Will I like Just Cause 2?

[ninja666]

Wow, so many diverse opinions. I'm not sure what to expect anymore after reading all this, to be honest, but the more I read them, the less it seems to be what I'm looking for. Am I really to expect merely a GTA level of gameplay? Cause it doesn't seem like I should expect either a Mercs or Saints Row (gameplay-wise) clone.

And there's Red Faction Guerrilla. It's Mercs on Mars. All about destruction.

Meh. Red Faction takes itself too seriously. I'm looking for a game that sets the mood suitable for all the mayhem going on.

 

[Teoes]

Well that's the problem with opinions - everyone has one. Perhaps you should just try the game for yourself and see. It's a regular-enough attendant of Steam sales so you will be able to pick it up for peanuts (£3? $5? Something like that), then if you don't like it or only get a couple of hours out of it then you're barely out of pocket. Better than constantly relying on other people to make your mind up for you.

Or you could, you know, use the internet to check out gameplay footage and that'll give you a better idea of what to expect. Protip: try and find some stunt videos.

Personally, I had an absolute blast with JC2. I found it so much fun to just roam around in cars/bikes/helicopters/planes/hookshot & parachute spam, blowing stuff up and causing chaos. If there's another game out there that lets me hookshot a dude, attach him to a gas canister and shoot it to send him flying off to his pals - I'd love to hear about it. Would that game also feature a final boss encounter, whereby I'm fighting a midget whilst surfing an ICBM? Didn't think so.

 

[ninja666]

Or you could, you know, use the internet to check out gameplay footage and that'll give you a better idea of what to expect. Protip: try and find some stunt videos.

Personally, I'm more of a mission guy than a sandbox guy, so watching stunt videos won't give me much of an idea what this game is like. I liked shooting and grappling mechanics in the demo, but is there anything more beside it? I'm specifically asking about something that'd make missions more than just shooting enemies and red barrels. Sure, I could get a little creative with the hook, but if full version is anything like the demo, then in most cases you won't have time for creativity because the enemies spawn too quickly, increasing their numbers.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

The missions make you do some pretty insane stuff as far as I remember. I spent most time wrecking havoc in the sandbox, but I remember the missions being pretty varied and fun. I mean, ultimately it was all about blowing stuff up, but they found a way to make you do that in style with planes, helicopters, tanks, boats, grenade launchers while parachuting, hijacking planes and helicopters in mid air etc.

 

[Alex Baas]

Me any my brother have a thing we call 'skiing' where we got to one of three mountain chutes and try and drive down them without getting caught on terrain, wiping out or blowing up. This alone must have given us both 6 hours by now

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

What I'm expecting:

- action that's over the top, but still grounded in reality enough for it not to be cartoony,

- lots and lots of fun and satisfying destruction, using a large assortment of weapons and armed vehicles,

These two are an absolute yes. JC2 has them in spades.

[quote/]
- lots of diverse stuff to do in the game world (side missions, assassinations, challenges etc.)

- humorous approach / not taking itself entirely seriously,

- a badass, likeable protagonist
[/quote]
These are debatable. If you're good at making your own fun, the first is absolutely true. However, if you stick to missions, the game is fairly repetitive. With a few exceptions, the mission design is fairly generic, though again, there's TONS of opportunity to do other things on your own initiative.

As for the comedy and the main character...
If you like media that's funny because of how cheesy/poorly acted it is, then yes, absolutely. But Rico is barely a character and the rest of the cast is generally undwritten people with hilariously bad voice actors.
There's memorable bits, sure, primarily towards the end, but you have to be able to enjoy terrible voice acting on its own merits or you'll be having nightmares about the words "Bola Santosi".

 

[ninja666]

- lots of diverse stuff to do in the game world (side missions, assassinations, challenges etc.)

- humorous approach / not taking itself entirely seriously,

- a badass, likeable protagonist

These are debatable. If you're good at making your own fun, the first is absolutely true. However, if you stick to missions, the game is fairly repetitive. With a few exceptions, the mission design is fairly generic, though again, there's TONS of opportunity to do other things on your own initiative.

So it's either you have fun by sandboxing or you don't have any fun at all? That's very disappointing. I think I'll pass on it, then.

 

[NuclearKangaroo]

you will more or less like it

the action is a bit cartoony at times and the extra activities might not me that entertaining but the rest is spot on, theres a strong B-movie vibe to it as well

 

[Dalisclock]

I played this back in the day and didn't finish it(I stopped after the mission where you were trying to stop the rocket launches). I liked it okay, but I remember always being starved for ammo or money(money to buy ammo?), which is a bit of a sin for a sandbox game with an emphasis on destruction.

Also, while I love the idea of ordering stuff and having the store deliver to you anywhere, the inability to buy more then one thing at a time per helicopter visit is really, really annoying(if this has been fixed since I played it years ago someone please let me know).

