[E3 2009] Just Cause 2 Eyes-On
We snuck into a short little demo of Avalanche Studios' upcoming open world romp. Why? Nope, we're not gonna say it.
Published: June 2, 2009
We've got something of a soft spot for the original Just Cause. Not on the PS2, of course; the game was a trainwreck and it never should have been ported, but on the PC, the game looked halfway decent and presented an interesting kind of sandbox gameplay that perhaps only Pandemic's Mercenaries 2 came close to replicating. Jacking a plane, flying it up as high as it would go, bailing out and then freefalling for 30 seconds before pulling the ripcord, swooping in and landing on the top of a car all while shooting was something that no other game had really allowed.
There were problems, though: the AI was retarded. The missions were all over the place, and most of them were either copy/paste affairs or simply weren't a lot of fun. The graphics were decent for the time, but quickly began to show their age if you weren't viewing them from afar. The physics and over-the-top nature of things didn't quite match the gunplay. In short, the game wasn't what it could have been. Just Cause 2, on the other hand, looks like it'll be the culmination of everything Avalanche was trying to do in the first game.
The island of Panau where the game takes place is huge, and populated by hundreds of side missions (at one point, the folks at Avalanche demoing the game pulled up the map and then sloooooowly pulled back, revealing what would eventually become an absolute sea of icons representing side challenges). Better still, the Avalanche Engine 2.0 that powers things can deliver some truly amazing vistas, and all without bogging down; thanks to the scale and altitude of different parts of the island, some amazing draw distances were showcased. The enemy AI takes cover now, will flank and pursue you if you stay put too long, or try to flush you out with grenades.
Most importantly, though, the game's sandbox nature seems to have been finally fully embraced. Take, for instance, returning main character Rico Rodriguez's grappling hook, which allows him to fire once to set up an anchor point, then again to link two objects, or he can simply reel in the line to pull himself up to different heights. Ah, but that's the traditional way of thinking about it. Firing the hook into the ground a few dozen yards away and then yanking himself in that direction while deploying his chute will actually allow him to catch air, sort of like a kite being pulled by someone on the ground, except you're doing the pulling. Detach from the zipline and you've got some air and, thanks to the maneuverability of the parachute, can actually glide to new areas above the treeline.
The grappling hook was at the forefront of the latter parts of the Just Cause 2 demo, and was used to hilariously amazing effect. A familiar on-rails shooting section was anything but; Rico had to hop on the roof of a car to protect his informant, but only at the start of the mission. He could then open fire with the usual bevy of weapons options to blow up pursuing vehicles, but it was far easier (and infinitely more amusing) to just attach the hook to the car, then to something on the road side. When it was done while crossing a bridge, the yanking momentum sent an APC sailing elegantly over the edge, never to be seen again. When Rico got separated from the vehicle, he needed only pull his chute, attach to a car and slowly reel himself in while bouncing from anchor point to anchor point.
Of course, if you want to take the fight to the enemy, you absolutely can. Zip over to a vehicle and you can hang of the front, back or sides, Pursuit Force-style. Hang off the back, watch enemies open the side doors and either blast 'em or, you guessed it, just anchor them to the ground at 60 miles an hour and watch the ragdoll physics go to town. It looked ridiculously fun.
Aiding the game's variety is the black market system, which will progressively unlock bigger, badder and more expensive weapons or vehicles (nearly anything purchased from the black market can then be called in with a drop, allowing you to grab a new ride anywhere -- for the right price). With upgrades to all the weapons and vehicles based on purchases and parts, you're looking at a couple thousand different things to purchase and pump up. Nummy.
When coupled with a soft lock targeting system that will loosely snap to enemies but allow fine-tuned control, dynamic difficulty adjustment and a ridiculous number of things to do, Just Cause 2 does indeed seem like the real deal. It honestly couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys, too, and in stark contrast to the first game, it seems Eidos is giving the developer plenty of time to make sure everything is perfect. JC2 won't ship this year, but when it hits in 2010, we've little doubt it will have been well worth the wait.
There were problems, though: the AI was retarded. The missions were all over the place, and most of them were either copy/paste affairs or simply weren't a lot of fun. The graphics were decent for the time, but quickly began to show their age if you weren't viewing them from afar. The physics and over-the-top nature of things didn't quite match the gunplay. In short, the game wasn't what it could have been. Just Cause 2, on the other hand, looks like it'll be the culmination of everything Avalanche was trying to do in the first game.
The island of Panau where the game takes place is huge, and populated by hundreds of side missions (at one point, the folks at Avalanche demoing the game pulled up the map and then sloooooowly pulled back, revealing what would eventually become an absolute sea of icons representing side challenges). Better still, the Avalanche Engine 2.0 that powers things can deliver some truly amazing vistas, and all without bogging down; thanks to the scale and altitude of different parts of the island, some amazing draw distances were showcased. The enemy AI takes cover now, will flank and pursue you if you stay put too long, or try to flush you out with grenades.
Most importantly, though, the game's sandbox nature seems to have been finally fully embraced. Take, for instance, returning main character Rico Rodriguez's grappling hook, which allows him to fire once to set up an anchor point, then again to link two objects, or he can simply reel in the line to pull himself up to different heights. Ah, but that's the traditional way of thinking about it. Firing the hook into the ground a few dozen yards away and then yanking himself in that direction while deploying his chute will actually allow him to catch air, sort of like a kite being pulled by someone on the ground, except you're doing the pulling. Detach from the zipline and you've got some air and, thanks to the maneuverability of the parachute, can actually glide to new areas above the treeline.
The grappling hook was at the forefront of the latter parts of the Just Cause 2 demo, and was used to hilariously amazing effect. A familiar on-rails shooting section was anything but; Rico had to hop on the roof of a car to protect his informant, but only at the start of the mission. He could then open fire with the usual bevy of weapons options to blow up pursuing vehicles, but it was far easier (and infinitely more amusing) to just attach the hook to the car, then to something on the road side. When it was done while crossing a bridge, the yanking momentum sent an APC sailing elegantly over the edge, never to be seen again. When Rico got separated from the vehicle, he needed only pull his chute, attach to a car and slowly reel himself in while bouncing from anchor point to anchor point.
Of course, if you want to take the fight to the enemy, you absolutely can. Zip over to a vehicle and you can hang of the front, back or sides, Pursuit Force-style. Hang off the back, watch enemies open the side doors and either blast 'em or, you guessed it, just anchor them to the ground at 60 miles an hour and watch the ragdoll physics go to town. It looked ridiculously fun.
Aiding the game's variety is the black market system, which will progressively unlock bigger, badder and more expensive weapons or vehicles (nearly anything purchased from the black market can then be called in with a drop, allowing you to grab a new ride anywhere -- for the right price). With upgrades to all the weapons and vehicles based on purchases and parts, you're looking at a couple thousand different things to purchase and pump up. Nummy.
When coupled with a soft lock targeting system that will loosely snap to enemies but allow fine-tuned control, dynamic difficulty adjustment and a ridiculous number of things to do, Just Cause 2 does indeed seem like the real deal. It honestly couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys, too, and in stark contrast to the first game, it seems Eidos is giving the developer plenty of time to make sure everything is perfect. JC2 won't ship this year, but when it hits in 2010, we've little doubt it will have been well worth the wait.
