Just Cause 2

 PC
User Score
7.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1108 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 706 out of 1108
  2. Mixed: 292 out of 1108
  3. Negative: 110 out of 1108
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  1. Baenlynn
    Mar 3, 2012
    7
    If Ubisoft ever make an assassin's creed game with a grappling hook, civilisation as we know it will be over. People will lock themselves in their houses and refuse to leave because the combination of close-quarters contextual combat with the ability to pin enemies to the environment and turn them into viscera-filled pinatas will be like cartharsis on a stick to anyone who loves to playIf Ubisoft ever make an assassin's creed game with a grappling hook, civilisation as we know it will be over. People will lock themselves in their houses and refuse to leave because the combination of close-quarters contextual combat with the ability to pin enemies to the environment and turn them into viscera-filled pinatas will be like cartharsis on a stick to anyone who loves to play sandbox games.

    Funny way to start off a review about Just Cause 2, but I feel that this is the major misstep that the game makes. As a sandbox game it follows in the footsteps of GTA, the trigger-happy titan among sandboxes. Just cause 2 does everything I've seen done in the GTA franchise and it does it smoothly and cleanly. But as a sandbox game trying to do something different it should've cast a wider net in looking for inspiration. Because while it is a sandbox, it is NOT a GTA game. The grappling hook changes all the rules, but I don't think the folks at Avalanche really cottoned onto that because the hook feels underused, and under-developed. Some more combo/contextual moves coupled with the ability to upgrade it and streamlining of certain manoeuvres (like dragging enemies behind your car, or holding a grappled enemy so you can fling them OFF of things etc.) would elevate this game beyond simply being a 'more interesting GTA clone' to something truly exceptional.

