Avalanche Studios have released yet another Just Cause game to add to their Explosive franchise! The New Just Cause 4 game is a sequel and was released on the 4th December. It is available for PC, Xbox One and PS4 for around £44.99 – £49.99. The game was published by well known publishers ‘Square Enix' and the reception so far has been mixed.
The game consists purely of explosions, chaos, rampages, more explosions, flying, driving, shooting, carnage – yes there so many wonderful things to do! Like the other titles in the series it is a third-person action adventure game. The stand out feature are the different equipment options you have within the game.
You are equipped with a grapple hook, a parachute and a wing suit. Guns, rockets and all the other good stuff are supplied to you too. I just think it's a really cool option to be able to have in the game, where you can grapple your way to the highest peak of the in game mountains and either parachute your way down slowly, or use a wing suit to make a speedy landing. Just make sure you open your parachute before landing though.. or it can be rather dangerous!
I admit I didn't actually think the game would supply you with these pieces of equipment straight from the get go, normally with these types of games you pretty much have to ‘earn' it. However, you are free to monkey around with your grapple hook as much as you please from immediately loading into the new game.
The aim of Just Cause 4 is to cause as much chaos as you can so you can get noticed by the people of the lands. You can have them assist you in this big rebellion against the enemies known as the ‘black hand' and then I assume once you have unlocked the entire of the map with your helpers, you then go on to proceed to complete your MAIN mission. You are free to go to any of the areas on the map, however and whenever you want to – there is no restriction, which is a great feature of the game.
I played on PC and I definitely found the controls a little bit difficult to get the hang of. I'm so used to running with the ‘shift' button and the ‘aim down the iron sights' of a weapon being the ‘right mouse click' button. I was not able to run at all, which I am assuming is the reason for the grapple hook, to travel across the terrain a lot faster. In this game the ‘right mouse' button was the grapple hook and the ‘shift' button is to aim.
Once I had a little more practice I found easier ways to travel such as; grapple to the floor, release before I get to my destination, use my parachute, grapple again, rinse and repeat. It did start to begin to feel quite comfortable and a very fast way to travel around the map.
Just Cause 4 doesn't have a ‘skill tree' option. It has a system of equipment mods that you can unlock to enhance ways to interact with the environment around you. In order to unlock the ability to make these mods, you have to do all the side missions. This is one of the only gripes I have, as I don't want to feel like I must do absolutely everything in order to get potentially important mods to make the experience of the game more enjoyable.
I did have a lot of fun playing the game, even though I had some controller challenges with the PC version. I haven't played these games before so perhaps gamers used to the series will jump right in, without any issue. While the game seems to be getting slated by many media I definitely enjoyed running around the map causing as much chaos as I could.
Did you guys manage to pick yourself a copy? If so, how do you feel the game plays for you? First time player? or Just Cause die hard fan? Let us know.