Conclusion - Is it a GTA beater?
Aside from the main missions Just Cause features settlement liberations that involve talking to one of the locals to start the side-quest and then having to tackle the town’s local gangsters and corrupt government officials in a fierce shoot-out to gain control of the area. Once an area is controlled you’ll open up other objectives based around those areas. There are so many side missions it will blow you away. Collect missions, which are marked by blue dots on the map, can be found in the most bizarre places, such as underwater or on top of a building, and once completed, you’ll be rewarded more respect from the rebels or cartels.
One of the main missions we played involved intercepting a drug runner. We headed to a small airport hidden up in the hills, stole an airplane, and then followed the convoy. As we flew overhead we jumped out of the airplane, locked onto the car and then reeled ourselves in. We then stole the car, drove like lunatics to a nearby mountain cliff and sped off the end. In mid-flight we jumped out of the car and let the drug runner fall to his death as we took a leisurely parachute flight to safety. Brilliant! There are so many different ways to complete these missions and this one could have been tackled from so many different angles.
Whilst moving around the game you’ll come across a GTA-style ‘wanted’ system. There are two systems that run parallel to each other, the police and the bad guys. If you piss off either of these people you’ll have a mini-war coming your way as the police chase you relentlessly around the island. Fortunately it’s fairly easy to escape thanks to the grappling hook feature.
Click for larger imageJust Cause is a beautiful game, whether you just fancy a scenic drive through the hillsides or a cruise on a speed boat every inch of the game bristles with style. The multitude of missions and side objectives keep the action fresh and the gameplay can be sped up or slowed down to suit your own gaming style. There are many elements of GTA that poke their head around every corner but Just Cause has many differences. You can access every part of the island and every vehicle from the outset and the grappling hook and stunt modes, we personally feel, make it more fun than GTA. That’s a big claim we know as we haven’t even scratched the surface. Once we receive review code we may change our minds, but our initially feeling is that Just Cause could be that GTA beater we’ve been waiting for. We can’t wait to get our hands on the full version.
One second! We forgot to mention the one downside of the game, it's not online.