    That is not to say that Just Cause 2 is not fun. It is, and more fun than the last GTA game I played in fact (San Andreas for those of you keeping score). The vehicles while nowhere close to real-world accurate in terms of handling are massive fun to drive, skipper, and fly. The slingshot mechanic which turns your parachute into a paraglider is a stroke of brilliance, and the gunplay, while not stellar still manages to perform better than other sandbox titles. I just find myself wishing that the developers hadn't stopped on the threshold of greatness.    … Expand
  2. wood431
    Mar 29, 2012
    7
    Excellent game. It excells in freedom, destruction, and entertainment. It is not the perfect game, however. After a while the game gets slightly repetative and replayability dims. This does not mean it is a bad game, rather not worthy of the 8-9 score due to the lack of significant motives for replayability, as I do not find myself coming back to it terribly often. However, it does provideExcellent game. It excells in freedom, destruction, and entertainment. It is not the perfect game, however. After a while the game gets slightly repetative and replayability dims. This does not mean it is a bad game, rather not worthy of the 8-9 score due to the lack of significant motives for replayability, as I do not find myself coming back to it terribly often. However, it does provide fun on a scale of the huge map that expands from many different seaons. It looks beautiful. Sunsets are astounding and the dynamic weather is well executed. The gunplay, on the other hand, is not so strong. Point and click mechanics are, however, balanced by the opportunities provided by the grapple - which provides a new dimension to shootouts. Definately worth a buy on a Steam sale, although not full retail. A solid 7.… Expand
  3. Treeroy
    Jan 4, 2013
    6
    I'll start off with the positives, and then go on to the negatives. Just Cause 2 has a grappling hook and parachute mechanic, which - when used correctly - allows you to scale buildings and jump out of planes. In the story missions there are a few big explosions, which look visually impressive. The graphics are very good, too, and it's playable on many systems. But although hopping betweenI'll start off with the positives, and then go on to the negatives. Just Cause 2 has a grappling hook and parachute mechanic, which - when used correctly - allows you to scale buildings and jump out of planes. In the story missions there are a few big explosions, which look visually impressive. The graphics are very good, too, and it's playable on many systems. But although hopping between cars, planes and boats is entertaining, it's only enjoyable for a few hours before it gets old. It's worth noting that there are lots of people claiming that this game has a fully - or mostly - destructible world. It doesn't - there are a couple of things that look different when you blow them up, and that's it -- just to clear that claim up.
    Now, then, on to the bad things. Firstly, the voice acting is awful. It is without doubt the worse voice acting in any game I have played, bar none. The game is set on some sort of island in south Asia, so all of the voices - from the main protagonist to the least important character - are Americans putting on atrocious Asian accents. You might not think that bad voice acting can let the game down, but it cannot be avoided here. The missions are repetitive and necessary for progress; I actually ended up giving up on the game eventually because the missions' repetitiveness wasn't justified by the bland storyline. The story is just bad. You have no idea what's going on and just seem to be doing things for no real reason - and that's because the game tells you what's happening at the start, and by the end of the first mission you have forgotten. The other main problem with it is the open world - it is a sandbox game, but no one of any importance exists in it except yourself, which reiterates my point about the game getting boring quickly.
    Overall, a fun game for a few hours - good, looking, too - but massively let down by its exceptionally bad voice acting, uncompelling story, dull world and horrendous repetitiveness.    … Expand
  4. bpoplingisky
    Jan 28, 2013
    7
    The underlying theme is Just Cause 2 is fun.
    The open world aspect is amazing, the amount of vehicles you can drive, and the grapple hook steals the show. However, beyond the stunning graphics and fun game play, unfortunately, Just Cause 2 has multiple faults. Here a couple.
    1. Repetition, throughout the whole game, there is lots of repeating yourself. Every mission is very similar,    The underlying theme is Just Cause 2 is fun.
    The open world aspect is amazing, the amount of vehicles you can drive, and the grapple hook steals the show. However, beyond the stunning graphics and fun game play, unfortunately, Just Cause 2 has multiple faults. Here a couple.
    1. Repetition, throughout the whole game, there is lots of repeating yourself. Every mission is very similar, and finding the pieces to the base is SO ANNOYING, because there is always ONE that you can't find.
    2. Story line: Horrible Voice Acting: Worse
    Ok, now it was too short, too boring, too pointless . . . Overall it was bad, very bad, in fact, bad doesn't even begin to describe it.
    That is, if you are looking for a good story. but I was looking for fun, and thought it was hilarious.
    Now, what's more fun than killing a bunch of villagers, then hijacking a military helicopter as it shoots bullets at you, and then flying it up as high as you can and skydiving out of it? Or how about tying a jeep to a helicopter and using it as a wrecking ball? These features alone make the game great, but it could have been SO much better if Square Enix put some story into it, and maybe some online multiplayer. This is what gave it a 7. But hey, the game definitely had a lasting appeal, now when I'm playing GTA IV I think, where's that grapple hook when I need it? I loved and hated the game, but overall, the fun gameplay shone through the crap story line. For me at least.    … Expand
  5. tomtomeow
    Dec 27, 2013
    7
    As an indian man just cause 2 very dissapointed me... My friend from Alaska told me it was an indian simulator but it really doesn't looks like it... I think my blub fish would hate it too... The voice actors sound like my shaved dog! 7 out of ten! because 7 in india means
  6. Kcuf
    Sep 27, 2015
    7
    A great game with an enjoyable story and fantastic visuals (especially when blowing s**t up), but gets boring too fast. I know the game has bad voice acting on purpose to make fun of cheesy action films, but sometimes it's just way too much. But to be honest, the only real thing that holds this game back is that it just gets old too quick.
  7. Downward_Spiral
    Jan 2, 2011
    6
    The harpoon/parachute concept is very enjoyable, but the repetitiveness of the missions, atrocious voice acting, and overall lack of effort that seems to have been put into just about everything except fun game mechanics left a stale taste in my mouth. Flying around causing aimless chaos is fun for a few hours, but when you realize that's the only entertaining element the game has to offerThe harpoon/parachute concept is very enjoyable, but the repetitiveness of the missions, atrocious voice acting, and overall lack of effort that seems to have been put into just about everything except fun game mechanics left a stale taste in my mouth. Flying around causing aimless chaos is fun for a few hours, but when you realize that's the only entertaining element the game has to offer you get bored quickly.… Expand
  8. lildanny
    Nov 13, 2011
    7
    Utterly enjoyable. Gameplay is so much fun, when you get the hang of it. Jumping around with your grapplehook and parachuting from tree to tree to avoid gunfire is just one of the many aspects of this game that makes it awesome. Here's the catch: Storyline is thin, and can be finished TOO quickly. Once you've completed the campaign, you get stuck in "Mercenary Mode" where you then attemptUtterly enjoyable. Gameplay is so much fun, when you get the hang of it. Jumping around with your grapplehook and parachuting from tree to tree to avoid gunfire is just one of the many aspects of this game that makes it awesome. Here's the catch: Storyline is thin, and can be finished TOO quickly. Once you've completed the campaign, you get stuck in "Mercenary Mode" where you then attempt to complete the rest of the game (blowing stuff up, driving every vehicle available, etc.). Unfortunately, once you've gotten to that point, it just loses it's fun-value (unless you're comfortable running around and blowing stuff up for hours on end). Good enough game to buy if you can get it on sale. 7/10.… Expand
  9. SPINEY
    Sep 5, 2010
    5
    I've seen too many people jump too conclusions with this game. Many people focus solely on the open-end aspect, saying "Wow, the land you can explore is amazingly huge". When you broaden your sights on the major aspects which make a great game you see Just Cause 2 misses a few crucial aspects. First off is variety: After you've completed 30% of the game you realise you've been doing theI've seen too many people jump too conclusions with this game. Many people focus solely on the open-end aspect, saying "Wow, the land you can explore is amazingly huge". When you broaden your sights on the major aspects which make a great game you see Just Cause 2 misses a few crucial aspects. First off is variety: After you've completed 30% of the game you realise you've been doing the same thing over and over. Blowing up fuel tanks, knocking over transmission towers and going through the tedious hi-jack animation. It all becomes a bit tiresome.

