This game is a really beautiful game that's extremely entertaining. Thankfully there aren't any story progression map restrictions like Grand Theft Auto, otherwise I don't know if I would have played it. The missions can be extremely repetitive and tedious. The redeeming factor is the surreal action, which is what keeps me hooked if I just wanna be a bad ass for a few hours.

The harpoon/parachute concept is very enjoyable, but the repetitiveness of the missions, atrocious voice acting, and overall lack of effort that seems to have been put into just about everything except fun game mechanics left a stale taste in my mouth. Flying around causing aimless chaos is fun for a few hours, but when you realize that's the only entertaining element the game has to offer you get bored quickly.… Expand

The problem and why I think this game has such mixed reviews is that people are focusing on one aspect of the game in their review and getting bogged down in it. The fun to Just Cause 2 is how open it is and what all it provides for you to do. Yes, if you focus solely on collecting the stupid collectables, you will get bored (it does get pretty boring) but you don't have to do that, nor do you have to focus solely on the missions. The main point to Just Cause 2 is to "cause chaos," a seemingly cliche way to tell the player to do whatever the heck they want to blow stuff up and have fun to progress to further missions. I've played over 150 hours and still found new, fun things to mess around with, the most recent being grappling a truck to a helicopter and swinging it around to the speed that it starts swinging my helicopter around. Basically, it comes down to this: If you're into games that push you (the player) to make decisions about how you want to play the game and to make the game fun and unique to you (whether you fast travel everywhere, drive and take in the gorgeous sights, or hijack helicopters and fly everywhere), you will enjoy this game. If you enjoy open world exploration and the freedom to try crazy ridiculous stuff, you'll enjoy this game.
However, if you're looking for a strict, linear, engaging story telling experience, you probably won't enjoy this game. If you're looking for a realistic portrayal of physics and gunplay, you probably won't enjoy this game.
Personally, I find the game's story to be absurd and insane -- which I feel is the point. I think they wanted to focus more on the content and free-roaming nature and I feel they did a very good job of that and it got me on board with the crazy storyline. The voice acting adds to this ridiculousness, it's almost that they don't want you to take the story seriously, and so that's how I approached it. My personal opinion is the negative reviews this game is receiving are because players are expecting the game to tell them or show them explicitly new and fun things to do, where Just Cause 2 pushes for creativity. Yeah, you could simply walk up to that radio tower and shoot it and be done, but what if you hijacked the helicopter over there, grappled a car to it and used the car as a wrecking ball to smash the tower? Then when your plan falls apart and you accidentally crash the helicopter into the tower instead, you can hop in the car and drive off. You, as the player, have to have some vision in order to see all the potential and fun there is in the game. There's things to collect and upgrade, there's things to destroy, there's semblance of progress, and there is an immense amount of fun all in Just Cause 2, you just have to be open to playing around and trying ridiculous things.… Expand

I need to sleep. I really really need to get some sleep. But Just Cause 2 won't let me. I keep saying "I'll just 100% this tiny little base" then the next thing I know I've hijacked a helicopter and I'm blowing up another base. Or I start out in some base (after getting blown up or crashing or being shot) far away from where I want to be so I order a plane. Next thing I know I'm swooping low over the ground trying to get low flyer achievements or ogling the sky and water or trying to swing under a bridge for the bridge limbo achievement. The gameplay is just so much fun and there are so many moments in the game that make you love it. You can go from feeling god-like and overpowered to dead in a matter of seconds because that tank you commandeered just got filled with bullets from the Panuan helicopter that you knew they had scrambled but just plain forgot about. This game is NOT meant to be taken seriously. You can hop out of a jet flying at several hundred miles an hour and just stand straight and tall looking like a bad ass. You can haul a minigun with unlimited ammo around and lay waste to everything in your path. You can grapple swing parachute for miles. You can base jump out of a helicopter, land safely and then get crushed by the helicopter as it falls out of the sky In Just Cause 2, you can do all of that and more. The story is hilariously over-the-top. If it wasn't clear at first, there's a mission where they throw ninjas at you and a nuclear sub pops out of an ice lake... on a tropical island. I don't think they were going for believable, they were going for fun with James Bond class mega-villains and stereotype allies.

Yes, there is nothing realistic about the game, and isn't that really the wonderful part of it? This is a game where you need to be open to embracing the silliness because it's all an excuse to play and have fun.… Expand

This game reminds you why the sandbox game genre was so fun in the first place. TO EXPERIMENT, unlike games like GTA 4 where you lose $1,000,000 everytime you die there is no penalty for dieing outside of missions and that is excellent. the world in this game is huge and amazing and the voice acting is hilarious. you can surf on jets, hijack planes, base jump off waterfalls and all sorts of insane shit that makes GTA 4 seem like watching glue dry.… Expand

Utterly enjoyable. Gameplay is so much fun, when you get the hang of it. Jumping around with your grapplehook and parachuting from tree to tree to avoid gunfire is just one of the many aspects of this game that makes it awesome. Here's the catch: Storyline is thin, and can be finished TOO quickly. Once you've completed the campaign, you get stuck in "Mercenary Mode" where you then attempt to complete the rest of the game (blowing stuff up, driving every vehicle available, etc.). Unfortunately, once you've gotten to that point, it just loses it's fun-value (unless you're comfortable running around and blowing stuff up for hours on end). Good enough game to buy if you can get it on sale. 7/10.… Collapse