I will play it again someday to see if I can finish it and see if I like it more this time around. Unfortunately, I can only play so much sandbox before I have to play something else for a while(and I just finished AC IV so I'm still in the cooldown period).

 

[NiPah]

I'm thinking of playing it, but I'm not entirely sure if that's a game for me. Will I like it if I loved the shit out of Mercenaries and Saints Row 2?

What I'm expecting:

- action that's over the top, but still grounded in reality enough for it not to be cartoony,

- lots and lots of fun and satisfying destruction, using a large assortment of weapons and armed vehicles,

- lots of diverse stuff to do in the game world (side missions, assassinations, challenges etc.)

- humorous approach / not taking itself entirely seriously,

- a badass, likeable protagonist

Will JC2 provide me with all of this, or should I look for a different game? I'm especially interested in how it compares to Mercenaries, since those two seem to be very similar.

Didn't you recently post how every game you played recently was boring you and you thought you might actually quite gaming?
Because if that's the case no, you're not going to like the game, in a few days you'll post how much you disliked it and why it's a boring game.

 

[Sir Thomas Sean Connery]

- lots of diverse stuff to do in the game world (side missions, assassinations, challenges etc.)

- humorous approach / not taking itself entirely seriously,

- a badass, likeable protagonist

These are debatable. If you're good at making your own fun, the first is absolutely true. However, if you stick to missions, the game is fairly repetitive. With a few exceptions, the mission design is fairly generic, though again, there's TONS of opportunity to do other things on your own initiative.

So it's either you have fun by sandboxing or you don't have any fun at all? That's very disappointing. I think I'll pass on it, then.

I think that's taking it to the other extreme.

There is certainly [i/]some[/i] diverse and memorable missions, challenges, etc., but I wouldn't say there's lots.

And failing to sandbox doesn't mean "you don't have any fun at all", it just means you may not get the absolute most out of the game.

Honestly, I say give it a buy without hesitation. It's currently 14.99 on Steam and even if you dislike all of the story content, that price is still completely worthwhile just for the obscenely big map.

I was definitely underselling the game in my original comment.

 

[ninja666]

I think that's taking it to the other extreme.

There is certainly [i/]some[/i] diverse and memorable missions, challenges, etc., but I wouldn't say there's lots.

And failing to sandbox doesn't mean "you don't have any fun at all", it just means you may not get the absolute most out of the game.

Honestly, I say give it a buy without hesitation. It's currently 14.99 on Steam and even if you dislike all of the story content, that price is still completely worthwhile just for the obscenely big map.

I was definitely underselling the game in my original comment.

It's not as bad as I thought, then. From the way you, and some other people, commented about it, I thought it was a kind of game, where you have fun only by sandboxing, with the missions being an underwhelming experience thrown in just for the sake of it. Still, I'll wait for it to go on sale, or something, since it seems it's not really worth those 15 euros.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I think that's taking it to the other extreme.

There is certainly [i/]some[/i] diverse and memorable missions, challenges, etc., but I wouldn't say there's lots.

And failing to sandbox doesn't mean "you don't have any fun at all", it just means you may not get the absolute most out of the game.

Honestly, I say give it a buy without hesitation. It's currently 14.99 on Steam and even if you dislike all of the story content, that price is still completely worthwhile just for the obscenely big map.

I was definitely underselling the game in my original comment.

It's not as bad as I thought, then. From the way you, and some other people, commented about it, I thought it was a kind of game, where you have fun only by sandboxing, with the missions being an underwhelming experience thrown in just for the sake of it. Still, I'll wait for it to go on sale, or something, since it seems it's not really worth those 15 euros.

It's on sale almost every other month. You can often get it for $5 or even less!

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

Like everyone else here said, absolutely get it. However, the world is HUGE! You'll probably end up traveling a lot. Luckily, there are so many ways to do so, it's not really that much of a problem, but I did find myself getting bored with the game a little more than half way through.

 

[Dalisclock]

Apologizes for any forum rules I might be breaking by bumping this.

So I decided to replay JC2 for the first time in 4 years(when I got it and subsequently abandoned it). I will say I'm enjoying it a lot more then I did the first time. Mostly because I've gotten in that groove of "Do faction missions, do story missions, and just randomly blow things up". It feels like SR's more warlike cousin with a much larger map. It's still silly, but it's pretty much designed around blowing things up. It's like they took the third act of SR3(when STAG shows up and your motive becomes to mess with them as much as possible and break thier stuff) and expanded it out into an entire game....and put it on a pacific island.

And I'm fine with that. Especially since I learned how to hijack an incoming attack chopper and turn it against the army, making blowing things up that much easier.

The sandbox is way too big, and occasionally it's really annoying to fly across the map(drive? HAHHAHAHAHAHA!) to get where you want to go because it takes so fricken long to get there. OTOH, the sheer numbers of targets and military bases makes it really hard not to see a giant statue of the dictator or a bunch of explosive fuel tanks and break off your current mission to make them blow up. And if that isn't a good sandbox, it's hard to think of what is.