it beautiful. I found myself floating around to relax after a good few hours of blowing up various bits of scenery, and strapping rockets to goats…(Yes you read that right, and no it does not get boring.)
Delving back into the game itself, you have the side missions, whereby you ‘liberate’ local villages and bases. This involves you basically ticking off a checklist, which usually involves blowing up satellites, freeing prisoners, or destroying enormous quarry digging machinery, by any means you can.
My one and only downfall for Just Cause 3, was once I had liberated the island of Medici, discovered all its secrets and destroyed every rebel base in the game, I found after a while it did get very samey. Now since its release, there has been a few updated DLC content, which promises even more destruction, and I’m pretty sure there’s now giant robots… as if the game wasn’t already ridiculous enough. Unfortunately, most games do come to an end, but Just Cause 3 really does have a lot of replayability. If GTA introduced grappling hooks and wingsuits then I doubt I’d ever leave my house.
If you’re in desperate need for mindless destruction and just want to enjoy yourself, then I urge you to buy this game. It’s easily one of my all time favourites, and it’s been a long time since I was excited to finish work and run home just to sit in front of my television and play a game.
Author: Garrett, Plymouth store
