Just Cause 2 Review
The Short Version: Just Cause 2 was a game I didn’t want to play. I thought Just Cause was boring and had little hope for this sequel. I was wrong. This turned out to be one of the most fun open-world games i’ve ever played and I’m proud to say that Rico Rodriguez can now take his place among legitimate Hispanic Heroes. Avalanche studios have taken everything fun about the original – cut the boring crap out and refined the crazy parachute & grapple hook features. Well done!
The Video Review:
What you’ll Like:
• Impressive Graphics for such a large open-world game.
• Grapple hook and parachuting around is incredibly satisfying.
• Story & Faction Missions are interesting & creative.
• Fun hidden locations throughout the Islands.
• One of the more enjoyable open world games on the next-gen consoles.
What you’ll Hate:
• The Checkpoint system needs to be improved to include auto-saving after long trips.
• The Voice Acting ranges from passable to laughably terrible.
• The game area might actually be a bit too large, could have been slightly more focused.
Final Verdict:
8/10
Very Fun!
BAD ASS APPROVED! Safe Buy!
Issue your own Final Score Above!
I liked the guy who played sheldon. he was probaly the best voice actore in the hole game. the guy who played rico was not half bad ether.
also, in just cause three i would like a save system like they had in TES games or the more recent fallout games. and a more interactive story with multiple out comes based on your actions. and a more destructible inviroment.
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If you think the voice acting is bad, listen to the french dub :p
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Well heres the advantage of ps3 and 360:Ps3 gets exclusive content and xbox 360 gets early add ons.
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eh? i cant seem to play the video…
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I watched Gametrailers review when this game came out, and TBH I didn’t like the game, judging by their review.
Now I just saw your review, and I gotta say you have much more impact to people (or at least to me) when it comes to reviews. So I might actually pick this game up later this summer. Thanks Angry Joe.
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This game is great, played it for 16 hours now, but its too repetetive
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Another successful review theres no stopping you is there GREAT JOB
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Seriously! I really think this game was 90% influensed by the Mercenaries franchise.
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I’m really glad my friend introduced me to your videos. You’re very good at what you do, and I agree 100% with you on this one; this game is loads of fun. c:
Did I mention what an excellent dancer you are? You do the best Carlton. LOL
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Large scale inviornments, everything destruclible, lots of vehicles and able to hijack them, differnt Faction to help, a grapple hook, and the main character being a merc.
Don’t get me wrong but Just Cause 2 feels more like Mercenaries 2: World in Flames.
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Uzi wielding ninjas huh? Cool, but its been done already. 3d realms’ Shadow Warrior, I know its a pretty old game, and its only been done this one time as far as I know, but if you were fighting this guy, you’d have an uber badass boss fight!
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I just got the game last week and about 1/3 way through. I have to say your review is pretty spot on, except I don’t think the game is too big. The problem is not it’s too big, but I think people are trying to travel by slower transportation. With a fast plane, few minutes is all you need traveling across the whole map. This game has some really FAST transport, and in order for it to feel right, it needs to be BIG. Also, there’s tons of interesting details and items to collect and discover all across the map, makes even a “cross country drive” a fun thing to do.
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Honestly, the voice acting is a plus for me when I play the game. It’s in the realm of “so bad it’s good” in a hilarious way. One of my favorite parts of the game so far is when you blow up a pipeline, Rico sometimes yells, “Try to transport fuel now, you pipeline jerks!” It always cracks me up.
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In the sidebar of the site it says 9/10 but the review says 8/10 anyways love this game and the show!
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I rented this game and had a bit of fun with it, but there’s too many other games out there that I want to get to even think about getting Just Cause 2.
For me JC2 just got a bit too much like Far Cry 2 and Red Faction: Guerrilla, where all you’re doing is causing explosions over and over again without much variety added in (aside from the excellent mission structures and the new-and-improved grapple hook). That and the fact that I hate ginormous open world games that take forever to traverse (ala Far Cry 2, which IMO has the worst travel and fast-travel systems ever) just kind of pulled me out of the game, along with the laughable voice acting and bad story (of course I wasn’t renting it for the story, but it would have been nice to at least have a good one).
Now I’m not saying this is a bad game. By all means, its genuinely quite a bit of fun for a while and there’s a bunch of secret locations to find hidden throughout the game (some of which are really cool IMO). However, the fun eventually subsided for me and it was, at the most, a good rental IMO, but nothing more.
Btw, good review Joe. I may not agree with your opinion, but you backed up all your pros and cons with logical reasons and also showed game footage at the same time. Plus you’re a pretty unbiased reviewer who knows what the hell he’s talking about, and doesn’t go off into fanboy rants or nitpicking segments, something that most other reviewers around the net do.
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yea just cause 2 is pretty kool n does deserve da bad ass seal of aproval motherfuckers
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Good review, but maybe a little to many break away videos.
Not that I don’t like Desperados
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not as big as elder scrolls daggerfall’s 62,394 square miles game world.
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was already planing 2 get it the game looks awsome fine review joe the ending was creepy
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I think you should be more elitist with you seal, otherwise all games you review around 7 or 8 will have it and it will lose its meaning.
btw are you going to make a seal for shit games?
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I hope Just Cause 2 is better than the fist one. I got Just Cause when I bought my XBox 360, and the guy who sold it to me said that it would be like GTA IV, but a hell of a lot more fun. Well, I don’t really talk to that guy much anymore… To stunt jump from the drivers seat to the roof of a car? Parachute jump of a car/motorcycle? Jump from one car to another without miss? Not even once? I mean come on!!! That just sucks! If something makes a game boring it’s that kind of things.
