Report #30
Time flies and there is another Vito post. I completed Just Cause 2 and while I enjoyed it, I don’t think I’ll get the third part soon. It was enjoyable, but not breathtakingly so. After completing it, I started Factorio, a practically endless game, which is the first quasi-permanent addition to my unfinished list in a very long time.
Reviews
Release Date: 2010
Just Cause 2 is an open world third person shooter. You play as CIA-agent Rico Rodriguez, who is sent to the asian island nation of Panau to investigate the whereabouts of missing agent and topple the government while he is already there.
Just Cause is not a very serious game. Forget stealth. Forget playing careful. Get the biggest gun you find and shoot, shoot, shoot. The open world is huge and filled with an absurd amount of collectibles. Completing the story is only a matter of hours, but exploring the island(s) and searching for collectibles can give you work/fun for weeks. In addition to blowing up stuff and collecting things you can take part in various races (land, air and sea) or do some side missions.
The most important item you own is the iconic grappling hook. It's great fun, though a bit overrated I think. Apart from that I mainly switched between two weapons, using the second when the first is out of ammo. There is not much depth to anything, so if you're looking for that, you better look otherwise.
The game is a lot of fun, even the grinding necessary for some achievements. I thoroughly enjoyed it, but the mindless action is not enough to warrant a five star rating.
Achievements: I really like the way this games handles achievements. You are not forced to collect every single collectible or do every single activity, only about 75% of them. Which is a great decision. You still see almost everything of the game, but it doesn't matter if there is a few activites you're having a hard time with. You don't have to turn every nook and cranny in this gigantic open world, since you do not need to collect everything. The game is rather easy, so playing (and finishing) the game on the highest difficulty level is not too hard. Still, getting all the achievements takes a lot of time.
Verdict: Recommended
I played the first part about a year ago in case you want to read my thoughts about it.
Currently playing
- Factorio
6.2 hours playtime
- DiRT 3 Complete Edition
6.0 hours playtime
I started Factorio after buying it about a year ago. It is not as captivating yet, as I imagined, I’ll give it some more time though.
DiRT 3 is so far not my favourite either.
Apart from that I watched “Love, Death & Robots” on Netflix. I think it has phenomenal production value and (apart from one episode) I really enjoyed the different art styles. Some of the worlds/universes you get to peek I would definitely watch a series about. Did you watch it? How did you like it?
Happy backlog-clearing to everyone,
Vito
This is the first time I heard of Love, Death & Robots, but I see they managed to drag Nolan North into it so I’m definitely interested. :) Are the episodes really only 15 minutes long?
Yes. it’s a couple of unrelated episodes, all very short. And I think it is very interesting how some of those (not all!) manage to design a credible world you want to know more about in only a few minutes. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not claiming it’s the best show that was ever created, but especially because the episodes are so short, I think it’s definitely worth watching.
Uh, that 75% rule sounds good, I remember playing just cause 3 on ps4 and it requires to get all collectibles and do all activities (I couldn’t even do some of them with youtube help), I got Just cause 2 in steam too so I may wait for it to be chosen and enjoy it now better.
Also, that serie you talking about is on my watchlist, but I have at least two that I want to see before, appart from GoT and not much time lately, but definitely sounds interesting.
Yeah, especially as there are literally 1000s of collectibles, the 75% rule was pretty neat. Thanks for the heads up about Just Cause 3. Makes it easier to take a pass on the game for now :)
Ah yeah JC2 is one of my all time favs. I used to love just getting into the world and going around trying to do stunts. My kids play it a bit now and again still and they love it.
Haha, good job on getting them to like “older” video games. It definitely is a lot of fun to blow stuff up, I can see why this is one of your favourites.
You are not forced to collect every single collectible or do every single activity, only about 75% of them.
God, I wish it was a thing more often. Finding all the treasure chests and getting all the bestiary pages in FF III for the achievements was anxiety-inducing, since some of them are missable.
Me too, me too! If I had to get 100% for Just Cause 2 I surely wouldn’t have completed it. It’s just too vast to find the last remaining collectibles without any indication where it is…
Edit: Missable collectibles are the worst!
Hey good on you for finishing JC2! Every time I try to play a JC game I wind up doing exactly what I do in Skyrim: promptly ignore the storyline to run around on my own exploring, cause a bunch of mayhem and havoc, and then get bored and stop playing. One day, I will stay around for the story. One day.
Well, that’s what the game is about after all :D The story is really not very memorable. I know what you mean anyway, I never got far in Skyrim (though I really like the game!) and the only thing that helps me with these longer open world games is concentrating on achievements…because usually there is one for finishing the story!
I watched a few episodes of Love, Death & Robots recently at a friend’s place. It’s quite interesting, I may have to keep watching it. Definitely one of the more unusual shows I’ve seen though.
It definitely is. And maybe that’s what’s making it interesting.