Rico Rodriguez has come swinging back into action in Just Cause 4. The fourth instalment of the Just Cause franchise developed by Avalanche Studios and published by Square Enix.
Just Cause 4 is once again a chaotic game of wanton destruction. Taking place after the events of Just Cause 3, Rico is still in the same clothes and fresh off a plane with a new tropical country to liberate.
Just Cause 4 Review
Just Cause 4 has an oddly familiar story that introduces the Dictator of these lands as Rico’s father. This was a fun addition and had me wondering.. and wondering.. and…then there was almost no mention of him again.
To be fair, Just Cause has never been about the story and although lacking a little bit, the way the narrative opens up is much better done in this iteration. Here missions are linked together with cutscenes and gone is the previous way the map is liberated.
Instead, each province has its own story mission which opens the map up upon completion.
Just like all the previous games Just Cause 4 is all about blowing shit up. Here is where the game excels and even Michael Bay would be jealous. You’re able to use anything at your disposal to cause havoc; rocket launchers, machine guns, vehicles or even Rico himself.
There seems to be a very slim group of games that do this well. Just Cause 4 is chief amongst them. And just the mix it up, it gives the baddie a weather machine. These are visually awesome but a little on the lacklustre side when it comes to game mechanics.
Destruction Derby
Destroying things will fill your good old Chaos meter and upon “levelling” it up you gain access to a squad of rebels. These guys must be sent out into the map to secure lands that you have liberated. This will push a constantly fought over border out and open up additional missions.
This is not linear and the border will give you access to missions in whatever order you choose to push out into. Although the fight is always happening the enemy never pushes back. This takes away any real further play once you have the island.
Not too much has changed from the third to the fourth game. However, the small fixes and small tweaks to in-game systems have made it a much more pleasant experience.
Same Old, Still Good
More Rip wires and the ability to switch between three variants by pressing D-pad pad left or right can make for some Super ridiculous combinations.
Added to the wires and the thrusters are a new element; a Balloon. Giving a nice form of lift to targets you grapple. You also have a talent-like system to add different modifiers to each and a combination of all three at once can be mind-boggling.
Back again are all the things you would expect of a Just Cause game. Wingsuit missions, vehicle missions, be they land, sea or air and of the stunt or speed variety.
The usual multitude of leaderboard challenges, zip line this far, wingsuit this high etc. All the unlocks under the sun in the form of weapons from handguns to vacuum and electric guns, or vehicles from a dirty little scooter all the way up to an attack helicopter or a tank.
Just Cause 4 isn’t new. But it does what it does well. If you’re a fan of the first, second or third you will have just as much fun with the fourth.
Just Cause 4 was reviewed on PS4 using a digital code provided by the publisher.
PowerUp! Reviews
Game Title: Just Cause 4
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Uber Explosions - 8/108/10
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Much the Same - 7/107/10
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Massive Game - 8/108/10