This game is too much fun. Rediculously good graphics, pimped out for PC, and comes with free DLC if you get it through steam. I've got 50 hours of gameplay and I'm only 39% done, only on the 4th game mission, because the islands of panau are GIGANTIC. you will have tons of fun retaking the hundreds of villages, districts and military installations from the corrupt government, who even cares about the story quests? haha. it can seem repetitive at times, but the close to 200 vehicles available and the great grappling hook mechanics keep it from being tedious. The heat AI is a little dumb, eg: if you manage to run out the gauge, say, right before a truck full of policia crashes into you, they'll have completely forgotten that you're the guy they were furiously chasing 2 seconds earlier. Kinda messes up the immersion, but the gunfight AI is pretty decent and helps draw you in to each little destruction operation, as do the day/night cycles and the random rainstorms etc. Long story short, this game is excellent, give it a try as it becomes less than ten dollars when it's on sale, and it was clearly paid a lot of care in ensuring your enjoyment. I've never had a single player game outside of MMORPGS that gave me so many hours of fun. And I own some 100+ high end PC titles.… Expand

Just Cause 2 is a phenomenal game which implements so many features that no other game - at the time of release or now - has ever implemented. You have a parachute and a grappling hook along with more than a hundred vehicles and tons of weapons as well. It only took 20 hours to get through the main story, and the game has so much more than that. Some badass things I do: standing on a boat and shooting rpgs off of it, grapple hooking my low-flying 747 to a boat and flying away with it, defusing nuclear missiles while riding them, and base jumping out of a hot-air balloon. The great thing about this game is that none of the things I said will ruin the game for anyone because the world is so many kilometers wide that you could play for 100 hours and not even see any of the things I'm talking about. I truly recommend this beautiful, action-packed game for anyone that likes sandbox, FPS, action, or story games.… Expand

This game gets boring after a few minutes. If this game defines anything, it's repetition. Most cutscenes are repeated, the dialogues are generic and voiced badly, the story can't be named a story. The grapling hook is an interesting feature, but it stays the only interesting thing about this game. The driving physics are bad, the vehicles are slow, the map is enormous but with so few details, that you just take a jet, and fly up to 5 minutes in a straight line with afterburner on, just to get to a point 6 km away. Technically the game looks fine, but not great at all. Repetition is the main motive, trees, rocks, streets, landscapes get repeated so often, that the large map is of no use. Anyone can blow up a map using ctrl+v. Blood looks strange, explosions lack a real bang but the lighting of sunsets is quite nice. But gta4 looked better.
Driving by car is annoying, all 30 sec the police starts shooting. They are not very difficult to fight back, but still it gets repetitive a lot. Just like Just Cause 1, the game is a nice feature, but fails to fulfill the rest of qualities a good game needs. The upgrade system does not make a big difference, there are very few different guns and all the good stuff is available from the beginning so you have seen all the game has to offer in the first hour of gameplay. After that, nothing new happens. Really, nothing. Some parts are ridiculously difficult, but just because 3 helicopters and a lot of soldiers fire directly at you after reloading. The controls are ok, the helicopter controls are really good, the only thing I'd like to see in another game. Countless counters track you during the game, but nothing interesting happens when accumulate 500 or 600 headshots, more than 100 stunt points and so on. And it is so easy to progress these stats, that you start to ignore them. In hindsight I wonder why i played this thing for over 15 hrs. I think I wanted to know if the end is as lame as the rest of the game, maybe I had some hope that the game surprises me with a good ending. But no. Not at all. So buy this game only if you have alzheimers and don't realize when things get repeated every 2 minutes or if you really want to waste time.… Expand

This game got me addicted within the first hour. Whether you're climbing mountains or diivng undernearth, you'll be sure to enjoy the breathtaking scenery. The vast scale of this map is so huge it took me five minutes of flying in a jet plane to get from one side of it to the other. The grappling hook and parachutes in this game will just make you wanna play for hours on end. And did you know there are 104 different vehicles? From cars to motorcycles to planes to jets to boats to...other stuff. And for 50 bucks this game is cheaper than MW2 or AC2(which are both good games nontheless). I think that reviewers rated this game in all the wrong aspects. This is definately not a GTA close, it's more like Uncharted 2. At least it looks like it.… Expand

FUN, thats it, after years of seeing games feel more like work than games, i enjoy a fun game, not a perfect one, but fun, an over the top intentionally cliche story, with over the top action scenes(almost all the time) and a world " two times the size of the known universe" to destroy.

It is true it gets repetitive and the sensation of the copy paste brush gets on to you after some hours, but it is without a doubt a fun game. as a game should be.… Expand

This game is epic. perfect game engine all is so.. i don't now this word... I think there are some bugs but that is not important for me. This game is very very very very very very good.

Haven't had this fun with a sandbox game in a while. True, the story and characters are pretty shallow (who would expect interesting characters from a sandbox game? well GTA4 but thats very rare), but the gameplay makes up for it. While the gunplay can be somewhat simple and Rico may seem overpowered (you can easily manage with one un-upgraded pistol headshotting everyone for most of the game), the game's real richness is its in freeform exploration. You get the whole map at the beginning, you dont need to unlock new areas. When not using fast travel the map feels HUGE. There are many things to do from surfing on top of an airplane to running amok around the island causing chaos everywhere. The slingshot/parachute mechanism is well made. Warning to realism seekers: you can kiss goodbye to laws of psychics, because this game employs its own. This is one of the most things I like: you can experiment with everything try, and fail with different things and then fail some moar. Mission design is pretty sloppy, but they are GRAND! You can expect lots of big things to blow up. Just Cause 2 is not a perfect game, far from it, but its able to deliver a very entertaining experience and is game which you will be returning to play for some moar freedom.… Expand

I guess alot of these reviewers didnt get enough of a kickback payment for there revirew because anyone that has played this game would give it no less then a 9, I have played literally thousands of pc games and this is BY FAR one of the most fun games to play as well as excellent graphics and voice acting. I dont think I have ever played one game continuously for 100 hrs and still cant wait to play it every day. Kudos to the creators, and shame on you to all the reviewers who rated this game lower then 90 especially the idiot that put it in the 70 percent range obviously NOT a real gamer and probably didn't even play it.… Expand

