Review by: Tony Mitera

With many modern games putting thick veneers of realism and seriousness over their exterior, the fact that Just Cause 2 goes about as far in the other direction as possible feels like a weight being lifted off your shoulders.

Sure there is a plot about destabilizing the fictitious island nation of Panau and uncovering the little country’s secret that would cause superpowers to war each other over, but the only reason it exists is to keep you bouncing from one over the top situation to the next. No, this game is about using a grappling hook and an unlimited supply of parachutes to allow you to be the world’s craziest secret agent, in a game world where the physics engine is clearly on cocaine and the gameplay is like a big budget action flick.

You play as Rico Rodriguez, an Agency operative sent to Panau with the goal of tracking down a rogue agent, and in turn getting in deeper with the three lawless factions that have been trying to throw off the government’s yoke. The premise is fairly simple; cause “chaos” in the form of completing missions for the factions or by blowing up government property to unlock the actual storyline, Agency missions, as well as items on the black market. Completing missions also gains you upgrade parts and cash, the former of which allowing you to permanently upgrade your weapons and vehicles and the latter allowing you to have both of such things delivered to you via a black market helicopter.

Rico can carry around two small weapons, one large weapon, and some thrown explosives but the most useful tools he has are his grappling hook and his infinite supply of parachutes. Rico can grapple to almost any object or surface in the game world which has a variety of uses. If the grappling hook is used on a small target like an enemy it pulls them toward Rico, off of high ledges, etc. When used on a wall Rico pulls himself towards it, letting him scale skyscrapers and hijack airborne helicopters like a pistol-packing Spiderman with a Spanish accent. With the parachute able to be deployed any time Rico is falling or travelling at high speed gravity is rarely a threat, and while driving a speeding motorbike sometimes it is advantageous to pull your chute and let the bike continue on like the little highly explosive missile it is.

Another facet of the grappling hook is that you can use it to attach two objects together. Pull down statues or drag an enemy behind a car, use a helicopter to airlift a bike to your next location, or other creative uses of this feature is something that really lets you have a whole lot of fun with physics. Sure you can leap onto the roof of your then-driverless truck and simply shoot at the enemy jeep behind you, but why not simply attach them to an upcoming tree to having it yank their jeep off of the road and over the cliff? The strength of the cable sometimes leaves much to be desired so attempts to pull a helicopter to earth with a tractor will be short lived, but it certainly never breaks when you grapple an enemy to an explosive container and then shoot it to watch them both fly off into the distance.