So it's been awhile since I've posted here. That has been due to two things. One of them is Uni. 2 essays in 3 days. And the day before I began I played paintball for four hours. As you can obviously tell, when it comes to Uni, like my games, I play Hardcore. But enough about me, moving on to the second reason I haven't been around; Just Cause 2.
Now right off the bat I would just like to tell you that if you love military simulation, if you enjoy lining up the perfect shot, wiping out a whole squad of enemies with the AI of HAL 9000 without them even knowing where you are, then this game is not for you. Hell, if only like games that at least remotely cling to basic laws of reality, like physics, this game is probably not for you. This game is, however, SO much fun.
Like this, but with explosionsThe basic premise is simple. You are Rico Rodriguez. Spy for 'The Agency' (Pretty much the CIA), whose task it is to find, and possibly eliminate, a fellow agent and one-time mentor, Tom Sheldon, whom The Agency believes may have gone rogue on the island paradise of Panau, which has conveniently been taken over by a hostile dictator, Baby Panay. In order to find Sheldon, Rico must gain the trust of the local groups fighting Baby Panay, and chaos ensues, mostly involving explosions.
I would just like to take brief moment here to talk about the character Rico. Now pretty much across the board, the characters are badly voiced, one dimensional people. They're so bad that it's good. Rico, however, while equally still badly voiced and the depth of a block of wood, is actually quite refreshing in the gaming world. His character is different from most other archetypal heroes, in that, quite simply, he doesn't actually care that much. For example, early in the game (like, the beginning) Rico is informed he may have to kill Sheldon, his reaction is understandably, "Oh he was my mentor," to which the Agency rep replies "That's why we chose you, you know all his tricks," and then here's the kicker; Rico replies words to the effect of "Ok, that totally makes sense, I'll totally kill him." What's more, later on, romance is implied with another character (not a tree, although with the grappling hook, that can happen), but not 'Oh they're in love!' romance, the 'we should have sex later and then never see each other again' romance. Now Rico's complete lack of any kind of emotional connection to anything may be because of poor writing (it would not surprise me) but nevertheless, he is a breath of fresh air in a gaming world clogged with angsty, emotion ridden action heroes.
Now onto the game itself. The main mechanics are the grappling hook and parachute. Firstly the grappling hook.
The concept is simple; point, shoot hook, be dragged very quickly wherever you pointed, or point, shoot and hold trigger, point again, release and attach the two points together. Now this simple mechanic changes the game in so many ways. In a massive firefight? You can jump from side of the town to another, leaving your enemies confused and possibly questioning the laws of physics. In a high speed chase? Out of ammo? Need to return that video by 6 pm? Grapple from car to car laying remote explosives as you do, and then your just a quick grapple from the return slot and a simple button press from a flaming 8 car pile up. What's more, you might be surprised to find the grapple actually becomes second nature to use, and a very handy tool in combat. You can link enemies to things, such as rockets, cars, jumbo jets or balconies (the latter being important, as the grappling hook will pull the enemy over the balcony and to their deaths). But what's more you can simply tie enemies up. I've tied many an enemy to the ground, leading him to try and untie himself, while I line up a headshot. It is really a wonderful tool, and it doesn't seem to matter how many times you use it, you always get a little rush when you pull yourself from the ground up to an enemy helicopter.
Hi There! Like me to clean your windshield....with bullets?
Now onto our second mechanic, the parachute. Well, parachutes plural is probably a better term, considering you do have an unlimited amount of them (there must be cities full of Chinese children sewing these things). You can pull out a parachute almost anywhere in the game. In a car, jumping off a mountain, jumping off a water tower, jumping off a skyscraper, or even just in mid grapple. The parachute on it's own is really useful for surviving falls, and also to escape doomed vehicles (of which you will have many). But the parachute really shines when it's used with the grappling hook. In mid grapple, pulling the parachute shoots you into the air, and while in the air you can use the grapple hook to pull you along, and this a surprisingly effective way of getting around.
