Just Cause (not just because!)

Developer: Avalanche Studios (SE)
Publisher: Eidos Interactive
Released on: September 26, 2006
System: Playstation 2, XBox, 360, PC
ESRB Rating: M (17+)
Review based on: Full retail version I purchased used at EB

Official Website

The Scoop: Antonio Banderas takes a GTA approach to fixing another country in turmoil

Hitting Start...

• Ok I'm smashing buttons but nothing is happening! Oh wait that is because it’s a cinematic cut scene giving me the who, what, where and why's of the game in 2 minutes or less.
• Ah that voice... I know that voice… it’s Antonio Banderas! Cool big name actor lending his voice to the game. It’s been done before but it is always a nice touch.
• From the cut scene I've deducted I'm a kick ass special agent for the CIA or some other type of US agency. I've got the story down and I'm ready to rock!
• The cinematic comes to an end and I'm jumping out of a perfectly good airplane! Very cool I'm parachuting down into a nice Hawaii type island far below.
• I can use the joystick and buttons to control my ascent and even free fall, I like :)
• I land short of the flashing red arrow where I was supposed to land (I assume) and now I'm swimming slowly to shore. I no like.
• After what seems like a very long slow swim where the odd boat passed me I'm on shore and there is a gun battle going on with some baddies and a guy from the cut scene who I assume correctly is on my side
• I run around and shoot a few guys - targeting is easy and blasting the guys is dead simple I like the auto target and shooting so far.
• A new jeep flies onto the beach and more baddies jump out blasting. My new pal and I quickly dispatch them and he jumps into a jeep with a howitzer attached in the back of the jeep
• The big gun is for me and I jump in the back and take up the beast and continue blasting as my compatriot guns the jeep away.
• The gun is responsive and works like the hand guns for auto targeting - nice and easy
• The driver is all over the road and the action is ramped up with jeeps and now helicopters coming in from all over at horrendous speeds. I'm shooting like a mad man; stuff is blowing up all over the place. I like
• I finish blasting a few more helicopters and jeeps and we drive like crazed drunken teenagers over a bridge that is blown up by some fighter planes called in to assist. It reminds me of the movie True Lies and it happens in real time, there are no cut scenes the action doesn't skip a beat.
• With the bridge blown my driver takes us down the road (and off road) to a motor home in the jungle, I see a motor bike I can ride, some guns and some power ups like health I can use as well as a handy save point.
• I see another large flashing red arrow over the motor home showing me where I need to go next but I don’t have to which is cool.
• I jump on the motor bike and go ripping off driving all over the place until I try to drive up a sheer cliff which doesn’t work at all. The controls are very arcade like reminds me of Grand Theft Auto (GTA) in that you are free to do what you want.
• I see that I can do a lot of different things just playing around on the joystick and running around. In the space of 30 seconds I jumped off my motorbike and pulled my chute launching me into the sky, I landed from the chute onto the hood of a moving car, I then kicked the driver out of the car and began driving it, after which I jumped out of the car while it was still going, out of the drivers seat and up onto the hood again and then jumped onto the hood of another car driving the other direction… very cool it appears I can do a whole lot that you can't in GTA.
• I see all my messing around has caused trouble and some law enforcement types are driving at me at high speeds so I drive back to my bike and rocket back to the red arrow I see in the distance showing me my next check point or area to advance the story.
• I zip away on the bike and lose the pursuing police / army and I’m soon back to the motor home again where I found the bike. The bike is a lot of fun, loose controls but in a good way.
• I wander around to a shed which has a first aid kit on the wall. Touching it and pushing the A button regains all my health
• I see 2 guns in a barrel floating close by and like the health by touching them and hitting A I pick them up and with ammo boxes close by I can do the same to refill my ammunition for all the weapons I have on my person.
• I walk by something that looks like a mini ATM machine that is a satellite uplink that allows me to save my game. I save and continue
• I walk into the motor home and a new cut scene begins.
• A new character – a beautiful strange woman is introduced and after she slaps my character I guess she isn’t a stranger but that story isn’t elaborated on other then to imply my Antonio character is a heathen womanizer (oh my!)
• The cinematic continues to go into why we are on this island and the job we’ve got to do and how we are going to do it
• I’m itching to get out of the cinematic and get back on my dirt bike and see what else I can do… I’m hooked

Am I impressed? Yes

How come? The game is very easy to control and is fun. It looks big and diverse Does it remind me of GTA? You bet it does but in a good way and I want to play.