Another Late to the Party review for you! Now this gem has popped up on PSN Plus I think it’s time to look into this for you lovely people. I loved Just Cause 2. It was the first sandbox game I felt an urge to just lose myself in since Crysis said, “punch someone with super strength and watch them fly”.
So I was more than a little hyped for 3, I did try to run the Pc version but let’s just say the experience was “not good”. My Pc is pretty old now (it can run Overwatch around medium/low smoothly) so if your opting for that version do check your specs and have a go first. I wish I had a super Pc to run this though as it already has a multiplayer mod that looks to be amazing.
This is the first game in years to make such an impression in its introduction. It sets the tone going forward superbly and the tone is pure bond, James Bond. This is the best bond game ever while not featuring James Bond or being anything about it.
Still no beating around the bush, Let’s address the elephant in the room. Yes there are a few issues with the framerate and it can stutter occasionally, but these only really occur when a huge amount is going on at once (a city invasion by numerous army soldiers while a police shoot out was happening in the prison and my zipping around blowing things up). Online connectivity is a much bigger problem with regular drop outs but this is more of a PSN issue with Metal Gear 5 suffering the same, as soon as I set the PS4 offline the experience was a lot smoother (also it might be a placebo effect but the game felt like it was running smoother).
The first load of each game does take a while but that’s to be expected (the same occurs with GTA or any large open world) once in game a reload of a save is much quicker (especially when dying due to flying head first into a wall with the wing suit).
So, how does it look? Just look at each screenshots, it looks like a high budget Bond title in motion. Just Cause Another Day looks like you would expect a big budget PS4 title to and then some. Lush details for objects and areas, stunning fields of flowers and villages that are beautiful. The engine makes good work of your immediate surroundings and it’s nice higher up in the atmosphere or at a distance. The water and wave effects are particularly impressive to.
Essentially the game is an update of Just Cause 2 at heart an action third person with lots of explosions. You run, you jump, you shoot anyone dressed in red when your not hooking them into explosives like a crazy person. Not having iron sights from the start sucks and the combat/gunplay does feel a little too auto targeting for my tastes however once you realise it’s designed to speed up the action and not rely on cover based shooting it makes a lot more sense. It helps that using the new tether to pull objects together is simply genius and new ideas for death and destruction flow worryingly easily.
Getting around is a little strange. Sure there’s cars, bikes, boats, planes and helicopters but still a grapple and parachute is the fasted mode of transport from A to B. The parachute is now more for vertical travel and the new wing suit for horizontal. The grapple is pretty much for everything in between. Actually the more I play this the more I feel it’s the best Superman game without Superman. Using the grapple and flight suit quickly while flying a hairs-breath from the ground. Even if you hit the floor Rico regens health so fast he could be a bonus xmen!
Scouting for side quests is where Superman Cause 3 shines. Finding a small dish or fuel container usually means there’s an area to liberate meaning a quick trip around scouting for a scavenger hunt of destructibles. It can get a little tedious to find the last radio or generator but once you realise the map shows them it’s much easier, the attention to detail is definitely there. Also unlocking abilities by mini challenges is both a blessing and a curse. Great distractions but frustrating to all hell when you want a simple upgrade and need to find the specific challenge to get it.
Story missions of ‘Rico Man of Steel’ thankfully follow the theme of Just Cause 2 not being too serious while also driving the narrative. Granted your murdering insane levels of people and there are highs and lows but the characters are brilliantly exaggerated and just the sort you need for a big bang action game. Right down to the over the top super villain antagonist of the game General Sebastiano Di Ravello.
The music is great, Latin guitars when the action hots up, quiet aura when exploring and it fits really well. The sounds are spot on to, explosions and guns shots are loud and varied. Even the voice acting is pulled off with a real flare for both the exaggerated script with a sense of grounding (think Super hero films where people have to to talk about aliens with a straight face). Actually this is the best Ironman film without Ironman. He has the team he had flare he has the flying and weapons. It just has a lot looser ethics.
So is it worth the hard drive space? Short answer Yes, long answer very much so yes. It’s a bombastic action blast, sure it’s not perfect and there are a few faults in its engine and design but here’s the crux of the matter: is it fun? Yes. In buckets and spades. If you can’t find any enjoyment in this then you probably thought the Ironman film was a poor depiction of flight suit physics.
Shoot to thrill.
8/10
ElderlyGoose 
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