There I was standing at the top of a sheer cliff overlooking the deep verdant valleys and cerulean waters of a warm European paradise that hid something sinister beneath her lavish hotels and old world architecture. I spread my arms and soared like an eagle through the humid summer sky, landing at the base of an oil depot. My task was simple. Stop the production of fossil fuels being used by the corrupt regime that had taken over this small nation using no more than a grappling hook and a tether.
Looking at the crimson barrels spread around the facility I constructed a plan in my head. 12 barrels, four boxes of explosives and two gas canisters would have been more than enough to topple the great oil depot before me. I latched a single barrel to the large containment sphere that no doubt housed gallons upon gallons of fuel, and launched the barrel towards it by commanding my tether to retract. One structure down, seven more to go. I began the process of tethering the next barrel to a large cylindrical tank of fuel, when I noticed something happening.
Each action has an equal and opposite reaction. That gargantuan sphere had gone launching into the stratosphere with all the gravity and weight of a golf ball, and was now spinning back towards the depot as she shook apart with fiery jet streams. It crashed into the first cylinder, which crashed into the next, knocking over each tank of fuel like a bowling pin. I had barely gotten to tether my second barrel when I realized the situation was entirely beyond my control. I began to book it away from the depot, watching as tank after tank fell creating a fireball that grew ever larger. It engulfed concrete towers and loose explosives. Then it hit the power station, and violent blue bolts of electricity joined the fire storm. By the time I made it halfway down the road I noticed everything that once existed at the top of the hill had been obliterated, even a few of my rebel companions, leaving only scorched Earth. I returned to what remained of the other resistance fighters. I figured they would be horrified that my actions turned their companions to ash in the most violent way possible. They cheered and celebrated me as their man of the hour. If they didn’t mind, then I didn’t mind.
This is Just Cause 3 and I’m not sure how else to describe it but with that set of opening paragraphs. It’s a game of violence, explosions and insane physics that make you feel like a little kid doing naughty things on the Fourth of July (or Guy Fawkes Day depending on your port of call). It’s a lot of the same as what you got in the last Just Cause, only the game is a lot more colorful, the explosions are a lot bigger, and base jumping has never been so fun.
Just Cause 3’s physics are also the source of some of its weirdest, craziest, borderline glitchy antics. Normally you wouldn’t endorse a lack of polish in gameplay, and there are certainly areas of the game that are broken to player detriment. Yet it’s hard to hate the game when you latch a car to an explosive, blow the latter, and watch the vehicle spin around the level like a top. As immature as it was to strap an enemy to an ICBM and watch him fly around like a ragdoll in a moon bounce, it never failed to create a big stupid grin on my face.
Perhaps from all my ranting you think the only thing to do is blow shit up and tether things to other things. These are certainly the main draws, but with a new wingsuit and grappling hook mechanic Rico can now jump from one structure to the next like a flying squirrel. If you play online you can challenge yourself to smash other glide distance records. In fact it’s possible to cross the map without ever touching the ground. Jump from high structure, deploy parachute, open wingsuit, grapple, repeat. Driving in this game wasn’t exactly the worst, and it’s far from the best, but with flying as always an option I never felt too bogged down in my travel plans. Not to mention I could always stand atop a canister and blow it up for a quick jet boost into the sky. Rico has a high damage threshold, which is a good thing, because you’re going to soak a lot of damage. From fire fights, from explosions, from flying and falling, but the fact Rico could take a licking and keep on doing his thing indicated this game was very aware of where the fun was to be had.
This title isn’t much for story. Rico has to go in, liberate a nation from a corrupt dictator, and blow a bunch of stuff up while doing it. Only this time: It’s personal. Rico is from Medici, these people are his people, and so it’s a little closer to the heart for him. That won’t stop him from blowing up a bunch of structures and causing billions in collateral damage along the way. Luckily the story writes you a blank check for all this wanton destruction; “Look, we know you’re here fighting for our freedom, so just go ahead and blow it all up and we can rebuild it.” The characters are colorful and lively, never too serious, it’s a tone that strikes somewhere between the later Saint’s Row entries and the Uncharted franchise. It acknowledges that this game is mostly here for fun.
Medici is a very vibrant and colorful place. Sterling blue waters, verdant hilltops, laid back resort districts and deadly military bases. You kind of get the sense there isn’t a whole lot going on underneath the hood of this game, the graphics are serviceable, and it’s not going to be the most jaw dropping title you’ve ever played. I did however appreciate how bright and vibrant everything was, none of that “desaturated realism” other games try and strive for. The music too is composed of Spanish strings that accent the exotic tropical vibe of the game.
If you’re looking for an experience that has a ton of social depth and political intrigue, examines the horrors of war, cruel dictatorships and whether or not being a freedom fighter can lead you to become a monster, you’re going to want some other game. If you’re looking to fly around like a super hero and blow a ton of shit up, Just Cause 3 is going to delight you in all the right ways.
