Just Cause 3 Reviews
Its not breaking any new ground here but its struck a chord with me at the right time, allowing me to experiment, explore and destroy at my leisure with a kooky cast of characters at my side, in my own time without ever feeling overwhelming.
Just Cause 3 embraces the series' dumb thrills to create a ridiculous sandbox orgy of wingsuits, tethers, and explosions.
Forget Shoot 'em ups. We need more Blow 'em ups
The adjective "ridiculous" has been used several times in this review as it's the most apt available. Just Cause 3 is a ridiculous, over-the-top experience that wants so hard for you to blow it up. Playing around its 400 square miles, it's almost as if the game can be heard yelling "OH MAN, THAT WAS SICK" in the background. It's hard not to feel like a complete badass as you fly around the island dropping grenades and vaulting enemies into the air; in fact, you basically have super powers.
When all is said and done, the overall direction of Just Cause 3 is certainly a positive one. Avalanche Studios set out to build an enjoyable title that gamers can truly experiment with. I have to admit, I sunk more of my time into jumping out of airplanes and blowing stuff up than I did with the actual missions. Rico's character perfectly complements that fun and creative atmosphere as he feels like an action hero that breezes through the Mediterranean with an arsenal of weapons and a bulletproof chin. The game does have its glaring flaws in the atrocious shooting mechanics, repetitive main missions, and turtle-like loading screens. However, the title definitely shines where it needs to, and Just Cause 3 might very well be the most underrated title of 2015 - this is one wild, testosterone-infused adventure you'll want to check out for yourself.
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' 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.
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.
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.
A good, if not great, game that focuses on the simpler things in life, making things go boom while giving you a plethora of options to do so. It might not be the most engaging, but the ability to log-in really quick to let off steam is great. And the music is fantastic!
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.
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.
Avalanche Studios' latest is the very definition of a big dumb action game. But you can't say it's not fun
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.
Just Cause 3 is quite a good game, but it would have been better with more attention to details.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Just Cause 3 is a playground where you get to be a physics-defying force of destruction, and its loop of liberating dozens of towns across this enormous scenic world would've gotten old much quicker if the combat wasn't so full of options for free-form mayhem. Getting the most out of it requires some creativity and tolerance for performance bugs on your part, so come expecting to make at least some of your own fun. It's a damn shame so many performance problems and punishing load times keep cropping up [on the PS4 and XB1 versions], because I love what Just Cause 3 does. But for game that's so heavily dependent on action to run this poorly is no laughing matter. [OpenCritic note: Dan Stapleton separately reviewed the PC (8) and PS4/XB1 (5.9) versions. Their scores have been averaged.]
Just Cause 3 is a wonderfully constructed open-world, that successfully builds on its predecessor's legacy with humour and aplomb. The key problem however is that at the moment there are too many technical problems which hamper play. You'll want to be wild and free, blowing everything to hell in a variety of ways, and so often you can be, but that only serves to emphasise those moments where Just Cause 3 struggles to keep up.
Just Cause 3 is fun game to take photos, stream or make videos of you doing something amazing since its "no-rules approach" to combat can create some uniquely stellar action scenes.
Just Cause 3 can be a rather fun game, but it's not the sequel we were hoping for. There are some very impressive things to be found within its large-scale and explosive quest, and on its insanely large world of Medici, but technical problems and dated mechanics hold it back from living up to its potential.
While Just Cause 3 offers more of the same action blockbuster excitement of its predecessors, it also doesn't do enough new to make it stand out from its contemporaries.