Just Cause 4: A Review

I’ve spent the last few days playing Just Cause 4 with the intention of reviewing it. I like it. It’s fun, but it’s not a game I’ve been able to develop a meaningful connection to, and as a result I’ve opted to just pen a few words here. There simply wasn’t a video in me when it comes to this game. 

Just Cause 4 is what you’d get if you crossed Spiderman with Ghost Recon Wildlands. It’s set in a fictional South American country where the local populace is trying to rise up against a pseudo governmental mega-corporation. As the hero, your job is to cause general mayhem and destruction which will in turn, inspire and mobilise the rebels to greater deeds.  

The story really isn’t there. It’s ‘fine’ but for a game with action as ridiculously over-the-top as this, the story feels extremely straight laced and dull. You get the impression that if the developers had opted for something pulpy or campy – perhaps in the vein of Far Cry: Blood Dragon – that you could have some awesome cheese to accentuate some awesome action. Sadly that’s not the direction they took, and I found myself struggling to pay attention whenever a cut scene would roll. 

Mission variety is very limited. 90% of the time it’s ‘go here, blow up this base’, or some riff on that. To be honest that’s also ‘fine’ but it definitely wears thin after you become acquainted with the game’s impressive mechanics and physics. A big variable often thrown is are timed missions, where you must do certain tasks before a clock runs down. These missions can be pretty tricky to be honest, and their finely tuned timer shows that the developers have constructed these pretty well. It lends an arcade feeling to the game, which is where I think the game is strongest anyway. 

The physics and overall mechanic design of Just Cause is truly a marvel. You’ve never seen a world explode as well as this world explodes. Your ability to create destruction is limited by only your imagination, and as I played it, I recognised that my imagination was very limited. I could see how more inventive minds than mine could concoct incredible, hilarious scenarios that combine tornadoes and fighter jets and fuel tankers and llamas, but not being disposed to that sort of thinking naturally, I plan to just enjoy YouTube videos of all that stuff rather than trying to create it myself. 

I think that is my takeaway from Just Cause 4. This is a very basic action game (the shooting is quite average, and you’re basically invincible anyway), with a very dull story, but the sandbox is phenomenal. It’s a canvas on which an artist could paint every spectrum of destruction imaginable. If they can see it in their mind’s eye, they can probably make it here, but I can’t see those things myself, so my connection to Just Cause 4 is limited. If you’re the type of player that loves a sandbox, I cannot recommend Just Cause 4 more highly, but if you’re looking for a ‘game’ that will engage you through its missions, narrative, progressions or anything else, then I don’t think Just Cause 4 is for you.