Just Cause 2

Rating: M

Score: 9.0/10

How do you describe a great sandbox-style video game? For one, it definitely needs a big, explorable world with a lot of depth and no (at the very least, no noticeable) repeating copy-and-paste environments. It also should have a lot of ways to travel, and should overall, obviously, be extremely fun to play. Just Cause 2 gets all those checkmarks, and then some. This game is available for PC, Playstation 3, and Xbox 360.

So who is Rico Rodriquez and why is he on some huge fictional island? Well, he's an assassin for an agency who is after his old mentor. His mentor is hiding on a huge island filled with goons. Rico, being an assassin, goes in alone and armed with an unlimited number of parachutes and a grapping hook, but he'll need information and guns from joining gangs to find his old mentor, and rid the island of his terror.

The gameplay is more or less the same as the original. It has a heavy emphasis on parachuting and grapping, the only equipment provided with infinite use. At any time, in any vehicle designed to transport people from point A to point B (Bike, plane, car, truck, scooter, helicopter, etc...), Rico can parachute out and cause chaos, a scene almost straight from an action movie. He can also use his grapping hook to hook on to buildings and people much like Spider-Man. Rico can attach himself to anything and take out bad guys from a new angle; again, straight out of an action movie. In fact, a lot of the game is presented like it's trying to be an action movie. From the parachuting, to over-the-top fighting, to stunt jumps (which let you jump from moving vehicle to moving vehicle, or any combo of vehicles (car to plane, bike to helicopter, etc...)), overall Rico's "Shoot or get shot" style makes just watching someone play like an action movie.

There's a lot of ways to get around. From land, sea, or air, you can find something to get you from one place to another. Considering how huge the island is, you will need reliable (or just fast) vehicles, or you can just use a heavily armoured vehicle for your casual driving while you take over enemy bases, single-handedly no less. It truly gives you the pure freedom to just do whatever you want, however you want.

The game will force you to enjoy the racing, action, and missions, even if you're not the type to explore a lot or play an action/racing game. To unlock main missions that move the story along, you need to complete side missions. To unlock side missions, you need to blow stuff up. In the end, that's what the game is all about, and all it ever wanted to be about.

Between the blowing stuff up and pretending to be in an action movie, you can make your own fun. Hook onto a gas canister and shoot it to fly up on a rocket. Attach one end of your hook to a plane and another to a random hobo and start flying. The possibilities are endless.

Everyone who likes action movies, sandbox-style games, and freedom will love this game. All others should at least give it the benefit of the doubt, because its customizable fun is something to admire. At no point is it just some silly romance/turn-based strategy game; it's a continuous action-movie-like roller coaster where you build the tracks as you ride.