I'm at about 6hrs and its one of those games that could have been great but lacking some refinement and having a few very bad mistakes.
the good - graphics engine, flying about with the grapple and chute, free form environment
the average - level design, combat
the bad - why can't i look straight up? too complicated to change from inside a car to the mounted gun on the back. cars have the best wheels of all time - virtually no friction, u must stop the car before u jump on the back to shoot someone otherwise u'll be rolling down the street for seriously as far as it is straight. grappling up a building has you looking straight at the wall when u haul urself in which is pointless because u then have to move the mouse again to look back in the direction u wanted to go. why are there low lying snow covered mountains within sight of seemingly warm tropical islands? lack of background story or foundation when u start the game. i was confused about the agency thing, they seemed like a government agency, but the guy is an absolute terrorist.

to summarize - its a game u play if u just want some pointless blasting, any seriousness about a story or any real envolvement is long gone. its playable and sometimes quite fun but its like a badly made corny movie.… Expand

This game is great if only it had multiplayer. Good thing jc-mp.com is working on that. I got this game last weekend right when they were testing the beta. I'm going to give this a 10 because I think it's going to live up to it. This game has great potential. You can read all about the game from the other reviewers I'm just going to say buy this game you can find it dirt cheap. I think I payed $7 bucks for it.… Expand

I probabaly give this game a little more than it deserves- People are right, the game is repetetive. However, the mechanic is so new and innovative that somehow it worked for me. The map is huge, too huge for me to explore it all, and while its not really "boring" it was still not intresting enough to make you want to see it all. The main storyline is not linear at all, Its just not very interesting, but I think the story's only goal was to give you moral obligation to cause as much chaos as possible in the entire state so I think the story did fine overall, even had few nice So why 9? Because of those staff that simply keep being fun no matter how repetative they are: Hijacking helicopters, Hijacking airplanes, Pulling vehicles stunts, flying around while doging bullets, and of course attaching things to each other. Yes, it probabaly wasn't the most effective to attach the two cars chasing you to each other near the bridge. And yes, shotting that guy instead of attaching him to a gas tank and shooting the gas tank could probably save me some time and health. The rope and parchute machanic is distinctive enough to make this game worth buying. The closest game mechanic to this game was that of infamous (where you can also hijack helicopters). but somehow this game is still very much different (And not only because its more challanging)… Expand

Think of this game like your favorite summer action flick: outrageous stunts, tons of explosions and light on plot.
Just Cause 2 is effectively a playground of destruction. A lot of vehicles (on land, sea and air) and plenty of weapons.
And the grappling hook. By far the most entertaining part of the game. It can be used to pull yourself up a building, or pull an enemy off of one. Or, you can tether two things together, such as an enemy to a rocket and watch the hilarity ensue.
Classic example of gameplay: I'm flying an unarmed passenger plane; enemy helicopters are dogging me. I fly high up into the sky, climb out of the and jump onto the top of my plane. Plane starts losing altitude, but I wait until an enemy helicopter gets close enough. I jump, going through free fall, diving past the helicopters. Midair, I grapple onto one of the 'copters, haul myself up onto it's nose, proceed to shoot the co-pilot and then beat the pilot senseless and throw him out of the I am now flying the helicopter and I use it to shoot down the remaining enemies flying after me.
And that's how the game goes. It wasn't part of any mission, it was just me toodling around and only a few hours into the game.
I can't comment too much on the story, since I really haven't been paying much attention to it. Basically, you're a spy/agent and your mentor was deep undercover and went rogue; now it's up to you to find him. To do so, you need to get in good with local rebel groups (by running missions) to destabilize the tyrannical regime and flush out the rogue agent.

Problems:
Camera shake. Nearly everything causes the camera to shake, sometimes horribly. My eyes can't really handle it and there isn't any way to turn it off. Might not be an issue for some, but it is for me.
Mods: there are only a few, and they're somewhat useful, but nothing like an overhaul or texture packs.
Bugs: I haven't really noticed any; although sometimes physics will wig out, but I've only seen it happen a few times. Although, I did just fall through a bridge, but it's the first time it has happened in the 30+ hours that I've been playing it.

tl;dr: playground of destruction, a lot of fun, and it's $15 on Steam. Definitely worth it.… Expand

The other day, I drove a speed boat onto land, ran it up a ramp-like cliff, parachuted out before it exploded, grappled onto the mid-air flaming remainder of a boat, and proceeded to get crushed underneath thanks to my arch-nemesis, gravity. Why'd I do this, you ask? Just cause. If you're one of those gamers who plays a game with the intention to beat it as fast as possible, yeah--you'll have a rather repetitive experience. But if you choose to be creative, if you choose to do random, crazy things "just 'cause," everything is prepared for you to go balls-out (in a damn-beautiful open world, too). Don't get me wrong though, there are missions, side-quests, and a decent story to keep you on track as well. Don't pass up its next sale on Steam.… Expand

The open-end aspect of this game is disappointing and meaningless. I spent hours trying to locate and destroy last piece of government property just so I can capture the settlement. I also hate the idea of running around collecting weapon and vehicle parts that are scattered the whole map. It is repetitive and boring. Weapon and vehicle parts upgrade could have been more meaningful if I get larger sum by attacking real-difficult-to-reach mountain and military bases. I have the grappling hook don't I? But no, more than half of the mission enemy or boss rarely put up with a challenge. Instead, I spend majority amount of hours trying to be like a dragon-ball collector looking at radar to pick up weapon/vehicle parts. If you are reading this by now, it is 2012. Skip this game and go for something else.… Expand

Possibly the greatest stress-relieving game ever made. Driving around the island in a Marten Storm is the most fun I've ever experienced in a video game, next to driving around the island in a Cougar 600. The game doesn't support multiplayer, but watching/taking turns with a friend is extremely entertaining. The campaign is bad. But that doesn't matter.

