Just Cause 2 - Open world madness!

I played this game awhile back, but stopped for a time being because I thought it was really repetitive - when I had to grind for "Chaos" points in each settlement, it came to a point where I just decided to move on to another game. Now I'm back with it and glad I did so! I came across this website offering mods for Just Cause 2, which changed my experiences in game entirely, and I recommend anyone playing the game to try new things out : ) Here is the link to the website : http://www.justcause2mods.com/

I never had a long interest before trying the game out nor have I ever played the predecessor of it. I was messing around with GTAIV and decided to look for games with similarities, and so I did. So now, lets get started with the possibilities of what this game has to offer!

(CONTAINS SOME SPOILERS)

Though there are all sorts of crazy things you can do in this game, the story is straight forward - you're looking for an American with a huge bounty on his head, but to get to him you have to help different factions with completing their missions in order to succeed - because they have information which can lead you to him. You might be thinking of just whizzing through mission after mission, but in order to "unlock" some progressive faction missions you have to fulfill what the game calls "Chaos" points. In order to increase those points you must cause destruction with the military of Panau Island, here are some examples of them.

One of the many military bases

Causing destruction and earning "Chaos" points!

When you come across a base which typically looks the same, objects which you have to destroy are obvious, usually they have a star like sign on them that indicates military property - Just throw a few dozen c4s' and blow em' up! (The explosion and damage of my "Triggered Explosive" is a mod, and it can be downloaded at the given link above). The next picture is the map in-game, which I will explain what the markings indicate.

Part of Panau Island

- The bottom right window indicates certain progresses as you can see, typically there is a yellow bar showing its status - but due to some mods I installed and cheats I used (for the sake of testing!) everything has already been maxed out.

- The bottom left window shows the amount of resources you currently hold, which is used for upgrading certain black market items when you call the shop in - I will come back to that later. "Armor parts" indicates the amount of armor parts you need before Rico, your main character gains a permanent increase in health. So according the what is shown here, I have to collect two more boxes.

- If you enlarge the image, it might seem confusing to what the markings mean, but I will get into the specifics. The Yellow markers indicate "Undiscovered settlement", some of those areas contain weapon / vehicle / armor parts and may be occupied by the military.
The Blue markers contain faction collectibles - each of the factions have secret items scattered all over Panau Island. Here is an example of those items.

Underwater voyage

The two crossing flags starts a racing event, depending on the race, you may be required to drive a car / truck / motorbikes or an airplane.

The icons with a tick on it shows you have completed the area, meaning you have found every possible resource around that expanse, or have destroyed all military activity.
Finally, the Red triangle and logo are faction missions ready to be triggered by you - some faction icons maybe shown in a square, indicating the factions stronghold.
And those are the main legends you're most likely going to be concerned about, the map is huge, it will take some time to explore the island entirely, and I must say it's a wonderful experience, here are a few reasons why!

Admiring the sunset...

Plant - Run - Detonate

Calm by the lake

These are only very few examples, I can capture pictures all day if I really had to. So I have explained to you what the fundamentals are of this game, now you're probably thinking about... shooting enemies, driving cars, planes and lots more. Its an open world game, and you're not restricted by any means. And if you do get bored, there is a DLC you can add into the game, offering bigger weapons and some extensions to vehicle purchases - all in the black market. Now you can probably get another 20+ hours of gameplay.


Now there are numerous ways of disposing enemies, from multi-locking missiles to pushing them off a cliff, using the environment can also be fun at times - lets take a look at a few pictures

Locking on targets

Barrage of missiles

Grappling two enemies together - they will try and get rid of it

Operating a fighter jet - ramming and shooting enemies

Wasting enemies is for you to explore, these are just a few examples of how you can set things up or blow them up directly. Speaking of weapons, there is a upgrade system which I'd like to get back to - it allows you to increase your weapons overall stats with the use of "Weapon Parts" or "Vehicle Parts" - for upgrading your black market vehicles - here are a two pictures showing them:

Black market showing your weapon statistics and available upgrade

A fully upgraded transport jet

Notice how if upgrades are available then you will be asked for the shown parts needed to do so - check on the stars or levels to indicate whether or not it is fully upgraded. 

Although there is much more to talk about especially with this seemingly endless game, you must explore for yourself to truly appreciate what it has to offer. Graphics, diversity (besides cut scenes and infiltrating bases) and the environment, there is quite a lot for you to admire. 

There are however, a few drawbacks which you might find repetitive and eventually get burnt out. If you remember the map I have shown you and take for example the yellow dots representing "Undiscovered settlement", you'll realize every time having to complete each settlement 100% can be quite time consuming, repetitive and boring. Of course, the game doesn't require you to do so in order to complete the storyline, but for the sake of 100% game completion, that might be a drawback for some of you. Another thing is cut scenes whenever you open up a new mission.

A mission marker, when triggered it will open up a new cut scene depending on faction

A typical cut-scene, they throw you a crate and a weapon inside and drive off, where during they tell you what is required to be done

With so many missions available in game, eventually these cut scenes will become dull and you feel like they could've done more in a open world game, but that is what you get.

Now I have given you a brief grasp of Just Cause 2, there are many more things for you to explore. Overall I find the game interesting in that mods and the possibilities keep me playing, if you ever find yourself caught in the middle of boredom, go ahead and check out the website I have linked at the beginning of this article. The only downside is the non-creative cut scenes and fulfilling each settlement to a 100%.

If you have any questions, feel free to post on the comment section - hope you enjoyed this sharing session and come back to check out new content! thank you and see you soon!

Here is a additional picture I want to share with you:

 More sunset and romance in the jet