Just Cause 2 – MMOMFG Demo Impressions

Just Cause 2

Grappling hook? Check. Multiple pull parachutes? Check. Ample time? There is never enough time. Fresh to Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network, you’ll get 30 adrenaline filled minutes to romp and pillage to your heart’s desire in the Just Cause 2 demo. Not enough time to do everything you want? Don’t worry you will be able to go back and play the demo again, but for only 30 heart pumping minutes at a time (I don’t really get it either). And while I think it has some bugs to work out, it will be the best 30 minutes of your day, unless you aren’t into the raw awesomeness of base jumping, stunt jumping, and really just doing whatever the hell you want, you know, just ’cause.

Free Fallin’ - This is no longer just the tag line of one my top five drunken laments by sir Tom Petty, it is now one of my top five virtual activities. Virtual activities sounds a little too depressing, but I dare you to try it and not want to come back for more. When it comes to heights I have an exceptionally bad case of vagitis. So for me, jumping of a virtual cliff face first and waiting till the last possible second to pull the chute is about as good as it gets, I bet you’ll like it too.

What’s better than one grappling hook? - Double grappling hooks, duh! This took me a little while to get used to but I have to admit it is a pretty sweet little feature. With the grappling hook you have the option of deploying it and slinging yourself towards and object, or you can sling your enemy forward. If you hold the deploy button though, and latch on to a target then move your crosshair to another object and let go, a second hook shoots out and sends your target sailing. Oodles of fun in my book. Especially when you hook a target and attach your second hook to a moving vehicle. Sit back in amusement as you creatively take down your enemies in whatever way you see fit.

Vehicles galore - To be honest when first using vehicles I thought the handling was garbage. My gold standard when it comes to driving in games like this has and always will be GTA, this game needless to say is nowhere close. The controls in general felt a little clunky and rough around the edges, not just in vehicles. I persisted though, and spent a good time of my 30 minutes testing out all the different types of vehicles. And while some are decisively harder to control than others, there are those that are just as fun to drive. The dune buggy was by far the most fun to drive, and the sandbox atmosphere presents you multiple opportunities to pull off a twisted stunt jump. Oh, and flying a helicopter to its max altitude and raining lead on your enemies from on high is pretty ballin’, too.

I can haz that back? - I didn’t spend too much of my time engaging the enemy, choosing instead to explore the wide open landscape. But when I did, one blatantly glaring issue was present. My guns kept disappearing. I know this is a demo so hopefully most bugs will be cleaned up by release date, but still, facing an enemy bent on taking you down is a hopeless feeling when all you can do is point, dodge and run. Luckily, grappling hook kills are all the rage now.

I would be lying if I said my expectations for Just Cause 2 were very high. Playing it first hand though is an entirely different beast; the demo completely blew my expectations out of the water, or should I say sand-box? This demo was just pure fun, served straight up, on the rocks. That said however, to me this game feels like one of those that I would want to rent not buy. The wide open game play is fun and exciting, but narrative seems lacking, and without a good narrative I honestly don’t know for how long it would hold my attention. It feels like a great laid back game, though, perhaps something to pass the time between larger releases. So tell us, how did you spend your thirty minutes of grapple hooking fun? Just Cause 2 will be base jumping onto you Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC March 23rd.

*Just Cause 2 downloaded and played on the Xbox 360 console.

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