    The voice acting is some parts is terrible. Sometimes the voice stops but the lip-sync animation still runs for seconds after. And in other parts it sounds like the developers are patronising people who actually have accents of those portrayed in the game. The story, no doubt a crucial part of any game is lacking with the ending being unbearably corny. There a plethora of bugs yet to be fixed. Such as the faulty Heat-system (think of the 6 stars in GTA). Many timer I find myself with no enemies around yet my heat refuses to decrease. Also if you are stand right up to a wall and fire you grapple the animation of you hand puts the grapple through the wall, and he doesn't grapple on anything. Apart from all that, the game does have some interesting features. Grappling two objects (or people) never seems to get old. And you do get some pretty hilarious moments. But overall, this game could have a lot improved.    … Expand
  10. Rems
    Mar 1, 2012
    6
    The game itself is fine and really good looking but there is a lot of unused potential and the main story is extremely short + side missions after few hours are simply boring and doesn't surprise with anything new. There is so many locations that could be used for amazing missions but from unclear reasons there is no activities there besides those activities which you can find anywhereThe game itself is fine and really good looking but there is a lot of unused potential and the main story is extremely short + side missions after few hours are simply boring and doesn't surprise with anything new. There is so many locations that could be used for amazing missions but from unclear reasons there is no activities there besides those activities which you can find anywhere else.. like blowing stuff. Driving model is simply pain in the ass but we can have a lot of joy from flying.… Expand
  11. Gabcd
    Aug 6, 2012
    6
    3/5 (Ok) Open world, great gameplay let's you do pretty much anything you want. It's fun. Really. But then you start to play for real and the gameplay now feels like an obstacle to your success. And then the story is boring, and then the missions are boring, and then you stop playing and you forget about it.

    Hell, writing this review makes me want to give it another try. (last played Jan. 2011)
  12. blackmancer
    Dec 18, 2010
    6
    I'm at about 6hrs and its one of those games that could have been great but lacking some refinement and having a few very bad mistakes.
    the good - graphics engine, flying about with the grapple and chute, free form environment
    the average - level design, combat the bad - why can't i look straight up? too complicated to change from inside a car to the mounted gun on the back. cars have    I'm at about 6hrs and its one of those games that could have been great but lacking some refinement and having a few very bad mistakes.
    the good - graphics engine, flying about with the grapple and chute, free form environment
    the average - level design, combat
    the bad - why can't i look straight up? too complicated to change from inside a car to the mounted gun on the back. cars have the best wheels of all time - virtually no friction, u must stop the car before u jump on the back to shoot someone otherwise u'll be rolling down the street for seriously as far as it is straight. grappling up a building has you looking straight at the wall when u haul urself in which is pointless because u then have to move the mouse again to look back in the direction u wanted to go. why are there low lying snow covered mountains within sight of seemingly warm tropical islands? lack of background story or foundation when u start the game. i was confused about the agency thing, they seemed like a government agency, but the guy is an absolute terrorist.

