I got this free from PS+, so praise the saints above that I didn't shell out money for this festering pile of manure because it seemed to fail in every way conceivable. It's a game that presents to you this giant playground, one that allows you to go where you want, do what you want and says "hey, venture forth and have fun!" and then goes out of its way to prohibit you from actually engaging in any activity resembling 'fun'. There's just so much wrong with this game.
It's soulless for a start. Creating such an immense world seemed to be its undoing. It's a pretty looking collection of islands when you're base jumping and the draw distance works its magic, allowing you to see the sunbathed paradise all around you. Up close, everything looks like ass. Lazy, flat texture work everywhere, character models that look like they're constructed from Play-Doh, and then you realise the game has wholly sacrificed detail and character for a big, empty, bland world that has nothing of interest to see. Just compare the open-world of Just Cause 2 to something like Sleeping Dogs, a world much smaller in scale, but visually striking and seeping with personality and atmosphere. It's no contest which one is better.
The shooting mechanics are borked. There's no cover system, so you just have to kind of stand infront of a piece of the environment, and then edge out left or right until you can get the enemy in your sights. Problem is the hit detection is screwy and unreliable, so even though you've got that enemy soldier's bonce right in the middle of your crosshair, you'll probably end up hitting the tree you're using for cover instead. And bullet sponges much? Even 50 Cent can't take as many bullets as these guys. And I thought the first Uncharted was bad.
It's repetitive beyond belief too. Give it an hour or two and you've already seen all the game has to offer. The same villages, the same military bases, the same harbours, the same missions, the same takeovers. The game's idea of presenting a challenge is to just pile wave upon wave of respawning enemies at you, which is huge fun when you simply want to take over a base and have already decimated a horde of soldiers, a couple of tanks, a helicopter or two and a kitchen sink. Then it decides you haven't had enough and throws another army at you. I JUST WANT TO GET 100% ON THIS BASE - LEAVE ME ALONE! Just the sheer amount of helicopters you have to deal with. Having to engage in the same QTE every time you hijack one of these enemy vehicle is borderline retarded game design, and it never ceases when trying to take over a base.
All the land vehicles handle like they're on ice, skidding and sliding all over the fucking place when you 'strain' the analogue stick too much left or right, which makes weaving in and out of traffic a
needless fucking chore of epic proportions great barrel of laughs. And it actually beggars belief how ineptly the planes handle. I can't even explain it, it's just so twitchy that to control one looks like the thing is being driven by a pilot who gorged on a concoction of whiskey and absinthe beforehand.
A non-entity of a main character, who doesn't even appear to have a consistent physical representation across the promotional material, the loading screen images and how he looks ingame. Your average space marine has more personality in his pinky than whoever the name of the protagonist in Just Cause 2 did in his entire empty vessel of a body. Not to mention a cast devoid of charm, spark or chemistry, a script deprived of wit or compelling dialogue, and of some of the most appalling voicework my ears have ever been exposed to in a game. That female revolutionary - WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?! She sounded like she had a lobotomy, visited every corner of the Earth and then decided to morph all those different, exotic accents into one collective ear-raping screech of a sound.
If I'm missing anything out then it's only because I've tried my darndest to erase it from my memory. Not just the worst game I've played this year, but possibly this gen. It literally has nothing going for it whatsoever.
