Recent reviews by Cala

good ol' fun

Lots of fun with a friend. Incredible art direction and gameplay. Must have!

Over 150 hours in, I'm still having a blast. Definitely recommend.

Just Cause 3, like the ones before it, is best described as "rinse-and-repeat". However, this very description provides some of the most fun I've had in a single-player open world.

The Gameplay consists of causing as much chaos and destruction as you can. You're given a decently sizable arsenal of rifles, SMGs, and other special weaponry to complete what seems like a colossal undertaking. Liberating bases and towns makes up much of the core gameplay loop and it's clear that the devs put as much work into that as they could. Bases, for example range from "pretty small" to "absolutely massive". The layouts themselves are incredibly varied and lend themselves very well to your traversal tools, like the wingsuit. Subterranean sea bases are great fun to zip around in and the tight rock formations around you can make for some precarious (albeit satisfying) wingsuiting. Even larger bases, such as ones housing antenna arrays, are very open and vertical, which allows you naturally progress upwards as you cause more and more destruction. Your planted GE-64 explosives are a very powerful tool to taking down some of the bigger structures, and they're surprisingly infinite in supply. Fire away!

I feel that the wingsuit/parachute combo deserves its own mention. I've had such a great time practicing wingsuiting in tandem with the grappling hook. You could honestly fly from one end of the map to the other without leaving your wingsuit. As the sun sets and the Mediterranean-inspired score swells, it's a cool experience to dip and dive through caves and across mountains as the wind rushes past you.

The Map and Graphics are another one of the game's strong suits. The map, like the official description states, is huge. Not too dissimilar to JC2 or even JC4, the biomes are varied but in this case still hold true to the game's Mediterranean setting. A lot of the terrain is similar, however, and at times you can feel like you've "been here before" even when you haven't. The graphics themselves compliment the map nicely, and the game holds up very well in 2021 (though I never doubted that it wouldn't). Night time is a personal favorite of mine, as the sprawling bases light up in the night and make for some impressive backdrops. The provinces themselves are similar in the game's beginning, consisting of two island chains that get you acclimated to the gameplay. Move onto the third, much bigger and terrestrial island, however, and you're in for a treat. The massive mountains and vast valleys are a great playground as the game opens up (literally and figuratively) and the trains are a fun touch to mess around with.

The Vehicles present a bit of dilemma for me. I do like driving around in some of the cars, but I feel that, aside from challenges, they are to be seldom used. The wingsuit and grappling hook present such a powerful traversal method that I find myself hard-pressed to use an actual car to get around. Don't get me wrong, however, much of the more military-esque vehicles are incredibly useful. The tanks are slow but powerful and useful for clearing more underground bases, while the air vehicles, like helicopters, are fast and worryingly deadly at taking out large encampments. SAM sites put a hindrance to your airborne tomfoolery but I feel that they're sprinkled a bit too liberally across some of the bigger bases. Taking them out is no hard task, however. Some of the very small bases, usually small refineries, can be taken out in mere seconds by certain helicopters (such as the CS Navajo, with the infinite and fast-firing light missiles). They allow you to easily cheese some of these encounters which I feel takes some of the fun and creativity out of the tether and planted explosives you can use while on the ground.

The Story is passable. I've beaten the came only once (in 150 hours!!) and I don't really remember much of it. The cutscenes are good enough, with decent voice acting and motion capture. Some of them, especially ones featuring General Di Ravello (the antagonist), are admittedly pretty funny. Speaking of voice acting, Rico's quips during free exploration don't come across as "cringey" and are a nice touch when you do something a bit ballsy.

Just Cause 3 is focused on its gameplay, and it delivers that in spades. Turn off your brain for just a few hours and revel in the absolutely unbelievable amount of chaos you can cause.