    to summarize - its a game u play if u just want some pointless blasting, any seriousness about a story or any real envolvement is long gone. its playable and sometimes quite fun but its like a badly made corny movie.    … Expand
  13. SJ555
    May 24, 2012
    7
    well .. i liked game's gorgeousness ... but still its not worth .. game is having weak driving controls ... weak shooting mechanics and Worst Voice Acting ever i seen in my life .. but still the good thing is the open sandbox gameplay .. with Grapple Hook getting me feel like a true stunt guy ... still give it 7/10 .. not any best game .. but just fine
  14. Fireside
    Sep 14, 2011
    7
    Good times initially, the open world is so impressive. Nothing like it on the market. Controls better than GTA, looks good, but it's just boring after a while. I found myself rushing to complete the game so I could mark it off my list.
  15. D4avid
    Oct 11, 2010
    7
    A really good game for all action fans. I am also a fan of it. But there is only one thing. At least I miss a little bit the alternation in this game. Thats why I evalueted it only with 7 points. Have fun with it.
  16. Saukuy
    Dec 15, 2010
    5
    Well, first off the good bits. This is an amazingly beautiful game with some of the prettiest vistas and locations ive seen. Diverse enough to have snow, desert and tropical island in one game. Oblivion eat your heart out. Whats more is that it seems to be well optimised that lower spec pc's (within reason) can play it and still have it look fantastic. It has some pretty cool vehiclesWell, first off the good bits. This is an amazingly beautiful game with some of the prettiest vistas and locations ive seen. Diverse enough to have snow, desert and tropical island in one game. Oblivion eat your heart out. Whats more is that it seems to be well optimised that lower spec pc's (within reason) can play it and still have it look fantastic. It has some pretty cool vehicles (military jet) and and awesome little locations like the floating zeppilin night club and the island from lost easter-egg. Sadly however these gold stars are not enough to make up for the river of crap they are floating on. Beginning with the smaller flaws: the weapons and most of the vehicles. Most of the guns are just plain boring with the revolvers being the coolest, if not the most efficient to use. Granted there is DLC but that doesnt add a great deal of fun stuff either. The most fun by far is the remote explosives which make stunning explosions (especially if you put them throughout an entire base and set them off simultaneously). Most of the vehicles are terrible. they are not fun to drive, handle like dogs and look a bit like barbie-mobiles. Even the tank is just a glorified APC (would have been so much cooler to have a T-80 or a challanger or something). Greater faults: the grappling hook + parachute. Yes they are fun. For the 1st hour. After that they become a tool for getting about mostly and the novelty of tying people up gets lost after the 50th group. There is only so many times you can do something before it gets dull. Getting about using the combo is waaaay too slow for the size of the game and is really just for when you cant find a better vehicle to do so in. Even in vehicles it takes stupidly long times to get anywhere and a jet is the only real way of doing so. This wouldnt be a problem however if it wasnt for the last, big major flaw:
    The Big one: Nothing exciting to do in sandbox mode. At all. Almost all the locations (of which there are hundreds) provide nothing to do other than find briefcases or kill some dumass AI soldiers in random villages or cities. Jumping off of buildings and generally doing stunts isnt actually any fun as it takes almost no amount of skill to do. This would also be less of a problem had a healthy storyline and side quests been present. They are however, identi-kit rush this base, pick up minigun, gun down chopper, repeat, missions. the storyline ones offer some variation, but even that is cheesy and only visual. Not to mention the ever present lip-sync bugs.
    Its all a real shame too. This game, with a better storyline, more varied and interesting side-quests (look to peers like GTA and Saints Row 2 for inspiration guys) and my personal desire (not actually that big a deal) more destructable objects other than radio towers, would have made this game almost perfect. On a sidenote, i personally noticed that this game became a lot more fun for me after i began using cheats. Infinite ammo (while still needing to reload) as well as infinie explosives were my favourite and seemed to make a massive difference to the entertainment value. Im still not quite sure whether this is in favour or against the game as a whole.
    In Summary:
    + Beautiful game, almost no peers in this respect.
    + Great explosions and demolitions
    + Some cool vehicles, weapons and locations

    - Ways of getting around too dull, most vehicles not fun or useful
    - Most weapons not actually fun to use
    - Not much to actually do that is different - gets boring quickly
    - Repetitive missions and side quests
    - Bugs in sound syncing and other various non-game braking ones
    - Poor AI

