TheOverclocker Issue 37 | Page 30

Just Cause 3 Genre: Third-person shooter / sandbox Developer: Avalanche Studios Publisher: www.justcause.com Website: www.justcause.com Price: $59.99 I ’ve loved the Just Cause series since its very beginning. I remember the first game being a bit rough, but at the same time it drove home some interesting ideas and provided plenty of manic entertainment. Just Cause 2 was and still is one of my most-loved open-world games, because it presents you with a chaotic, sweeping playground, removes any and all barriers between you and having a good time, and then tells you to go nuts. Just Cause is a franchise that understands that it’s okay to let the player make their own fun by simply presenting them with a collection of wacky mechanics and systems, and then leaving them alone. Just Cause 3 sticks to that tradition, and somehow manages to crank up the craziness even more. The game sees our hero Rico Rodriguez – whose job it is to expel A-hole dictators from their positions of power using the careful application of high-powered explosives and tractors tethered to fighter jets – returning to his Mediterranean home of Medici, where A-hole dictator General Di Ravello is making a right mess of things and turning the beautiful islands of Medici into a warzone. In order to set things right and weaken Di Ravello, you’ll have to make a right mess of things and turn the beautiful islands of Medici into a warzone, preferably using the careful application of high-powered explosives and tractors tethered to fighter jets. See what I did there? 30 The OverClocker Issue 37 | 2016 Now, about the game’s story: it’s not good, but I like it anyway. I actually feel bad giving it a hard time, primarily because the narrative in a game such as this can get away with being completely perfunctory, but also because it’s just so daft and it tries so damn hard that it’s actually endearing. Also, there’s a cow, and the cow gets a kiss. I laughed. There is, however, sometimes a weird disconnect between the story’s cut-scenes and what actually happens in the missions between them. One immediately springs to mind where there’s supposedly an enormous battle happening on the land and in the air, but when the cut-scene ends the situation is impressively calm. It’s nothing major, but in the moment it feels bizarre. The story missions, meanwhile, are functional but unimpressive. Most of them amount to the usual “go here, shoot things, blow stuff up”, but they’re fun nonetheless. A few of them actually border on being memorable, purely because the objectives within them are so brilliantly silly – but these are