During my time at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival 2009 I managed to get a first look at the sequel to Just Cause, Just Cause 2. Our main character from the first game, Rico Rodriguez, returns and he’s back to cause mayhem, this time unofficially helped by the agency and the black market.
Although I didn’t get to play the game direct, it looks very similar to that of its predecessor. Big explosions, gigantic landscape (more on that in a bit) and unrealistic moves – It is a video game after all. They have made some changes to the game however. New weapons including Rocket Launcher with laser controlled rockets, grenades, C4 and detachable mounted mini-gun. There’s also a ton of new vehicles mounting to over 100 in total. Bikes, cars, helicopters, and best of all Jumbo Jet planes. The handling has also been said to have been improved with each vehicle acting differently as well as responding to the different terrain it may come into contact with.
As I mentioned earlier, the map is huge. Based on the fictional island Panau, according to the developers it is around 4 times bigger than GTA. I also asked them how long it would take to go from one side to the other. They said around 2/3 minutes in the fastest plane. Now that is huge! There’s also no invisible walls from the off, meaning after the first compulsory mission you can roam around as much as you want. However to receive better cars and vehicles you would have to progress with the games storyline. Progressing through the storyline campaign also allows you to upgrade your weapons with various different attachments.
Another thing the developers mentioned heavily was the important use of the grapple and stunt like parachute. Parachuting looks great fun and you can jump from heights of over 1500ft apparently, so that should be a good laugh. Combined with the use of the grapple to pull you towards solid objects like buildings or trees makes the game flow faster and should help you get from A-B.
I did manage to record the full briefing from the developers, however the video quality didn’t come up to scratch, so instead, below is a video of what we were treated to, however with the added inclusion of developer commentary. Much better quality as well. Enjoy.
So there you have it. A first look into Just Cause 2 which looks to expand on the original two-fold. More explosions and more mayhem in a map worthy of winning The Biggest Map of the Century award.
Just Cause 2 is set to release in October 2010, although that is subject to major change.