Just Cause 2 is great fun and a big improvement over the first installment. Panau is absolutely huge and although the game takes time to get into, you can easily log 80 hours plus into this game. Many people have stated that the gameplay is similar to Gran Theft Auto 4 but Just Cause 2 has it's own unique style that it pulls off quite well. The graphics and sound are just beautiful and work really well. This game has enough to keep you coming back for more although the DLC on the Limited Edition of the game was a bit disappointing.… Expand

Its an very cool game. But it has bad things. The game needs somthing. A good story maby? And the voices wern't good. But if you want a FPS, prey and spray this is a nice grafik game with lots of space and action to do it in:) I'm going to use alot of time in this huge game.

This game is HUGE and AWESOME!!!!! Sometimes hard to finish towns due to hard to find packages but that makes it more worth while! Super fun gameplay!

There are a few unfortunate niggles with Just Cause 2 that really let down the myriad of wonders Avalanche dished up. The incredibly short main storyline is rather disjointed and seems to be over before it really gets going, hinting at plot twists that never materialise. The worst oversight is that some of the most spectacular missions are optional, and it took me hours of extra toil to find one particular one that friends had raved about, but on the flip-side, some missions are SPECTACULAR. The best I've seen from any game of this type. I also found myself wishing that the wanton distruction Rico dishes out every other second has a more meaningful impact on the game. After blowing up every fuel silo on the island, for instance, it seemed strange that the military could still field an infinite number of jeeps to persue me endlessly across the map. Often there are floating messages to say you have weakened the regime's grip on the island in various ways, but nothing actually comes of it. It would have been an extra carrot on a stick to see the 'chaos' rico incites actually occur. Lack of a cover system is also a little unforgivable in this day and age. These gripes out of the way, Just Cause 2 is incredible. The island of Panau is beautiful on an unparalelled scale, it is literally a joy to just fly around for an hour or so and take in the views... until you see another aircraft that you decide you'd like to hijack in mid flight. The explosions are satisfying, as is hooking an enemy to a propane tank and launching him into the stratosphere. The parachute and grappling hook combo is an inspired bit of game design, and so easy to use you may never want to drive around like a mere mortal ever again. All in all, avalanche have strayed dangerously close to a perfect game, but just missed the mark in a few key areas that will leave you dissapointed if not spitting with rage. It all bodes well for the inevitable Just Cause 3 though. I for one am counting the days.… Expand

The game works as as a sandbox very well but it is missing a 'Ongoing' central story. It is definitely addictive to play (and the graphics are awesome) but eventually the "Destroying the same objects" theme gets boring - for a few days at least anyways since I keep being drawn back... With a longer and more involved storyline, this game would be up there with the best games of 2010. The lack of a ongoing story just creates a huge sandbox to blow stuff up. The game is good but you get the feeling that it could have been so much more if only there were more Agency (or Main) missions.… Expand

Everyone knows this game is huge. But there's no point in having 400 square kilometers if theres nothing to do there. When you first start just cause 2, it can seem a little desolate. There are some highways and a couple of small settlements, 3 faction missions, but there really doesn't feel very action packed. Especially if you've already played the demo and the novelty of the grapple has worn off some. My advice is to push through it. The first faction couple faction areas you unlock will open up something like 20 or 30 missions alone, and once black market equipment starts getting unlocked, and you find new areas of the game, its a complete blast. Some of the larger military bases are epic in scope, and the level of freedom, once you fully realize it, is unparalelled. That being said, this game has its share of annoyances. While car handling is quite excellent (you can drift in a limo, how cool is that?) Plane handling is pretty awful, and helicopters are slow and difficult to maneuver. When you attack a base, destructable items stay destroyed, but guards will keep on spawning until the entire base is destroyed. While this seems like it would keep the base assaults action packed, in practice it becomes a chore to keep taking out every new wave of baddies. As far as I know, there are patches and DLC in the works for this game, so even if you dont get it immediately, keep it on your radar. When it comes down to it, its just really effing cool.… Expand

This game may be repetitive and the voice acting sucks and the storyline isn't that good either. But does the storyline really matter? No. I love exploring in this game and the the graphics are insanely beautiful even for two years later. The grapple hook is fun to travel around with and there are mods for this game, such as free vehicles you can buy, when they actually cost a lot of money which makes me play the game 1000 times more. The game is simple, go blow up stuff, and kill if you want or need to. The game may be repetitive but it's still fun. This game is very well optimized and if you have a bad card then you'll have to lower quite a few things..… Expand

I love this game, the objective is create the Chaos, all things you destroy are good for the progress of the game. This Sand Box is very very funny. The game have 7 principal missions, 49 secondary missions and 70 racing missions. In the game there are a total of 370 locations (Militar bases, towns, cities, points of interests etc...). The weapons are very very more good that you found on GTA IV. You can update all weapons and vehicles. In this game you can search a total of 3200 Item box... realy realy a lot of things to do. I recomended 100% this game. [10/10]… Expand

This game is loads of fun if you like sandbox style games (which I do). According to my Steam account I have logged 158 hours in the game, so that should be an indicator of how good the game is or how insane I may be... If you don't love the parachute/grapple hook combo you are really missing out on the fun. I have played the GTA games (except IV) and found this to be more my style. One note: I did go buy an Xbox360 controller because that is the only controller this game recognizes. So, I used the controller for driving and flying and the mouse/keyboard for running around/fighting and parachuting! I can hardy wait until Just Cause 3 comes out...… Expand

Great fun. Beautiful graphics and world. Loads of action and funny situations. The physics simulation is something like HalfLife 3. Good replayability. A very good game, deserving somewhere around 9 points. To rate this game below 6 is absolutely ridiculous.

an amazingly fun game, that kept me coming back, and in the current steam sale, the value for money has never been better, only let down is some of the repetetiveness

What Far Cry 2 should have been. Whether you like the story or you think it's boring this game is just plain fun to screw around in. If you can see it way out in the horizon you can go there by any means possible. Sets a new standard of what a sandbox game should be.

