Just Cause 3 is the third installment in the open world shoot and destroy action game that features massive Michael Bay-style explosions. The game’s protagonist, Rico Rodriguez, goes back to his homeland Medici to liberate the people from the evil dictator General Di Ravello.
Rico’s personal beef with Di Ravello was that the dictator had given orders to kill Rico’s parents, and Rico teams up with his childhood friend Mario to join the rebels in opposing General Di Ravello. Helping him along is the brilliant scientist Dimah, who upgrades Rico’s grappling hook and equips him with a new mobility gadget – a wingsuit.
Damage and Destruction Destroying Dictators
Like the previous titles, the objective in Just Cause 3 is to have Rico single-handedly liberate military bases and towns from the dictator. To do this, Rico deals mass destruction by blowing things up, attacking soldiers and aiding the rebels.
The game attempts to work on a plot with story missions but they simply serve to lure you from one point of the map to another. Although the story missions attempt to differentiate from the regular “shoot everything up” objectives, they feel like they have the potential to do more, and are just not very satisfying.
That said, the real highlight of the game are explosions, which are completely over the top and magnificent. Just Cause 3 has huge things for Rico to blow up that can cause a fiery chain reaction – like four-storey high sphere tanks, gigantic satellite dishes and soaring antenna towers.
The feeling is surprisingly rewarding as you dodge enemy fire, flit around with the grappling hook and parachute, and use what resources you have to deal destruction. Grenades, rocket launchers, mounted guns, even a barrel of volatile fluid – anything you can lay Rico’s hands on can play a part in mass destruction
One big improvement I appreciate is that objective items that need to be destroyed are clearly marked and identified, unlike in Just Cause 2 where you’re not sure if it’s a water tank or a small transformer that you had missed. The game also uses an indicator on the heads-up display like a Wi-Fi signal that indicates how close you are to a collectible.
For crazy completists, this is a real boon – otherwise you will be spending many futile hours trying to find a rebel shrine to light or a hidden Di Ravello audio tape that is just metres away from you.
As with Just Cause 2, Rico can use the grappling hook and parachute combination to quickly traverse over hilly regions. The wingsuit – the latest addition to Rico’s arsenal – lets Rico fly to his destination quickly, but the caveat is that he loses altitude just as quickly.
To avoid landing on your face, soften the impact with a parachute or the grappling hook before landing. One improvement with the grappling hook is that you can tether two ends together and pull them together remotely, allowing for many creative uses of explosive barrels on enemies or structures.
Like the Black Market in Just Cause 2, you can use a beacon and request for a rebel drop, where vehicles, weapons and even a helicopter can be dropped right where Rico is to help his cause. This is especially helpful when Rico is attempting to take over a huge military base.
Occasionally, the rebels will also chip in to help if Rico can manage to disarm some of the enemy defence systems and open the gates. But most of the time, it’s just Rico against a torrent of enemies.
As with most open world games, there are side quests you stumble upon. Some can be as inane as helping some guy open his gate, to more meaningful missions like hijacking a convoy escorting rebel prisoners.
Scattered across the maps are also challenges that you can complete in order to get gear upgrades for, what else, dealing more destruction, such as Glass Grenades, nitrous boost for vehicles and grappling hook tethering upgrades. These side quests do add some spice to the game but can get repetitive after the first few.
Adding to the fun are Easter eggs liberally scattered around Medici. For example, you can find a DK pistol that can inflate the heads of your enemies and send them flying like a balloon with a kick, or the Doge mode that spews Doge memes when enemies are killed.
Beauty and the Bugs
Just Cause 3 is a visual treat with beautiful scenery in the game world – lush forests, sandy beaches, shimmering waters and, of course, big and beautiful explosions.
However, there have been some issues with gamers using AMD graphics cards. I was one of them but managed to fix the screen jittering, shimmering and crashing to desktop with the latest set of AMD drivers and the official patch.
Even without the display issues, the frame rates tend to drop drastically in heavy firefights set against a background of massive explosions, which mars the enjoyment of the game – especially when the stuttering costs you that precious millisecond to grapple Rico out of the line of enemy fire.
Some solutions for dealing with the poor framerates are to disable the AMD Gaming Evolved Raptr App and playing the game in offline mode.
What I found irritating in Just Cause 3 is that there is no option to turn off the online mode within the game. One workaround I found online was to use Windows Firewall to block off the connection of the game. With a not-so-reliable cable Internet connection, every attempt by the game to reconnect takes up valuable game time and you can’t even access the map without the game trying to reconnect.
Being connected online will let you compare your feats with other gamers via online leaderboards, which I can’t be bothered to do.
Despite its flaws, I found Just Cause 3 to be enjoyable in a brainless way. It’s incredibly satisfying. Excuse me while I go and blow something else up.
TL;DR
If you can look past its flaws, Just Cause 3 is a satisfying game. It shows great improvement over the previous installment in terms of organising objectives and user interface. I also love the varied missions that add some spice to the game and huge areas that encourage exploration, even though they become quite repetitive later in the game.
Once you manage to overcome the graphics problems, you’ll be able to satisfy your lust for Michael Bay-styled explosions.
Rated Mature by ESRB for its violence and language, Just Cause 3 isn’t a game you’ll want young children to play. For older gamers who love destruction and mayhem, this title is a real treat! Just Cause 3 for PC is available on Steam at S$55.