    Overall: 4.5/10 (i rounded up to 5)
    P.S. at the time of writing, the game is £5 on steam. It is very hard to not recommend the game at that price as it will most probably provide enough play time and enjoyment for the money.    … Expand
  17. wordy_actions
    Jun 19, 2011
    7
    THE GOOD: Unbelievably huge game world. Fantastic graphics. Lots of vehicles and weapons. Blowing stuff up is fun. THE BAD: Blowing stuff up is repetitive. Missions are boring. THE UGLY: Racial stereotypes and bad accents.
  18. GolovA
    May 10, 2012
    7
    The game is graphically pleasing - you can just stand and admire the beautiful island landscape. Good job. The gameplay however, did not keep me involved - i played only for about 6 hours until i got bored. What's the motive? Why should i continue playing? Everything is the same - you come to a village, start shooting, soldiers come in never-ending waves, you shoot them, etc. PerhapsThe game is graphically pleasing - you can just stand and admire the beautiful island landscape. Good job. The gameplay however, did not keep me involved - i played only for about 6 hours until i got bored. What's the motive? Why should i continue playing? Everything is the same - you come to a village, start shooting, soldiers come in never-ending waves, you shoot them, etc. Perhaps for kids this is a fun way to spend time - for me unfortunately the gameplay is extremely monotone and boring.… Expand
  19. wiijobo
    Aug 20, 2011
    6
    Its a little bit of fun mostly. The appeal of this game really only lies in the beautiful graphics and the open world with the ability to destroy and to do a few amusing things if you were to put your mind to it. As for the story its not very interesting and the missions are rather generic and repetitive.
  20. HerrElak
    Jul 14, 2013
    7
    This game has so much potential, but one thing that ruins the game a lot is the negative mouse acceleration. I cant believe why anyone would do that. Makes NO sense to me. Another this that grinds my balls to dust is the saving system. If u make your way really far and then die, you´ll start over from the last checkpoint. So why even include a savingsystem if it dosent work as it should? IThis game has so much potential, but one thing that ruins the game a lot is the negative mouse acceleration. I cant believe why anyone would do that. Makes NO sense to me. Another this that grinds my balls to dust is the saving system. If u make your way really far and then die, you´ll start over from the last checkpoint. So why even include a savingsystem if it dosent work as it should? I googled a way to fix this but i bought this game on steam so it dosnt work.… Expand
  21. Muuvinki
    Mar 21, 2013
    6
    This game gets repetitive very fast. Every mission what you are doing for 3 different factions seem to be all the same. Its good open world game but suffers from variation between missions, this type of playing is boring and outright stupid.
  22. suneater
    Dec 13, 2012
    7
    Open world GTA clone where you play as a hispanic terrorist spiderman flying around some unnamed indonesian islands. Absolutely gigantic world with a ridiculous "action movie" plot filled with ninjas, Michael Bay explosions, air-dropped rocket launchers, and just about every vehicle you can imagine. I spent over 100 hours on this game to 100% it and it's one of the few games I have feltOpen world GTA clone where you play as a hispanic terrorist spiderman flying around some unnamed indonesian islands. Absolutely gigantic world with a ridiculous "action movie" plot filled with ninjas, Michael Bay explosions, air-dropped rocket launchers, and just about every vehicle you can imagine. I spent over 100 hours on this game to 100% it and it's one of the few games I have felt compelled to max out. Even without the multiplayer mod this is worth picking up considering how cheap it is now.… Expand
  23. laggypancakes
    May 1, 2013
    7
    Overall it's definitely worth giving this game a shot.

    The gameplay can become tedious- especially if you aren't into constantly similar ways to earn "chaos" or over-the-top action. If you fall in love with the over the top action though (reminds me of the movie shoot em up really) then you will probably love this game. There are some awesome mods available for it which is nice and    Overall it's definitely worth giving this game a shot.

    The gameplay can become tedious- especially if you aren't into constantly similar ways to earn "chaos" or over-the-top action. If you fall in love with the over the top action though (reminds me of the movie shoot em up really) then you will probably love this game.

    There are some awesome mods available for it which is nice and the graphics are pretty good... however at the same time the cheesy story and voice acting really detracted from the experience. Some people loved that aspect but I just couldn't stand it.