Sometimes I just want to blow up the world, and that is exactly what Just Cause 2 was made for. The game is one bold love letter to the bygone era of fun-if-slightly-trashy action movies. It's an enormous playground where the player is free to do anything he wishes, as long as it's blowing stuff up and causing havoc. It's surprising that the gunplay is the weakest part of the game, with bullets feeling very flimsy and explosives being rarer than they should be. Of course, this encourages the player to experiment with the game's more unconventional ways of fighting back. Using the grappling hook to tether enemies to various objects in the world never gets old. There are no barriers in this game. See something on the horizon? You can get there. The combination of parachute and grappling hook enables the player to effortlessly traverse Panau and take in the stunning scenery. And make no mistake, the game looks incredible.
All in all Just Cause 2 is an outstanding open world mayhem simulator with an unrivalled sense of scale.… Expand

Just Cause 2 - lets you play as an American secret agent running around a tropical island sandboxes creating chaos to destabilise the government; allie yourself with three different local factions vying for power. The factions give you adventure missions to prove your loyalty, get cash and power ups. Also - jump out of planes, off of trees or mountains, and base jump with a really cool parachute - if you can say something in Japanese then say it now !

OverallScore 9.7 Played the SteamPC version in 2012.03 (2 years after release)
[DRM] Steam only (and always easy)

[Challenges] Main mission run and gun adventures provided by the factions are straightforward and short (just right for that ADD in me). Weapons are standard and great, the grappling hook is awesome and essential to the game and easily mastered - this is so cool - allowing you to parachute fly across the land. RPG-like progression requires accumulation of parts, armor, money, and chaos points by completing missions (which are easy and abundant). To help your abilities progress complete enough SIDE missions. If you like to run and gun the highest adrenaline side missions are to take over military installations (always lots of fun like that first latte in the morning); if you like to explore and run away then discover the towns around the countryside for loot (simple and repetitive after a while - like eating marshmallows). I played on expert level and rapidly RPG-maxed out my favorite weapons and cars making the game much easier. There seems to be a mission for every mood. There is a bunch of optional but lucrative mini games like racing with cars, planes, boats, and base jumping - they all take skill - and if playing on a PC then you need a Joystick for full enjoyment of flying minigames. The AI is good and will kill you (do not eat cheese doodles while playing) [Value] This game is quite fun and quite long. I do not think you can replay this game - if you try to complete every side mission I think you have a 300 hour game on your hands.... The real fun ends around 100 hours - sounds like too much eh? [Children] This is not for kids - this game keeps track of the number of headshots; at least there is no smoking (smiley face wink) [My PC] i7-2600K 3.4GHz / ASUS Z68 ProGen3 / 8Gig RAM / Radeon 6870 / 1920x1200 / W7 PRO SP1 [Graphics 9.0] Why is there so much texture popping?
[Controls 10] I always play with a Logitech keyboard and a Kensington trackball. Remapping the keys was easy and appears in the onscreen instructions.
[Sound 10] I always play with headphones. I liked the way the music energy moved with the action - like Deus Ex - and at times was soothing; there was a good music variety; I turned up the volume ! [MyFavorites] [PC Win7] Crysis&Warhead JustCause2 Rage [PC XP] DeuxExHumanRevolution&TheMissingLink DeadSpace1&2 Fallout3&NewVegas HalfLife1&2 Bordelands BatmanArkumAsylum AssassinsCreed1 Magicka RedFaction Portal1&2 FromDust MrRobot Sam&MaxSeasons1&2 CulpaInnata TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland DreamfallTheLongestJourney Syberia1&2 CrayonPhysicsDeluxe DefenseGridTheAwakening PlantsVsZombies Prototype Bioshock1&2 UnrealTournament3 Quake4 [360] AfroSamurai BrutalLegends [XBOX] HALO KOTOR1&2 Crackdown ArmedAndDangerous AggressiveInline BeyondGoodAndEvil DeadOrAlive1&2&3&ExtremeBeachVolleyball Psychonauts [AppleG4] DeusExMachina ReturnToZork Suspended UnrealTournament TombRaiderSeries Suspended [Born] 1964… Expand

first thought: OMFG WHY WONT THIS RUN ON MY WINDOWS XP?!?! second thought: Screw it i need to upgrade anyway Third thought: OMG its still laggy as crap becuase my computer only has 2 gb of RAM and an 8800 GTX graphics card Fourth thought: *ding* ill turn the settings down Fifth thought: this is actually pretty fun with all the settings turned to the lowest Sixth thought: *about 5 hours in* this game has the most horrible story that has ever been created by a game

seventh thought: *about 10 hours in* who cares about story? i just attached a jeep to my plane with a grappling hook, flew the plane off the runway, got the jeep caught in a tree and had to jump out of the plane before i got hurtled into the ground and exploded!

Final thought: Fun game, bad story, very high system requirments, can be a tad repetitive (especially if your going for full completion)… Expand

This game is one of the best sandbox games out there. The possibilities are almost endless. The set pieces are beautiful, and the explosions are some of the best explosions I've ever seen in a game. The only downside to this amazing sandbox experience is the campaign. The voice acting is hilarious, and the campaign basically sucks. Recommended to all people who love exciting, ridiculously fun sandbox adventures.… Expand

I love sandbox games. Despite what some people might tell you, genuine open world sandbox games are few and far between. Just Cause 2 is one of them. It plays much like a B-movie, which of course is a good thing when it comes to an action game. I even downloaded a mod that turns the protagonist into John Rambo, it's hilarious (good job, modder!) The island paradise game world is huge and strikingly beautiful, but despite the game being so big, it never gets tedious getting from point A to point B, because you have your trusty grappling hook, and multitude of vehicles you can steal GTA style or purchase on the black market. The black market guy can also extract you to any previously discovered location, for a price. The combat is quite satisfying, it can get really hectic when a lot of enemies are on the screen. The explosions are over the top and incredibly fun as well.… Expand

A great free-roaming game that is set in communist Panau. The gameplay is great, the story is alright, replay value is high, the graphics are well done, the characters are decent, and the style is cool. A great recommendation for those who have played games of the Grand Theft Auto series.

