Just Cause 4 Review (You)
You might be asking, why am I writing a review for a 3+ years old game that received a lukewarm welcome and was pretty much forgotten right from the get-go. Well, I’m gonna do you one better – why does JC4 even exist? Looking back at previous releases, it feels like the journey of our favorite firestarter Rico Rodriguez has come to a natural conclusion by the end of JC3. After having deposed several ruthless dictators around the world, Rico set on to liberate his own home country of Medici. That’s where the story ends, at least that’s where it should’ve end.
But, Avalanche execs demanded more Just Cause, so here we have the fourth installment. The story has never been the highlight of the series, often being just a backdrop to the trademark joyridin‘, jet hijackin‘, tank destroyin‘, missile evadin‘, air divin‘, chaos risin‘ mayhem. Which is more puzzling considering JC4’s 180 storyline focus. Okay, maybe not a complete 180 – more like an 85° turn. Without spoiling much (not that there is a lot to spoil), Rico journeys to a small South American island country of Solis ruled by yet another authoritarian mogul, whose name I quickly forgot after the intro cutscene.
Not that my last 2 surviving brain cells are at fault since you see the main villain exactly 2 times during the entire game! Once at the beginning and once at the end. It’s not like you saw Sebastiano Di Ravello (JC3’s villain) every second mission, but at least the game acknowledged his presence and he felt like a thought out character. There’s also his lieutenant, who happens to be a sister of the head of the rebel army, however, nothing noteworthy ever comes out of this relationship.
I forgot to mention stuff with Rico’s father, then again, he is as prevalent in the story as generic soldier #0468 I threw off the bridge with my grappling hook that time.
So the story sucks, but you don’t play JC for the story. You wanna know how’s the gameplay. As I have mentioned it’s still the same ol‘ helicopter crashin‘, military base bombardin‘, civil infrastructure demolishin‘ fun. Only with several major changes to the core gameplay. For the uninitiated, JC’s primary gameplay mechanic has always been slowly but surely taking over each region until The Big Baddie loses control of the country. You do this by – causing chaos. You do that by – liberating towns and cities, overtaking military installations and blowing ♥♥♥♥ up. Nice and simple.
Only in JC4, you do none of that. It seems like the devs at Avalanche have lost focus of what made their series, well, fun. Maybe they’ve wanted to adress the issue of repetitiveness of JC, only this isn’t sufficient remedy. In JC3, if you wanted to attack a military base, you’d get in your high-power helicopter and blow up every piece of military equipment you come across. Once you do, the base belongs to the rebel army. Trying the same approach in JC4 is completely meaningless since everything you blow up will respawn after time – as if you weren’t even there.
Instead, you are supposed to complete missions named Region Strikes. These fall into several pre-set categories – all tremendously unimaginative, unexciting, repetitive, copy-paste, simply boring. Escorting prisoners, hacking a security console, protecting an NPC while they hack a security console or protecting a point of interest while some hacking is going on elsewhere. Most involve waiting until a bar fills up. After that, you send rebels to invade a region and they do the job for you... *explosionless sigh*
The rest of the game plays out in this very same basic rhythm. The side missions are not much to talk about either. JC3’s challenges such as destruction derbys, land, air and sea races, have been replaced by what I think someone with severe brain damage considers challenge. „Race through these 3 rings“ or „pass through this ring in a specific vehicle“ are dotted around the map Ubisoft open world style. There are more stimulating events such as discovering lost tombs, however, they never unlock anything substantial.
That brings me to another gripe – no upgrade system like the one in JC3. In its place, you have MODs. Completing challenges mentioned above nets you points you can then spend unlocking various modifications for Rico’s signature grappling hook‘s 3 primary functions – air lifter, retractor and booster. All of them serve the purpose one‘d expect. It’s a shame you rarely need them, if ever. There’s barely any gameplay puzzles designed for specific grappling hook modifications. Once you unlock them, you will forget about them.
The same goes for the much praised extreme weather system. Tornadoes, sandstorms or massive lightning storms are delegated to a handful of story missions, where they take a form of a scripted event. Not to imply it isn’t fun to glide around a tornado, pierce through a sandstorm with a train or dodge a lightning bolt – the game shines at those moments. I just wish the game would’ve done more with them and take advantage of the extreme weather it proudly boasts about.
JC4 puts front and center features the devs didn’t flesh out. Just like The Black Hand, Rico’s „toughest enemies yet“, as the trailers brag, turn out to be more of the same. The AI never utilized clever tactics, flanked me or surprised me. The only challenge The Black Hand poses is in their sheer numbers.
Pros:
+ Extreme weather
+ Diverse biomes
Cons:
- A visual downgrade compared to JC3
- Lack of compelling story
- Repetitive mission design
- No upgrade system
- No real challenge
Rating: 4/10