Just Cause 4 Review - Fly, Shoot, Explode and Sometimes Yawn (Topic)

I'm used to comparing and drawing parallels between three series of games: Saints Row, Just Cause and Dead Rising. The reason is simple - fun and not tense madness, vigorous action and a non-standard approach. Of course, the games are as different as possible, but these three criteria (madness, action and a non-standard approach) help me put them on a par. In addition, you can start playing every episode from literally any part. It's a pity that they all, for one reason or another, lost their former grip. Today the Just Cause series lost its grip. Why? The Just Cause 4 review will answer this question.

Everything is serious here now

Like the Saints Row and Dead Rising I quoted earlier, the story of Rico Rodrigis has never infringed on the place of a game with a thoughtful, multi-stage and prescribed plot. All parts of Just Cause work according to one simple but effective scheme: Rico comes to the island where there is a dictator, then there are explosions, revolution, shootings - the dictator is overthrown, the end. And if in the first two parts of what was enough for us in the middle of this scheme, then in the third it began to smell like stagnation. We've seen this before, in other words.

In Just Cause 4, the developers decided to tweak the degree of seriousness of the plot in the general atmosphere of madness, instead of somehow tweaking the gameplay. As a result, the monster of Dr. Victor Frankenstein turned out - it seems to work, it seems interesting, but it looks so-so.

According to the plot, we have another island with another dictator Oscar Espinoza and his right hand Gabriela Moralis. Espinoza himself controls the weather and can cause cataclysms. And all this is served to us on serious cabbage soup. This is followed by the traditional explosively loud part, only now with Rodriguez's reflection on the search for his father and rethinking life. Well, the actual boss fight. Here's the whole plot. Very serious and confusing, isn't it?

In fact, given the genre and storytelling of the game, it lacks humor. This is what needed to be emphasized.

Plot-free company

Yes, a drop of new gameplay has been introduced into the game in the form of tasks for auto theft or mine clearance. And so we have the same: run, shoot, blow it up, destroy that power plant, and now this one, accompany these, and my most "favorite" - defend while the data is pumping.

It's very sad that we, in fact, are expected by familiar tasks from both the previous parts and from other games, which, although they look beautiful, are played with a note of dislike. It would seem that this is Just Cause! Here you can blow up just huge things, proving that one small person and a whole bunch of explosives can conquer anything. But it is in the fourth part that there are few such moments. Apart from the hijacking of the train, the mission where you jump on nuclear warheads, the explosion of the dam and the weather generator, I did not particularly remember anything more ambitious. The rest of the game is played with the phrase "Shaw, again?".

Weather disasters

They were perceived by gamers as something very interesting and inspiring. Imagine being able to fight Mother Nature herself! As it turned out, these were very high expectations.

We have lightning, tornado, sand and snow storms, and downpours. But they do not bring anything new to the gameplay at all. They just exist and have a temporary negative effect on the GG. That is, I got caught in a tornado - well, it's a little more difficult to fly. Is there a sandstorm on the horizon? Well, almost the road will not be visible. Lightning in the sky? Relax, you will be warned before hitting, you will dodge.

We were expecting something in the spirit of a storm with waves of assassins in Assassin's Creed 4, radioactive storms in Fallout 4, sand blizzards from Mad Max, emissions in Stalker. These games told us that if we get into the epicenter of a cataclysm, we are finished. And with what trepidation we all waited for them, wanted to explore, but sometimes avoided!

It doesn't make sense right there. Even if you fly into the center of a tornado, all you see is a cutscene (by the way, this time there are a lot of them in the game for some reason). It is especially disappointing that it is difficult to meet cataclysms outside of a story company.

Relax and beauty

There is something to praise the game for, first of all - it's a picture. Yes, according to modern requirements, the graphics are not fire, but the game is really beautiful. It's very cool to just wander around the map, looking at endless forests, huge snow-capped mountains or quarries. Meditatively.

From the point of view of the side effects of the game, everything is peculiar, but good. Now the chaos scale is not important. We don't have to destroy every base by capturing the map piece by piece. Chaos grows according to the plot and you don't need to strain that you need to win another 30 locations. Destroy what you want - it's not necessary. The tests are not furious and easy to pass. For example, fly through three rings, fly through two rings, but catch on to this thing. Nothing new or serious, but also nothing infuriating.

Leveling, by the way, also does not particularly affect the gameplay. Rico is already mature and knows everything. Unless you can improve the grappling hook. We have a large field for experiments. For example, attach balloons filled with concentrated helium to a tank, sit in it and drive off the mountain. On the extreme, you can simply attach them to the cows.

You can move in with a weapon. We have a cannon that emits strong currents of wind, with which you can not only scatter things, but also move in the air.

The game is based on the principle of simple gameplay. Quests and tasks are simple, everything is easily exploded and killed, it is difficult to die. We are given a light game and a lot of cool stuff for side entertainment that doesn't affect the gameplay in any way.

Another "revolution"

I'll say this, Just Cause 4 is not far from its roots, it is exactly the same as it was before, only with a more beautiful picture, a couple of innovations and a hint of seriousness. The problem is monotony, which quickly gets boring. When there are a lot of explosions, their value disappears, and when we need something large-scale, we are given a cut scene. By the way, the murder of Oscar Espinoza is also a cut scene ...

Just Cause 4 will be interesting for you to play if you are an ardent fan of the series, or someone who has never played it. You will be amazed, I guarantee you. But if you are familiar with the series, but not a huge fan, then you will not find anything new in it. Alas, Just Cause 4 has become the most relaxed game for a couple of nights that you can play and forget.

No, 2 out of 10, as the majority put the game - I will not. But 5 out of 10 points for beautiful landscapes, relaxed gameplay and still a traditional atmosphere, yes.

This was a review on Just Cause 4 from WorldOfTopics. Stay tuned.

The Topic of Article: Just Cause 4 Review - Fly, Shoot, Explode and Sometimes Yawn.
Author: Jake Pinkman