Gameplay - 8.5 , Graphics - 9.0 , Story - 5.5 , Playing time - 20+hours. Sandbox gameplay with beautiful graphics. At first it's fun, but it turns boring pretty quick. And the story is ****

If you base JC2 on JC1 at all - you are really missing out. That's what I did, and I initially missed an amazing game.

The controls take a while to get down, but then you're inside one of the best sandbox games made yet. You can play it like an idiot, guns blazing, not worrying about dying, or you can be careful, precise, and make it a real challenge. The only complaint would be that once you finish the storyline missions, the game goes a bit on auto-pilot (in fact it offers to a chance to just be done). Things should really change once you've 'won' the main story, but they do not. You could argue that it just allows you to continue playing sandbox unabated (and trying to hit 100% - good luck!), but it feels like there should be a fundamental change in the game once you've hit the main objective.

That's a minor complaint, overall it's a blast.… Expand

Some of the best graphics out (for Dx10 anyway) on the PC, huge area without any joins to explore and play havok in (wish GTA5 would use this engine for PC) marred by no multiplayer... and dumb Ai spawning... not enough to spoil the game, a multiplayer version would be awesome maybe for JC3?

This game is only fun if modded. The default base game is "restrictive". The gameworld is expansive and huge, it'd take 15 minutes in even the fastest plane to from from one side to another. It has different environemnt - tropical, snow, desert, forest. The vehicles operate funny and if driven at high speed, can spin out easily. The story is meh and short but what you can do in the free mode, makes it up.… Expand

Only in Just Cause 2 can I grapple onto a fighter jet as it's taking off, throw its pilot from the **** fly to a cliff-side enemy base high in the snowcapped mountains, strafe it with missile and machine-gun fire, get shot down by a SAM site, bail out of the flaming wreckage, grapple onto a passing attack helicopter while in free-fall, resume my attack of the enemy base using the chopper's guns, get shot down again, bail out again, land nimbly onto a tower, kill the soldier inside, take his mini-gun, destroy the rest of the base on foot, and then base jump from the edge of the cliff onto the beach half a mile below.

Just Cause 2 does action right. It's so wondrously over-the-top it makes me wonder why all sandbox action games don't give the player a grappling hook and a parachute. It makes Grand Theft Auto IV look like a game about a 12-year-old kid's newspaper route. It makes Red Faction: Guerilla look like a shiny tech demo on Mars (Oh wait, it's always resembled that).

What about the story? Oh right, there's a story. You are Rico Rodriguez, and you have to overthrow a corrupt regime on an island nation. You work for an agency. And you have to shoot and kill your way into a number of crime factions in order to cause sufficient "chaos" that the regime's leader will finally come out of hiding and confront you. That's about it.

I skip every cut-scene the game shows me. I just. Don't. Care.

The fun in this game is being able to explore the largest game world I have ever played. I understand that larger game worlds have existed before, like Asheron's Call. I've never played that game, so the worlds to which I can compare that of JC2 are from Fallout 3, Oblivion, and Far Cry 2. These worlds are mere islands in JC2's vast nation.

One final note: Just Cause 2 is the best game to play in conjunction with Steam's screenshot feature. F-12 yourself some excellent shots.… Expand

Just Cause 2 should be able to be appreciated by any sandbox fan. If you like being able to do whatever you want, whenever you want, and approach every mission from a multitude of difference angles, this game is for you. On top of that, if you're a completionist, there are hundreds upon hundreds of gameplay hours available here. I have also spent countless hours grappling up a mountain, just to single-handedly destroy an entire communications base with rocket launchers, then steal their helicopter, fly to the beach, then destroy a military base with missiles, causing multiple choppers to come out and have a dog fight. If my heli gets blown up, I can safely land on the ground by *pulling myself toward it* with a grappling hook or by deploying one of my infinite parachutes. Physics be damned. Realism be damned. This game is utterly ridiculous. Kill everything and everyone. Blow up all the things. If you don't like this game, you are hereby deemed clinically-depressed, a boring human being, and I hate you.
Just Cause 2 is one of the best games I've ever played, and one of the only games I can pick up year after year and find something new to do. Poor reviews on this game disgust me and make me lose faith in humanity. Learn how to have fun, you entitled little pr!(k.… Expand

The best sandbox game I have ever played and a great springboard from the GTA series, which are getting tedious. The area you can scour is enormous and breathtakingly beautiful, the possibilities - countless, and they are expanded even more by the mods available for the PC version. People criticize the story, but I find it to be a good satire - it is not supposed to be serious and it's not the usual American pathos (which is a plus for me). Flaws - while it's a brilliant title, it certainly doesn't use its full potential. The amount of missions and their variety could be higher. The AI could use some work, but show me a game with a good AI nowadays, huh. It also isn't a game for people who prefer being hand-pulled and follow a straight line. Just Cause 2 is a game for people who value freedom :)… Expand

If Ubisoft ever make an assassin's creed game with a grappling hook, civilisation as we know it will be over. People will lock themselves in their houses and refuse to leave because the combination of close-quarters contextual combat with the ability to pin enemies to the environment and turn them into viscera-filled pinatas will be like cartharsis on a stick to anyone who loves to play sandbox games.

