Just Cause - DS Game Reviews - The Armchair Empire


	Platform Xbox 360 Genre Action Publisher Eidos Developer Avalanche Studios ESRB M (Mature) Released September 2006

- Dozens and Dozens of Vehicles - Stunning Visuals - Massive Environments - Over the top gameplay elements

- Story mode is way too short - Some noticeable bugs - Side missions feel repetitive

Review: Dead Rising (360) Review: The Godfather The Game (360) Review: Ninety-Nine Nights (360)
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Just Cause

Score: 7.0 / 10

What do you get when you combine Grand Theft Auto and Far Cry? You end up with a game that feature sandbox style gameplay and the open-ended elements of Grand Theft Auto set in the tropics.

Just Cause sees you play an undercover CIA contractor who has been sent to the island of San Esperito to overthrow a rogue regime. At the very beginning of the game you are parachuted out of a plane onto the island. This is typical of whole game as Just Cause features high octane action coupled with crazy gameplay mechanics.

One of the first things you’ll notice about Just Cause is the massive size of the island environment. Going from point A to B can sometimes take ten to fifteen

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minutes. If you’re not keen on traveling across the whole island you can your PDA to request an evacuation to a number of designated spots on the island. Even if you’re keen on exploring the island you can call in a supply drop, which will send a friendly helicopter to your location and deploy either a car, boat or aircraft. However, it is a little disappointing that for such a large island there is actually not that much to explore. Much

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of the island is composed of dense forest and rural areas.

Since San Espirito is a massive island, transportation is one of the most important and well-handled aspects of the game. Your character carries a grappling hook which can be used at any time to attach to any air (including jets), sea or ground vehicle. Once you use the grappling hook to latch onto a vehicle you can do a number of things from parasailing to taking control of the vehicle. Your character carries a parachute which can be deployed an infinite number of times. The parachute comes in handy when you’re inside a burning a vehicle or hanging off the side of a plane or helicopter, or just want to try your hand at base jumping.

Just Cause’s 20 or so story missions are well structured and varied. It takes only about five hours to blow through the story mode, leaving you to either explore the rest of the island or complete the side missions, which suffer from a lack of variety. As you travel across the island you’ll notice that some areas are controlled by government forces, while other areas are controlled by the rebels. Before you can complete any side missions you must liberate a number of villages from government control. Once you’ve liberated a village from government control you then establish safe houses for yourself where you can save your game or replenish you ammo or store vehicles. This cycle repeats itself over and over again throughout the rest of the game and grows old quite fast.

There are some noticeable bugs that hamper the game. First and foremost, you’ll come across some strange collision-detection issues. There will be some parts of the island where you’ll be able to freely drive through trees and other times you’ll be able to clip through vehicles. The bugs aren’t game breaking, but they are noticeable.

For the most part, Just Cause features some impressive visuals. Everything from the sparkling water to the blur effects are impressive. If there is one graphical shortcoming, it would have to be the frequent texture pop in problems. Some objects transform from low resolution to high resolution.

Just Cause offer’s some interesting gameplay elements and is definitely worth checking out if you’re into sandbox style gameplay. The only real complaint that can be levied against Just Cause is its lack of depth and polish, which makes it better suited for a rental.

- Siddharth Masand

(November 7, 2006)


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