Just Cause 4 releases Tuesday December 4 for PC and major consoles.
I have been a huge fan of prior Just Cause games; JC3 is one of my top 10, if not top 5, funnest games I have ever played.
I’m starting this thread in anticipation. Extra-anticipation in my case, because after the shaky start to Fallout 76 and the console-only release of Red Dead Redemption 2, and the disappointing direction 7 Days to Die is going, I need something new to play.
Is there anything new or different about this one?
Increased level of mayhem-making, at the very least. I mean, Just Cause is about completing missions in the most over-the-top way possible. They’ve added a new “airlifter” gun where you can attach inflatable thingies to objects/people, then they inflate and carry them skyward.
The free-roam world is larger. Weapons and tools (like grappling hook) are now customizable. And there are severe weather effects, such as tornadoes.
That’s pretty much all I know, and most of that is from watching a couple of videos.
I’m definitely looking forward to this. I had never played JC1 or 2, and never would have thought to give 3 a try, had it not been a free monthly download on PS Plus last year. Since it was “free,” I thought “why not?” And it was a blast! Definitely an underrated game series. Despite all the hype about “emergent gameplay” and statements from reviewers and many gamers implying that the fun of open world games is supposedly to come mainly from just messing around in the open world rather than playing through a predetermined story, in most open world games I am really only interested in doing missions and have never been able to understand why just messing around in an open world is supposed to be fun. JC3 was the one game so far in which I actually enjoyed just messing around, seeing how much mayhem I could cause, and doing the little challenges like seeing how long you could glide in the wingsuit without touching the ground, how high you could climb with the parachute, how far you could coast in the soap-box car, etc.
So I will definitely be getting JC4, but not right away. After I finish Red Dead Redemption 2 (whose online mode might suck me in, we’ll see) I have two games ahead of it in my queue: Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Assassin’s Creed Odyssey.
I’m not trying to talk anyone into the game, by the way. But, even though the videos (both pre- and post-release, I’ll bet) focus on the crazy antics possible, generally you don’t have to play that way. I usually play in a very measured, cautious, stealthy, snipery fashion, only using the Bazooka of Doom (or whatever the weapon du jour is) when appropriate.
But the game allows, and can encourage, let’s see if I can do this. It’s a huge open world, target-rich environment.
As is the norm, it’s really hard to find an honest pre-release review, but I found this, based on 30 hours of play:
It makes me cautious. Among the pieces that stood out, negatively, are:
I hate timed missions, and I know exactly the kind of mission he’s referring to, where you basically must learn the layout by trial-and-error before succeeding.
This is a borderline-deal-killer for me, depending on how frequent those kinds of missions are.
I’m not pre-ordering, even though I have release day off.
It’s been on my radar pretty much since it was announced. I’ll be waiting for a sale.
Somebody should find a code for turning the timer off within a week.
Was there a way to turn off the timer in previous versions? I didn’t know…
I don’t specifically recall timed missions in JC3. What I do recall are a few escort missions, which were annoying.
Neither do I. If there were, I never had any problem with them, unlike other games (Driver: SF, Carmageddon 3, and Silent Storm; at least I found codes to turn the latter two off).
There are apparently a lot of either escort missions, or protect-a-person-while-they-hack-the-terminal missions, neither of which anyone enjoys.
Four hours after release, there are 350 Steam reviews, with a Steam rating of “mixed”, which is a pretty dismal composite user rating for a game on launch day.
From the reviews, it seems to fail on many levels, from poor graphics, nausea-inducing motion effects, and poor/unmodifiable control schemes to repetitive and boring story/mission. Some of the former can be fixed, but not the core of how you unlock things and progress.
The most enjoyable parts for me in a Just Cause or Far Cry game is liberating outposts/towns, and it seems like that aspect is absent in Just Cause 4.
What, really? That was my favorite part of the previous games, as well.
That was definitely the most fun. I eventually quit Just Cause 3 because the story missions were just no fun at all. I seem to remember JC2 having much better story missions. But I absolutely got my money’s worth out of the game by going around and liberating towns.
OP here: I hate to defecate in my own thread, but for me it seems this game is dead on arrival. And I say this as a big Just Cause fanboi. I’m not too bothered by the graphics issues many have experienced, but as reported the basic game play architecture is just not fun.
It’s going to be a pass for me, even at 50% off.
Ah, now I remember something about little boxes that had to be accessed in order to liberate towns. Those were not frustrating for me, unlike the timed missions in the other games I mentioned.
Ouch. Guess I’ll wait 'til Steam has it at 66% off or greater.
Steam currently has the game at 20 bucks as part of their Midweek Madness; I picked up the Gold Edition for another ten.
I am eager to hear your report, Skywatcher.
Jeez, this thread reminds me that I never finished 3. Maybe I should revisit it.
Just played a bit on my lunch hour.
First impressions: the game is fun. The differences between this and previous games (e.g.: liberating towns) is explained during the first mission after the intro mission: Rico is there to keep the towns liberated. He does so by building an “Army of Chaos”; yeah, the “destroy stuff to create chaos” mechanic is present.
ETA: the second mission after the intro involves taking over an abandoned weapons factory, similar to how previous games liberated military bases.