Just Cause

"A wise man once said: "Wasted potential is man's greatest sin""

Overview
You play as Rico Rodriguez, a covert operative of the CI and A. Your job is simple: bring about a regime change on the fictitious island republic of San Esperito. Along the way, you'll have access to weaponry, vehicles and anything else you might require to bring about the aforementioned revolution. That's pretty much the game in a nutshell. Oh, it also offers the largest map yet.

Gameplay (5.5/10)
I'll start with the best element of the game, although in this case it's probably the most mediocre aspect of an otherwise horrendous package. Like comparing an ant bite to a snake bite. Both suck, but at least one is better. The missions are what you might expect: kill important figures, blow up drug plants, etc. Story missions aside, there are also some surprisingly fun Collect missions, where you go about collecting various paraphernalia. There are also Rioja Cartel missions, the by-now token races as well as Liberation missions, where you'll free different provinces from the clutches of the vile government pigs. However, don't let the name fool you; they're just ordinary shooting missions that are fun at first, but get tiring quickly after that. There is a wide range of vehicles, but most of them are the generic cars/trucks/turboprops. Avalance did, however, do an admirable job with the designs and names. And this is pretty much where all of the good stuff ends

Sound (4/10)
Unremarkable. There are about... oh, three tunes in the game which you WILL hear over and over again. After a while, it might probably be a good idea to turn the sound off altogether.

Graphics (2/10)
And now, the worst part of the game. The graphics are as bad as having to walk from one end of San Esperito to another on foot. Vehicles will drive through trees, Rico's head will turn 360 degrees a la Exorcist when you zoom in on him and just to point out a few examples, the bottles in the cafe-cum-whorehouse at the volcano are not real bottles; no, they look like cardboard cutouts (and they probably are). For a game that's been so long in development, this is a major letdown. The PS2 is in its twilight, which means that all of the best qualities of the console should be showcased. These graphics serve to mock an otherwise great console, and for me, this really puts a dampener on things.

Closing comments
If you can rent, rent. This game will probably keep you occupied for a weekend. Otherwise, if, like me, there isn't anyway to rent it, you might want to hold off on this one, as I've heard rumours of a sequel dropping in. Definitely, the two best words to describe this game are wasted potential, but at least it leaves a lot to be improved on in the future.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 11/29/06