    Definitely worth a play through.    … Expand
  24. DelaFleure
    Oct 22, 2013
    7
    Great is great, repetitive is repetitive nice graphics, AI sufficient and a huge map that forces you to make some real trips to carry out missions almost too big!

    Not bad
  25. PrincessRose
    Mar 10, 2015
    7
    I kind of hated and found the game frustrating at first, especially the annoying 2nd mission with the car surfing, but once you get past that it starts to get a little better and becomes quite fun and addicitive, can't stop playing even though it gets repetitive and sometimes feels tedious with terrible voice acting, terrible story, no depth.

    Game would crash often until I turned off    I kind of hated and found the game frustrating at first, especially the annoying 2nd mission with the car surfing, but once you get past that it starts to get a little better and becomes quite fun and addicitive, can't stop playing even though it gets repetitive and sometimes feels tedious with terrible voice acting, terrible story, no depth.

    Game would crash often until I turned off decals and blur. But still game crashes at least once or twice a play session.

    Sure you can purchase vehicles, but it seems like a waste of money, I bought a plane having never flown one yet and not even being sure of the controls, ended up crashing it into the ocean, so goodbye to 60k and if you die you lose them as well, if they blow up they are gone for good. I hate how you can't store purchased vehicles anywhere. I've played other games where you can save your vehicles in a garage even if they blow up. I just don't bother buying vehicles.

    The environment is beautiful and detailed, I love exploring it and diving underwater just because the water looks so nice.

    I like creating chaos and trying to complete all achievements.