Speaking of getting around, we come to the openess of the game. Like GTA or Mercenaries (which this game is very similar too), you have an open world to explore. You can do damage to countless military installations and villages, or hunt down various collectables. But it's the sheer scale of the world which is amazing. This game is massive, like, beyond comprehension big. It's so big that the size of it actually impedes the game somewhat, as it'll take you a good few minutes to get anywhere, even by plane or helicopter. Now in addition to offerring guns and vehicles, the Blackmarket also offers an Extraction, which will take you to anywhere you have already been, which is good, but it still takes a long time to get places, and Extraction is not always available.
In conclusion, if you like games that do not, by any means, take themselves seriously, and you can revel in, or at least forgive, shocking voicework and characters with the personality of a blonde cheerleader, then this game is a must have. Just playing this game is so, so, SO much fun.
This is one of the boring bits
I would just like to take brief moment here to talk about the character Rico. Now pretty much across the board, the characters are badly voiced, one dimensional people. They're so bad that it's good. Rico, however, while equally still badly voiced and the depth of a block of wood, is actually quite refreshing in the gaming world. His character is different from most other archetypal heroes, in that, quite simply, he doesn't actually care that much. For example, early in the game (like, the beginning) Rico is informed he may have to kill Sheldon, his reaction is understandably, "Oh he was my mentor," to which the Agency rep replies "That's why we chose you, you know all his tricks," and then here's the kicker; Rico replies words to the effect of "Ok, that totally makes sense, I'll totally kill him." What's more, later on, romance is implied with another character (not a tree, although with the grappling hook, that can happen), but not 'Oh they're in love!' romance, the 'we should have sex later and then never see each other again' romance. Now Rico's complete lack of any kind of emotional connection to anything may be because of poor writing (it would not surprise me) but nevertheless, he is a breath of fresh air in a gaming world clogged with angsty, emotion ridden action heroes.
Now onto the game itself. The main mechanics are the grappling hook and parachute. Firstly the grappling hook.
The concept is simple; point, shoot hook, be dragged very quickly wherever you pointed, or point, shoot and hold trigger, point again, release and attach the two points together. Now this simple mechanic changes the game in so many ways. In a massive firefight? You can jump from side of the town to another, leaving your enemies confused and possibly questioning the laws of physics. In a high speed chase? Out of ammo? Need to return that video by 6 pm? Grapple from car to car laying remote explosives as you do, and then your just a quick grapple from the return slot and a simple button press from a flaming 8 car pile up. What's more, you might be surprised to find the grapple actually becomes second nature to use, and a very handy tool in combat. You can link enemies to things, such as rockets, cars, jumbo jets or balconies (the latter being important, as the grappling hook will pull the enemy over the balcony and to their deaths). But what's more you can simply tie enemies up. I've tied many an enemy to the ground, leading him to try and untie himself, while I line up a headshot. It is really a wonderful tool, and it doesn't seem to matter how many times you use it, you always get a little rush when you pull yourself from the ground up to an enemy helicopter.
Hi There! Like me to clean your windshield....with bullets?Now onto our second mechanic, the parachute. Well, parachutes plural is probably a better term, considering you do have an unlimited amount of them (there must be cities full of Chinese children sewing these things). You can pull out a parachute almost anywhere in the game. In a car, jumping off a mountain, jumping off a water tower, jumping off a skyscraper, or even just in mid grapple. The parachute on it's own is really useful for surviving falls, and also to escape doomed vehicles (of which you will have many). But the parachute really shines when it's used with the grappling hook. In mid grapple, pulling the parachute shoots you into the air, and while in the air you can use the grapple hook to pull you along, and this a surprisingly effective way of getting around.
Speaking of getting around, we come to the openess of the game. Like GTA or Mercenaries (which this game is very similar too), you have an open world to explore. You can do damage to countless military installations and villages, or hunt down various collectables. But it's the sheer scale of the world which is amazing. This game is massive, like, beyond comprehension big. It's so big that the size of it actually impedes the game somewhat, as it'll take you a good few minutes to get anywhere, even by plane or helicopter. Now in addition to offerring guns and vehicles, the Blackmarket also offers an Extraction, which will take you to anywhere you have already been, which is good, but it still takes a long time to get places, and Extraction is not always available.
In conclusion, if you like games that do not, by any means, take themselves seriously, and you can revel in, or at least forgive, shocking voicework and characters with the personality of a blonde cheerleader, then this game is a must have. Just playing this game is so, so, SO much fun.
This is one of the boring bits
No comments:
Post a Comment