Just Cause 4 Review (AbedsBrother)
Just Cause 4 provides more chaotic mayhem as expected from a game in the Just Cause franchise, but a lot of ups and downs in gameplay and presentation make this game a major disappointment. 4/10
Total size on my hard-drive: 69.5 GB
+ Gun-play is significantly improved. Headshots are a lot easier.
+ Grapple options are greatly expanded, allowing for new levels of creativity
+ The single benefit of the sub-par graphics is that load times are VERY fast (especially compared to Just Cause 3).
+ The story is a great continuation from Just Cause 3's story.
+ Lots of fast-travel points
+ Solis is large and laid out well
+ /- Interesting system of the Rebellion Frontline and needing cause chaos to recruit more rebels to take more areas. Problem is, it devolves into repeated base-takeover missions, with no variation.
+/- Just Cause games are built on using the same types of missions over and over in different settings. Just Cause 4 doesn't buck the trend.
- - Mounted guns are no longer detachable. What the actual f--k?
- No health indicator
- No heat indicator
- Checkpoint saving only.
- I suspect it still has Denuvo (the game exe is 274 MB)
- No weapon or vehicle upgrades (there are a lot of weapons and vehicles to choose from, but no upgrade system)
- No "destruction tally / total" for settlements. Destructible objects reset periodically (sometimes when loading a save). You can endlessly destroy stuff every time you boot the game, but a major feeling of progression is lost.
- No timer on "delivery events" - so what's the point? Drive from point A to point B at the speed of a bicycle? Come on.
- Stunt challenges now frequently require specific vehicles.
- Stunt challenges don't appear in the game world unless you've deliberately tracked them from the map by clicking on them. (you'll be visiting the map a lot)
- Graphics are a major disappointment. I'm firmly in the "good enough" camp when it comes to graphics, but compared to how stunning Just Cause 2 and Just Cause 3 were when they launched, Just Cause 4 is a major step backwards with major glitches with anti-aliasing and ambient occlusion. Hair is is bugged as well, resulting in a weird shimmer on hair textures. Textures in general are low-res (I played at 3440x1440). Even explosions look worse than previous games (and aren't as large, either). Where are the graphics from the pre-release trailers that said "captured in-engine"? Those graphics look glorious. They're no-where to be found in the actual game.
- Texture stream-in is a major problem (JC4 was installed on an SSD)
- Pre-rendered cutscenes are a pixelated 720p mess. Media codecs have advanced significantly. Great picture quality in a small file size was very doable in 2018 when Just Cause 4 launched. There's no excuse for this.
- Occasional crashing when attempting to fast-travel (four times in 27 hours)
- Extended helicopter rampages are impossible now. Numerous enemy helicopters spawn immediately (not a problem) and will kill themselves and you by flying into you if they can't kill you immediately (that's a problem).
- a very intricate supply drop system is made pointless by all the weapon cases that are EVERYWHERE
- "ghost spawns" are frequent and annoying (enemies are invisible, but can still shoot you)
- Tanks, helicopters, planes etc. now have a finite amount of ammo. So even if you survive the numerous suiciding enemies, your time in a tank or helicopter will be artificially limited. ("But muh realism!" - it's a game, it's supposed to be fun)
- "defend the transmitter" side-missions are bulls--t. You'll spend way to much time re-doing them because there's an enemy you can't see / hit from the provided turret / mounted gun. (This "hidden" enemy will destroy the transmitter, requiring a re-start of the mission.)
- Debris collision physics are buggy. Debris frequently gets stuck under vehicles (even tanks) causing severe handling issues.
- Vehicle handling is as bad as it was in Just Cause 3. No improvement whatsoever.
- Gabriela Morales, hyped in the promotional material as a major villain, is only seen twice: the opening mission and the final mission.