    Though being very repetitive makes it just an ok game, slightly above average.
    Worth getting on special like I did for $5.    … Expand
  26. killer1237
    Oct 24, 2018
    7
    Just Cause 2's character is the "cool guys don't look at explosions" character and it gets old real fast.
  27. R31nm4n
    Feb 15, 2011
    7
    First and foremost, if you're a completionist, you will absolutely love this game; but I'll get to that later. Instead, I'll start out by saying that the graphics in this game are close to stunning. Between the setting sun and the motion blur while on top of a car, the great visuals make experiences vary from beautiful to intense (but epic). Not to mention the explosions, they're the bestFirst and foremost, if you're a completionist, you will absolutely love this game; but I'll get to that later. Instead, I'll start out by saying that the graphics in this game are close to stunning. Between the setting sun and the motion blur while on top of a car, the great visuals make experiences vary from beautiful to intense (but epic). Not to mention the explosions, they're the best explosions I've seen in a game (so far). However, the water whitewash looks 2D and like clip art at times (same with smoke when it passes through buildings), but water has always been an extremely difficult thing to design and program in all games. Also, the vision haze that comes with going underwater was not applied to some objects. So, you would see a rock as clearly as if you were out of the water, but this only happened rarely. The soundtrack was, unfortunately, unoriginal and, even though the setting was a southeast Asian island, the oriental accents and touches in the soundtrack didn't quite work. For some reason, also, they decided to make some ambient tracks hispanic/spanish themed and (even though Rico Rodriguez, the protagonist, is clearly hispanic or hispanic-american) that didn't seem to match the other James Bond/oriental tracks of the score. This takes us to voice acting..........which was atrocious. The Asian accents were over exaggerated and I never felt like I was actually listening to someone have a conversation. The writing was pretty bad, too, although some of Rico's one-liners (excluding the ones heard during actual gameplay, those were just blunt and lacked any clever input) were nice. Many times, the dialogue felt like they were simply trying to put in a cutscene for the sake of it and the cutscenes that were shown before each Stronghold Mission were just strange and random proclamations of the faction leader's hatred of Panay or appraisal of Rico's skill. The only part of writing that was okay was the gist of the main story, not the actual dialogue of the main story, but the ideas behind it. Panay's plan for global dominance wasn't something like mind control or something ridiculous, it was an actual economic advantage that would have allowed Panay to control trillions in the world's economy. This takes us to mission variation, which is also not so there. Although the action is usually great, the 42 missions that are available are either go destroy, go kill, go retrieve/steal, or go kidnap a guy. Now, for the completionist. There are 362 locations with a percent completion score for each location, allowing you to be sure you've done everything possible within that town/base/village. It'll even mark the location as "complete" which allows you to systematically complete all the locations, this will take much more of your time than you expected, and much more time than it felt like. Similar to locations are collectibles and races which are marked as completed (or collected) just as locations are. The only downside to this is how overwhelmed you can get until the world is divided into faction territories and you will also never reach 100% completion as they made it impossible to find every little crate in the 50 sq miles of land and sea. Just by the by, the world is enormous in a good way, but sometimes a bad way. Distance between locations can be a bit annoyingly large. But, the way the world varies from tropical islands, cities, deserts, mountains, snowscapes, grass planes, jungles, and forests is astonishing. It feels like a living, breathing world instead of a boring plane that the designers called "land." Especially when it comes to explosions and destruction, the world reacts smoothly and beautifully. The grappling hook makes for an amazingly useful tool to traverse the world and the ability to ride on top of vehicles (including airplanes) makes the action even more intense. To the action: explosions look terrific, this may be a little specific but when cars crash, roll, and flip, it is extremely awesomely cool. Needless to say, you will have extreme action experiences throughout the game. Downsides, however, the police system is completely unscaled. There really is no level of how pissed off they get. If you have level 1 "heat," the will send a helicopter and every police vehicle and person within 5 miles will converge on your location. This level of intensity doesn't change until level 6, where it isn't even a challenge but just a whipping. Trying to fend of 3 helicopters at once and the entire government army is not possible, my friends. Hijacking a vehicle is also completely unexciting: as you watch the pilot and Rico sit in place, you push a button and one single punch is executed, then another, and another, then your done. Also, you will get extremely frustrated with your health, as the same weapon will inflict radically different amounts of damage under the same conditions. It's frustratingly unpredictable. But if you're a completionist, buy this game, no question.… Expand
  28. Rule2006
    Oct 23, 2011
    7
    Just Cause 2 has A LOT of destruction, a lot of guns and an absolutely stupid story, but overall I found this game a lot of fun. The grapple system is great, the graphics are descent and the vehicles are great as well. I didn't really like the idea of having to cause destruction to progress in the story, but the destruction was extremely fun. Tethering someone to a rocket and then settingJust Cause 2 has A LOT of destruction, a lot of guns and an absolutely stupid story, but overall I found this game a lot of fun. The grapple system is great, the graphics are descent and the vehicles are great as well. I didn't really like the idea of having to cause destruction to progress in the story, but the destruction was extremely fun. Tethering someone to a rocket and then setting the rocket off never gets old. =D… Expand
  29. shaun37
    Oct 26, 2011
    7
    This is clearly a game designed around a sandbox, instead of a sandbox around a story. It is pure, unadulterated fun meant to entertain those who seek to down their foes in the most creative ways possible. Played as a standard third-person shooter it will feel tedious and unimaginative, so only buy this if you are out to explore the various extremely entertaining ways to do things. TheThis is clearly a game designed around a sandbox, instead of a sandbox around a story. It is pure, unadulterated fun meant to entertain those who seek to down their foes in the most creative ways possible. Played as a standard third-person shooter it will feel tedious and unimaginative, so only buy this if you are out to explore the various extremely entertaining ways to do things. The graphics are amazing and performance very, very good for what you get and the physics..WOW. All in all, a great FUN experience meant only for the creative gamer, I would not recommend this game to anyone looking for a deep story and fleshed out characters.… Expand
  30. Faceplant
    Aug 25, 2012
    6
    Yes, the gameplay is really fun. With a good story and likeable characters this game would be fantastic. But the story and characters are really bad. The missions feel repetitive, and for me the game got boring faster than it should've.
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Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best PC Game of 2010
15
#15 Most Discussed PC Game of 2010
11
#11 Most Shared PC Game of 2010

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 33 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 33
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 33
  3. Negative: 0 out of 33
  1. Game Informer
    90
    One of the most enjoyable sandboxes for players to experiment in this side of Grand Theft Auto. [Issue#204, p.86]
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  2. Edge Magazine
    70
    Just Cause 2 can hardly be called an average game. It's a good one undermined by a selection of mediocre elements, and it's all the more frustrating this time around because Avalanche shows us glimpses of just how much fun two weeks on holiday with Rico should be. [Apr 2010, p.96]
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  3. GameDaily
    80
    Just Cause 2 is a sequel that outdoes the original with gripping gameplay, exquisite visuals and a variety of missions that will keep you playing longer than you might expect. If you're an action fan, you need this.
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