Just Cause 3 Reviews
Just Cause 3 is consummately shallow then, but were you expecting anything else? It's brash, it's in your face, and it's lacking in a driving narrative. But it's one of the few ways to connect with that childhood feeling of getting a new toy, and just messing around with it in every conceivable way. And for that it can't really be faulted. Just Cause 3 shows no pretensions of being a game changer or attempting to advance videogames as an art form. It's about bombastic explosions, hilariously unintended consequences, and seeing what happens when you drop your brand new toy from a fourth-floor window.
In a game wherein so much rests on smooth technical performance, Just Cause 3 feels like it could have used more time in development. It's an enjoyable romp bogged down by these issues. If you have higher than normal tolerance for long loading times, intrusive online connectivity, and erratic frame rate, you'll find Just Cause 3 worth its day one price tag. For the rest of us, waiting until there's clarity on these problems is advised.
In Just Cause 3, bringing a jet to a gunfight isn't cheating—it's expected
Just Cause 3 is a great game to blast around in, due to the amount of fun, unrealistic antics the player can get up to. But constant technical issues - although most commonly just drops in frame rates during heavy-effect scenes - bullet-sponge AI, and repetitive missions, make the game a bit of a drag to play for long sessions. However those 1-5 hour stints when you get the time? Just a bundle of mad chaos, explosions, and genuine fun (though lightly sprinkled with small annoyances). Why do I like blowing up stuff so much? Just Cause..
The changes present in Just Cause 3 aren't substantial enough to win over those uninterested in the game's predecessors. But there's more than enough here for longtime fans to justify one last purchase before the end of 2015.
'Just Cause 3' does a few things that are just ok, but it also does explosions and crazy physics on a big scale very well. By easing up on some of the restrictions typical to openworld games and dialing up Rico's special abilities, 'Just Cause 3' survives its early rough opening to become a worthy diversion for many and an endless playground for others.
Just Cause 3 is a big, messy, slightly-samey sandbox that excels at destructive physics experimentation and not much else. Good for unwinding, but gets old sooner rather than later.
Even with the long load times, annoying pop up messages from the ranking server login, having to play challenges to level up or even wondering why I am trying to free a country that from all appearances does not need to be freed, Just Cause 3 keeps compelling me to log in and play. Maybe it's the ability grapple onto enemy vehicles, toss the driver out like a wet dishrag and then drive it into a fuel depot.
Just Cause 3 really serves its fan base. It delivers on the cavalcade of destruction with a few new tools to make it fun. It also does this in a rather large open world that is more populated than before but not interestingly so. It can start to feel monotonous after a while, and the presentation may not exactly be top-notch stuff, but the load times really dampen the experience. If you can live with all of that and just want some mindless gaming fun, Just Cause 3 fits the bill.
Long load times, sluggish frame-rate and awful shooting would usually be the end of an action game. Just Cause 3 just about gets away with it though thanks to the hugely open approach to carnage with the likes of grappling hooks, parachutes, wingsuits, rocket launchers, infinite C4, tanks, choppers and the freedom to do whatever you want with them.
All in all, Just Cause 3 is one giant bombastic set piece that manages to be immensely enjoyable and disappointing at the same time. The chaos you create is never exactly boring, nor does the action feel rehashed because you have a lot of freedom and mechanics variety. The greater density of the world is a gigantic step in the right direction and the refined control is a godsend.
Avalanche Studio's creation doesn't care about the "are videogames art?" dispute, it doesn't give a dirty rodent's behind about realism, and it doesn't takes itself too serious. It's an unapologetic tribute to the best adolescent boy fantasy of all time, besides a gaming session with a young, black stockings-wearing Dolly Parton, which is none other than being a flying, bullet-eating cocktail of comic book superheroes, and all this with the sex appeal of a Mediterranean Nathan Drake. Sure, all this destruction and mayhem lacks the required depth and motivation inherent in other sandbox titles, and yes, it can all become extremely boring, but while this ultimately more of a somewhat flawed toy and not a "true" videogame, it's an extremely addictive and enjoyable one at that, nonetheless.
After a few hundred times, even the most fantastic version of blowing something up gets tiring. It's an appealing action because it isn't complicated, but the least complicated thrills become banal far more quickly than complex ones. Just Cause 3 is engaging because it gets the first half of this so fully.
Just Cause 3 delivers a series of systems that are solid on their own, from the ability to grapple around without any limits to the new options opened up by the wingsuit, and manages to mix them to deliver impressive results.
Just Cause 3 quickly becomes repetitive and you will find yourself asking “Is it over yet?”. The potential for a great game is here but the end product leaves much to be desired.
Just Cause 3 is a fantastic, exhilarating experience. Packed full of content, it's a game that will keep you drawn in for a while.
Rico's back, with some nifty new tricks up his sleeve, and some great refinements, however, a couple of technical issues with frame rate and lengthy load times sully the fun experience that's waiting for you.
Just Cause 3, if we were to go back several years, would have been a pretty darn good game. I mean just look at your predecessors. The problem lies in it being released in 2015, and the rules that made up open world sandbox games has changed pretty dramatically. Worlds are not just worlds for your chaos, but an interactive experience. It is too simple.
Q) On a scale of 1-10, how good at kissing is Rico? A) He macks on with a cow, which seemed fairly apathetic towards his advances, so we're going with a 5/10. Work needed.
But aside from some pretty sights and a mostly good storyline, this open world sandbox is disappointingly empty, and makes for a poor explosion simulator thanks to some seriously annoying frame rate problems.