But maybe I would give it one more try, because I stoped play it after just about one or two houres. But it was just SO boring! Even my younger brother that loves those kindes of games left it even faster than i did. That’s just wrong, man!!!
// A very bored guy from Sweden
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In your reviewe, you have the videos of the 2 airplanes being hooked together flying in a freefall circle, may I ask where you found that at? I have been searching all of the interwebz for it. Thanks!
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Haha, great review. I completely understand the “too big” argument. It really is huge…
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This game cant be as big as fallout 3
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i dont like that guy, i want to punch him
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This game does look good, though I am leery of any multi-console game when it comes to the Ps3. Granted, the only bad game I could think for that was Dragon Age on Ps3. But yeah good review, I think it will be this or Little Big Planet for my next game.
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Wow the map is HUGE oO thanks joe for the tip tho i tried it out and i like the game =) coolest thing ever that you can actualy surf (well kinda) on planes
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They said they will look into co-op ect when they feel it will add something to the game they find it perfect the way it is as for me i passed when i had to choose between FF13 BFBC2 or JC2 Battlefield was the game for me then 13 Just Cause 1 bored me and i fear Just Cause 2 will eventually bore me to
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Very entertaining review Joe! You’re getting better and better at this and i absolutely love to watch your work. Cheers mate!
PS: Oh the awakening score was kind of a let down to me and it seemed a bit underrated ’cause to full enjoy it you gotta do all side quests and all and with that you’ll hit 20+ hours playthrough which is nice for an expansion pack allthough the price IS a bit high, 30 dlrs would be way better.
Keep on rollin’!
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wow Joe seriously
dont you know that there’s extraction system ?
though like that you can only revisit locations you already discovered but well you said you died you could’ve just extracted haha
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Sexy Benzaie. Wait, what did i just wrote?!
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I agree with all you points.
Esp. The game being to large, it’s just all over the place – until you get extraction, it takes for ever to get around.
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i thinked that gta san andreas had too big travel times. and so did mercenaries 2. well, this game is the game mercs 2 wanted to be. but mercs 2 isnt bad game.
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I gotta say, I like how you said that the game might just be a little TOO BIG. Game developers seem to pay more attention to QUANTITY, than QUALITY, not saying they didn’t do an awesome job with BOTH in this game. They make sure that there is so much of some thing that they forget to make sure of whether or not it’s gonna be fun. Take MAG for example, with 256 players available, It didn’t turn out t be as good as they thought it would be, showing that BIGGER ISN’T ALWAYS BETTER. I guess what I’m saying is, developers should try to moderate and make the best of that, instead of just making it BIGGER. If that makes sense…
Great review!
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Great review. F%$& Hilarious.
Hispanic in a videogame remember Pablo (ME2).
Only played the demo, but it didn’t entirely convinced me. Now i seen the review going to buy it.
The G. Hook reminds me of Lost Planet.
Rico – Suave
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You should review ps3 exclusive games too like uncharted 2, god of war 3 and heavy rain
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Sounds flippin’ awesome!
I request more dancing Joe! hahaha
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O.O i..see…nothing…..
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When I bought this game it froze after 2 hours of gameplay, so I turned it off for a while and got back to playing it but, now it will freeze when I play after about 2 minutes. Also I am playing on 360.
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kinda late..but did you check to see if theres any scratches on the disc?
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Remember your twitter update?
Finishing Touches on Just Cause 2 Video Review! (Spell checking this time!)
The Publisher of this Game isn’t EDIOS it’s EIDOS >_<
Spell checking Fail :p
Beside that the review was really good and the verdict is fair in fact it is a really good game…but Joe asking for less is kinda weird ^^
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DAMNIT!
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I just got the game yesterday and so far I’m really enjoying it….but I know what you mean about the world being a bit too big. Sometimes I really feel overwhelmed with the sheer size of the map and all of the locations, that I simply can’t be bothered to travel between it. Sure, the “fast travel” makes it a bit faster….but it’s still a pain that you have to parachute down from the helicopter every time. Getting 100% on every city is really going to be hard for some people, when you take their attention spans into account.
Overall, I do like it, and I would honestly say that this game is kinda a “Have-to-buy” title….being so plentiful in things to do. If you want 100%, it’s going to be extremely hard to pull that off in the time of a rental period, and that can actually be a bad thing…but I can forgive it.
Great review AJ!
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Yeah, that last part was just… creepy. I’m going to have nightmares for the next two days now.
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Great review ^^
I get the game a few days ago and it is great. But some things really fucked up like the terrible voice actors, no Multiplayer and other Things. But all the wrong things are forgotten when you combine an Enemy with a
Gas canisters and watch what happend. So fun.
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I do live the review, Joe! Though on the credits didn’t it say Eidos? I had tried out the Demo, and I thought I would stick to that till I actually have the cash to buy the full game!
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Another great Review Joe, Loved the seal of approval. Might just have to pick this game up after watching this!
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played the demo thought it was awesome got the game it truly is bad ass!
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Heh xD Good review, expected that you’d like it. I tried the demo, but it kept crashing a few minutes after the tutorial.
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Most intriguing…sadly, I’m strapped for cash at the moment, and have other games on my to-get list.
Oh, and how about you call the seal “Badass seal of Badassmanship”? It’s a step up from “Badasseyness” at least.
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I see, might pick this up then. Was scared off at first due to the first game being very mediocre.
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I like the “bad ass” seal of approval.
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