Just Cause 3
On the surface Just Cause 3 seems like a light hearted colorful good time. It is sad, however, that once you dig deeper Just Cause is nothing more than an action game with a shallow story, repetitive gameplay loops, and performance issues. Just Cause 3’s story center around the series protagonist, Rico Rodriguez, as he attempts to liberate his homeland from a tyrannical dictator. As I made my way through the story I kept waiting to explore what it is like for the people who are living on the island nation or a compelling story of a rag tag group of rebels trying to reclaim their home. I never got that. The story never really amounted to much, and had a very predictable ending from the very start. I am fine with a predicable ending but, with Just Cause 3, the ride to the end is not anything special. One of the few things that pulled me along in the narrative, however, was the cast of colorful characters and a few self-aware jokes. The characters interact well with each other and are believable, but, just like the story itself, they have no depth. The narrative does not make you care for the characters and treats them like disposable objects for poor attempts at tragedy. I would have preferred it if Avalanche Games would have made Just Cause 3 a more comical game that didn’t try to take itself too seriously. Just Cause 3 is not an impressive looking game. I usually don’t get hung up on graphics, but the environment and city buildings look like they were from a PS2 game. The only impressive thing, visually, from this game are the explosions. No matter how many things I blew up I could not get tired of it. The explosions were the only thing that pulled me through the extremely repetitive gameplay loop of clearing regions on the map to unlock certain missions that will allow you to attack the regions central command. It is the same for all three of the game’s regions. Movement in Just Cause 3 is made almost tedious due to the massive map. In between basses, towns, and cities there is nothing but mountains and country side. For how large the map is there are things to do in maybe half of it. The map is almost too big. Taking over bases and populated areas get repetitive after about five minutes. The objectives are always the same and the locations begin to feel the same. There is also no need to be tactical; you can just run in, start shooting, and easily take the cities. The combat for Just Cause 3 is focused on the quantity of bullets rather than actually taking careful aim. This run and gun game play style is easy to pick up, but doesn’t require much skill to master. There is also almost no need to drive cars in this game. With the massive distances that need to be covered, flying is the much faster option. This was fine with me seeing as the cars in the game handle poorly. They either control like a tank or are overly sensitive. The biggest issue with this game, in my opinion, is the multitude of performance issues. The most noticeable of witch is the massive frame rate drops that occur when there is a lot going on on-screen. I walked away from my time with Just Cause 3 disappointed. I believe that Just Cause 3 would have benefited from more time in development if only to fix the performance issues. Even if that was fixed it would not make this game much better—just more bearable. I suggest this game if you are looking for a simple game without a deep story. The game play is enjoyable, but shallow and it isn’t the best looking. Just Cause 3 is still a fun game to pass the time with, but not the game you want if you’re looking for an immersive experience. Rating: 5/10
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AuthorI am A.J. Goelz. I'm a gamer first and a writer second. I hope you enjoy the content on this page and check out the rest of my content on YouTube. Archives
April 2019
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