Funny way to start off a review about Just Cause 2, but I feel that this is the major misstep that the game makes. As a sandbox game it follows in the footsteps of GTA, the trigger-happy titan among sandboxes. Just cause 2 does everything I've seen done in the GTA franchise and it does it smoothly and cleanly. But as a sandbox game trying to do something different it should've cast a wider net in looking for inspiration. Because while it is a sandbox, it is NOT a GTA game. The grappling hook changes all the rules, but I don't think the folks at Avalanche really cottoned onto that because the hook feels underused, and under-developed. Some more combo/contextual moves coupled with the ability to upgrade it and streamlining of certain manoeuvres (like dragging enemies behind your car, or holding a grappled enemy so you can fling them OFF of things etc.) would elevate this game beyond simply being a 'more interesting GTA clone' to something truly exceptional.

That is not to say that Just Cause 2 is not fun. It is, and more fun than the last GTA game I played in fact (San Andreas for those of you keeping score). The vehicles while nowhere close to real-world accurate in terms of handling are massive fun to drive, skipper, and fly. The slingshot mechanic which turns your parachute into a paraglider is a stroke of brilliance, and the gunplay, while not stellar still manages to perform better than other sandbox titles. I just find myself wishing that the developers hadn't stopped on the threshold of greatness.… Expand

The best part of this game is also the worst part of this game. And the name of the game is chaos. For a game that doesn't take itself seriously, doesn't place any emphasis on plot, character development or an engrossing narrative, it could be a lot worse. And a lot better. What this game is, however, is everything GTA 4 wants to be and isn't. No more annoying phone calls from your virtual friends. No more game dates wherein you never get to see any closed-doors action. Murder, of everything and anything, is the name of this game. And if you're looking to waste hours of your life destroying haphazardly anything and everything, then this is certainly what you're looking for. Expect a game that sacrifices narrative for cliche characters and big explosions, but requires you to follow the nearly propagandist plot to find the biggest and best of all the die-hard scenarios.… Expand

Very exciting game, but I agree with other reviewers that there is too much parachuting and grappling. Overall, the game has great scenery and super weapons. Just Cause 2 is much more entertaining than its predecessor, and that was a great game too. I may actually buy the DLC for this one.

Well, actually this game is one of the greatest games ever made, open world, great graphics and lots of fun with the grappling hook, but there are two bad things. First: the missions get boring with some time, and second: that indolent control drives me crazy!!! Please, Square Enix, improve that the next time!!

I give this a nine, it's seriously good, fun and awesome!
You can drive a car, a boat, and fly and yeah I say everything is good about it.
Just that I don't like that I have Level 3 Deagle and if I shoot an enemy in the head with it he doesn't die I have 2 shot the enemy 2 times and it's not kinda real I could have a level 1 Deagle and kill and enemy by a headshot :/

If you want a well driven narrative, good voice acting, fun missions, or exciting combat look elsewhere. This game is not for you.

Who is this game for, then? People who love massive worlds and just general screwing around. The draw distance is insane and whatever you see, you can go to. You can hijack jets, helicopters, cars, boats, and motorcycles. You can harass the citizens, or just fly around and enjoy the scenery. The world is MASSIVE, I believe it was something like 400 square miles. The joy in the game is finding things to do for yourself. If you're just slogging through the missions, you're playing it wrong.

It's worth getting just to see a fully realized world like this.… Expand

I give Just Cause 2 a 9/10 its a terrific game the only thing i would really change tho is i would make it so you could enter buildings I love this game and I certainly reccomend it

There are 4 words that can be used to describe this game: "Bloomin' huge" and "very fun". It looks beautiful, and runs extremely well, quite the experience using max settings on my PC. Yes, the story is crap (like a cheap action movie). and there are quite a few bugs I found, but these add to the overall feel of the game: fun. And isn't that the main reason we play games? for fun? and this game has hours of it at your disposal to do whatever the hell you want. Please make Just Cause 3 for the Wii U, I will love Square Enix for ever if this happens.… Expand

The game itself is fine and really good looking but there is a lot of unused potential and the main story is extremely short + side missions after few hours are simply boring and doesn't surprise with anything new. There is so many locations that could be used for amazing missions but from unclear reasons there is no activities there besides those activities which you can find anywhere else.. like blowing stuff. Driving model is simply pain in the ass but we can have a lot of joy from flying.… Expand

I picked up this game on a sale impulse buy. I had seen my friends play about half an hour of it and was not impressed, a lot of the stuff you could do looked over the top and stupid. But after playing I found guilty pleasure in the over-the-top parachuting, ass kicking, and grappling. The environment was something I did enjoy quite a lot, the beautiful graphics combined with the setting, think Cuba combined with North Korea was very pleasing. The vehicle driving is implemented very nicely as well. If you don't mind stunts that are totally unrealistic, a mediocre story (Most cinematic are skippable though) and a massive free roam expanse filled with explosions, gunfire and god knows what else, this is the game for you.… Expand

With a terrible storyline, God-awful voice acting, and the most cut-and-copy cutscenes ever seen in a video game, it's a wonder that Just Cause still manages to deliver a thrill ride of a time. If this game were judged solely on the aspects listed previously, then I would give it a zero in a heartbeat. However, I have a feeling that Square Enix purposely made it out to be this way. Just Cause isn't a game to be taken seriously, it's a game to mess around with in your enormous sandbox of countless toys. As soon as the first mission's over, you're free to explore the island of Panau to your heart's content. From hijacking airplanes and crashing them into congested areas, to keelhauling an enemy soldier along your speedboat, the possibilities are seemingly endless. You'll have loads of fun simply testing out your grappling hook on unsuspecting enemies, discovering all the ways you can mess with your prey. Once, I tethered my grounded boat to an airliner, which then proceeded to drag me across the runway and lift off, carrying me with it. It's all a bunch of silly nonsense, but it's what makes this game so enjoyable. If you're looking for a giant sandbox to piss around in, you can't do much better than Just Cause 2.… Expand

yeah it's repetitive but thats ok because i just came here to MOD......and wow does this game have an AWESOME modding community :) you can fly like superman get every car, plane, helicopter, boat, weapon. The missions are an afterthought cause the meat of this game is exploring the gargantuan map, and it's soo pretty i thought i went to a tropical island. Flying planes then jumping ontop of them while you crash into a mountain and then parachute to safety.......epic and awesome :) GET yourself a trainer and go to this website www.justcause2mods.com… Expand

