Just Cause 3

Just Cause 3

Having enjoyed the first two games, I bought Just Cause 3 in 2016. So he dragged on my hard drive for two years, taking a few hours here and there, between two games that really caught me. It's never a good sign when a game only serves as a stop-gap ...

Back in this third episode, Rico Rodriguez, famous agent of the CIA (... this is not unnatural that, a famous spy?), Will again have to impose US imperialist freedom on a small tropical island. But the stakes here are far more important than in the first two episodes, since the island in question is Medicie, Rico's birthplace. Not only is this island headed by the dictator General Di Ravello, but it is also a serious threat to the "free world", since it is the only place in the world where the Bavarium is found, unstable ore and especially magical, since it is absolutely useful for everything here: producing energy, creating ultimate weapons, or shielding vehicles. Rico will have to release all this through violence and destruction.

From its first episode, Just Cause has laid a very nice foundation on all episodes: you play Rico, in the third person, in a gigantic open world to explore (1000 km² in Just Cause 1 and 2, and 2000 km² in the 3). Your travels can be done with any vehicle you meet: car, motorcycle, helicopter, plane, tank ... Everything you find. A grapple is also provided, allowing you to quickly get on the vehicles, and even to tow on the ground in the last two episodes.

For those cases where you fall from high, an infinite use parachute will be at your disposal. Each Just Cause takes place on a different island that you will have to free by capturing cities and military bases. All this is done by destroying absolutely everything you see: tank, generators, statues, speakers, cranes ... For this you will have access to a varied arsenal, ranging from assault rifles to heavy machine guns, to the launcher rockets, through grenade launchers, explosives, and other grenades. You will understand: the share is given to the little subtle weapons and explosives.

To advance in the story, you will from time to time have a scripted mission pushing the level of "what the fuck" to its paroxysm, since you will be asked for example to protect a train of attacks of helicopters (while remaining standing on the train), jump from your fighter on another plane to take control, or ride a missile to defuse it. These missions, on the whole rather nice, are too few, and the game will essentially consist of freeing areas by destroying everything. In total, about 30 provinces must be released, each with about four to five cities or bases to ravage. Do you feel it repetitiveness?

At the gameplay level, the game has changed little compared to the second episode. We always use a grapple to move quickly everywhere. Associated with a parachute, it can be towed near vehicles or hold absolutely anywhere. The introduction of a wingsuit makes traveling even easier, but apart from that, we stay in familiar territory: guns, explosives, and elements of decoration marked in red to blow up everywhere. Rico can now evolve slightly, with several trees of skills and materials to unlock, realizing challenges.

Unfortunately, these challenges (parachute jumps, races, driving) are not especially fun, nor sufficiently well dosed difficulty level. Very quickly, they are abandoned by realizing that they are not very interesting, nor even necessary for progression. And forget the vehicles, they are slow, very slow, it seems that everything has been done to make you play with the combo grapple / wingsuit / parachute only.

When you are on an area to release, expect to die often. Rico is not very resistant, and he will be the systematic target of whole armies. You'll take your patience by reappearing, then trying to do as much damage as possible, again, and again. Fortunately, all destroyed items are for good, and each death offers you a free supply. So you can exploit this flaw of the game to recover bullets and explosives, and return to clean the areas that are waiting for that.

Technically, the game is very nice, but all this is poorly optimized: very long loading times, slowdowns, and other bugs that can block the game will spoil your pleasure (the bug missile targeting missile to go to me crazy in a pair of missions elsewhere). Feel free to lower the graphics settings if you are on PC so you can play comfortably, and switch the game in English; it seems like it stabilizes a number of bugs. The dubbing of the characters, in French as in English, are really good, and a mood full of humor emerges from the game. The music, far from being memorable, are rather nice, especially during the exploration phases.

Clearly, Just Cause 3 was a disappointment. Repetitive, poorly dosed, poorly optimized, and still bugged three years after its release. Added to the fact that the multiplayer mode is developed by the fans in each episode, it indicates how Avalanche Studios makes fun of its players. If you are in need of destruction games, Just cause 2 or Red Faction Armaggedon will be much better picks (... in addition, in Red Faction, you can use a unicorn as a weapon of mass destruction!).