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  • Just Cause 2 is an absolutely ridiculous game, but I mean that in the best possible way.

  • This is a game that lets you grapple to a helicopter; beat up the pilot; hijack the

  • chopper; shoot up a military base; set the helicopter on a collision course for a fuel

  • tank; and then parachute away from the bird right before it crashes and burns in an enormous

  • explosion. There's a lot of crazy fun in here, and when Just Cause 2 gives you freedom, it

  • soars. Unfortunately, targeting issues drag the gunplay down, and many of the missions

  • simply stink. There are a lot of little glitches and annoyances that might get on your nerves,

  • but when you're soaring over the mountains in a fighter jet or leaping from the roof

  • of one vehicle to another, the frustrations are easily forgotten.

  • The game's best asset by far is its gargantuan size. Just Cause 2 takes place on the island

  • nation of Panau, and it's just enormous. You could spend countless hours in the capital

  • city alone, and that's just a tiny corner of map. From snow-capped mountains to hidden

  • forest villages to sun-drenched beaches, the game's got an incredible variety of areas

  • to explore. And it gives you a ton of vehicles to do it in. Motorcycles, helicopters, speedboats,

  • firetrucks, passenger jets, and loads more. There are over a hundred different vehicles

  • to use, though if you want to make a quicker trip, you can extract quickly to a location

  • you've already discovered. The vehicles handle mostly fine, though the crazy physics and

  • loose aircraft handling can make some race challenges a frustrating hassle. The most

  • fun way to get around, however, is to use your parachute and grappling hook in tandem,

  • which makes you feel a bit like Spider-Man, swinging around without a care in the world.

  • Just Cause 2 is at its best when you're just tooling around looking for items like money

  • stashes, upgrade kits for your weapons, and generally causing havoc. You earn chaos for

  • blowing stuff up, and it works like a sort of currency, unlocking new missions and new

  • weapons and vehicles you can order up from the black market dealer. Besides, blowing

  • stuff up is what Just Cause 2 is all about. Fuel containers, SAM installations, oil refineries,

  • antennas--it's all there for you to destroy, and since your goal is to undermine the government's

  • influence over the people, there's even a story reason for making things go boom. Besides,

  • if you want to get 100% completion credit for any towns and bases you explore, you're

  • gonna have to tear things down.

  • Of course, blowing stuff up draws the attention of the local authorities. You'll deal with

  • them a lot, in and out of missions. At first you'll feel like ammo is much to scarce, but

  • once you get into the swing of things, you won't be scrounging too often. The gunplay

  • is loose and the autotargeting is forgiving, which is in keeping either the broad and ridiculous

  • nature of the game. When you're just running around and mowing down the cops, the action

  • can be fun. When you try to pull off more specific stunts, however, you'll realize how

  • broken the targeting is. It's awesome that you can hang from the front of a speeding

  • vehicle and shoot the passenger as he leans out the door. It's not awesome at all that

  • you can aim directly at his head and unload multiple clips and not register a single hit.

  • If the auto targeting doesn't want you hitting a dude, you aren't hitting him, making this

  • one of the few games that punishes you for being a good shot and rewards you for being

  • a bad one. Still, as long as you're playing loose and spraying bullets, you'll have fun

  • with the shooting. And thanks to the grapple hook and parachute, not to mention how easy

  • it is to steal a vehicle, you'll have even more fun making a quick getaway.

  • There is a throwaway story holding all of this together. Like in the original Just Cause,

  • you play Rico, a gun for hire working for a US agency called, simply, The Agency. To

  • get to the bottom of some shady business you'll gain the trust of Panau's three gangs, which

  • will send you off on various missions. The story's pure fluff, more interesting for the

  • so-bad-it's-almost-good voice acting and so-offensive-it's- almost comical accents, than for any plot

  • developments.

  • Some of the missions are sort of cool, like one that sends you into a Bermuda Triangle

  • type zone. Others have time limits or make you escort AI characters that do stupid things,

  • which leads to some trial and error restarts. The free-and-easy mechanics that make free

  • roaming so awesome aren't so fun when the game wants you to be precise. For example,

  • jumpy physics lead to awesome stunts. But they also lead to a mission failure when hitting

  • a little bump causes all the important cargo in your truck to fly out. Or make your speedboat

  • go careening everywhere in impossible ways during a race that forces you to cross land.

  • Some bugs might also get in the way of the fun, from sound stutters to crashes, but these

  • issues aren't overbearing, just occasionally annoying. But in spite of the drawbacks, Just

  • Cause 2 is a fun and attractive game that gives you a lot to do and a huge playground

  • to explore. It's crazy and silly, so you'll spend a lot of time grinning and not so much

  • time cringing.

  • Besides, this is a game that lets you grapple to a moving motorcycle, throw the passenger

  • onto the street, drive off a cliff, parachute down to a military base, get in a tank, and

  • blow more stuff up. And sometimes, that's all you need to have a good time.

Just Cause 2 is an absolutely ridiculous game, but I mean that in the best possible way.

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