Gaming Just Cause

[silpheedpilot]

[COLOR=DarkSlateGray][SIZE=1]In the spirit of the one, and great Xbox 360 I thought I might add to the list of games that NEED talking about; such as Just Cause.

'Oh wow! di.fm, you're bringing us another free-roaming GTA style game?!'

Yes sir, I am!

I'm about as giddy for this game as the whole world is for The Best Game Ever Made. Er... Gears of War...
Anyway, I've been playing through the Demo over and over and over and over and...you get the picture, and I must say that while it does take some liberties with the free-roaming sand-box style GTA (more like Mercenaries) formula the changes are welcome, such as the ability to drive a car really fast, jump out on to the hood and then pull your parachute rip cord and take off into the wind to glide around and do you own little thing. With a simple tap of a button your main character, Rico, releases the parachute and begins a freefall. Press the button once more and he releases his chute once more. Unrealistic, yes but very fun and innovative.

The game also has good gunplay, and the environment is AMAZING looking. From the sparse cities to the jungles and rolling hills the place looks truly alive. There is a demo out there on Live so if you guys haven't checked this game out...Do so.

~ di.fm[/SIZE][/COLOR]

[Charles]

See, Just Cause is kind of odd. Categorically, I have a difficult time putting my finger on whether the game is very mediocre or quite good.

The lush jungle environment looks attractive and the water is simply gorgeous. But at the same time everything is very lifeless and sterile. The character models are blocky, unattractive, and animate poorly. As much beauty as there is in the game, there is a sense of averageness that pervades everything. In one scene, for instance, the helicopter I was piloting was blown up, and my character simply fell straight down out of it like a statue. I have a feeling that if it were not for standard technical effects inherent to the Xbox 360 or a good PC, the game would not look very good at all. There is little artistic style or attention to detail.

The parachuting and free falling segments are a blast, but at the same time, I hate the on-foot shooting. Perhaps this will change in the final retail version of the game, but for some reason, Rico can take hundreds of bullets while barely suffering any damage.

Also, while I love the James Bond-esque diversity in the vehicles and mission structure, I felt that the handling of some vehicles could use a bit of work. The controls felt a bit awkward to me, like everything else in the game.

So, I'd say that as impressed as I want to be, and as much as I love certain aspects of the gameplay that the developers have introduced, I don't think any of it is pulled off well enough to make the game truly memorable. Hopefully the final version will contradict the impression I got from the demo.