A big 10 from me
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This game is amazing people say the fun ends in some hours, It does not. Only if you are lazy, In just cause 2 you can explore stuff on every single place, Gun upgrades vehicle upgrades and the map is so HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE and beautiful. If youre tired of going slow, Go to the airport and you will vind a very fast plane in one of thoose garages or complete 5 missions or so and unlock escort to reach the entire map in less than 10 seconds. Buy this game if you have not already.… Expand

I was a fan of the first version of this game, and had to grab the second as soon as i saw the trailer come out. I couldn't believe when playing there could be so much freedom of movement and travel in an open world game. I've never traversed such a massive game world so teeming with npc's, enemies and activities. It's really astounding that they were able to put all of it together. I would honestly have to say the faction missions and a lot of the story get repeditive, but thankfully when playing the opportunity to get a refreshing dose of pure free flying chaos between those missons makes up for it. Highly underrated, a pure gem!… Expand

+ giant map and lotsa things to search, + dozens of vehicles, + graphics are amazing, + missions are fun, + rope and parachute works great, + over 100 hours of gameplay, + songs are good, + sometimes pretty challenging - story is not that great, - some places are copies, - can't buy ammo, - no online. I would give this game 10 if this had online.

It's one of my favorite games of all time. Why? Because the gameplay is sheer fun, grappling and parachuting, tethering people to cars then driving around. The environment is immensely interective, I hate when I feel like I'm in a plastic scenery just there for decoration. Not so now. You can blow up any of the literally hundred villages. I spent over 100 hours on this game, if you're a completionist you'll love it. I like sandbox games but what's good about this one is that you have constant goals - every area has a percentage of completion based on items you must find and things you can blow up. Basically, I never felt bored in all my exploration, unlike other sandbox games lacking such goals. These strong elements for me greatly outweigh the weak story, because the game is so much fun and I just spent 95% of the time playing anyway, and not listening to story. So that's it, one of the best games I've played in my life, if you don't like it in the first hours I'd say that's normal because the story is bad, but get actually playing and driving around and you'll absolutely adore it.… Expand

RICHTIG GEILES ACTION GAME !!! , eins der besten die ich gespielt habe :DDD

This game is utterly amazing. I had a couple of doubts before buying it because people weren't enjoying it that much, but after playing it for the first time, I couldn't stop playing. The gameplay is very accessible and you can gain some skills, which make the in game time longer. And long after completing the main storyline I still play this game just because it's so much fun to hook something up a helicopter and fly it into a car or something. This game will never get boring for me, I love it!… Expand

This is an amazing game that while still having it "GOD DANG IT!" moments the game always gets me right back to playing. Not only is the world amazingly huge but with your grapple your grapple hook, you have at least 4 hours in a row just messing around. (I hope people get that sarcasm). When you do get bored of that can go out and attack police and start a police chase, out of the 65 hours of game play i have had so far i can say half of it just running from the cops then getting out of my flaming car, and then getting in another car. A side from the stupid fun i have mentioned so far, the game has amazing graphics and tons of possibilities! The only reason this didn't get a ten is because of the teeth grinding things like when the game gives you an awesome jet, and just crams a bunch of AA guns of your backside, and the fact that the game had much more potential. The game can flip you off sometimes but the rest of the time is dumb fun. Of course if your still not sure there is a demo on steam that a gives you a chunk of the world to mess around on so you can see if your self. I hope this helped!… Expand

I am giving this a 10, solely based on the amount of freakin' fancy I've got.

Sure, gameplay is repetitive and the voice acting starts sucking very quickly. I have only one purpose for this game: Every night, before I get to sleep, I do a few spectacular aerial tours of the entire landscape, using the following mod...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmtHD60pL6Y
This has greatly helped me with my lucid dreaming and anyone who has even the slightest interest in lucid dreaming should make this a mandatory exercise on a regular basis...Enjoy!!!… Expand

I would like to write more but since everything has been already said I will just sum up; the game is extremely addictive, beautiful, entertaining and rewarding. For me it is the best open world game, far far ahead of overrated GTA 4 which is total opposite - frustrating, repetitive and boring. I just loved JC2 2 years ago and I still do and play it from time to time.

I'll start off with the positives, and then go on to the negatives. Just Cause 2 has a grappling hook and parachute mechanic, which - when used correctly - allows you to scale buildings and jump out of planes. In the story missions there are a few big explosions, which look visually impressive. The graphics are very good, too, and it's playable on many systems. But although hopping between cars, planes and boats is entertaining, it's only enjoyable for a few hours before it gets old. It's worth noting that there are lots of people claiming that this game has a fully - or mostly - destructible world. It doesn't - there are a couple of things that look different when you blow them up, and that's it -- just to clear that claim up.
Now, then, on to the bad things. Firstly, the voice acting is awful. It is without doubt the worse voice acting in any game I have played, bar none. The game is set on some sort of island in south Asia, so all of the voices - from the main protagonist to the least important character - are Americans putting on atrocious Asian accents. You might not think that bad voice acting can let the game down, but it cannot be avoided here. The missions are repetitive and necessary for progress; I actually ended up giving up on the game eventually because the missions' repetitiveness wasn't justified by the bland storyline. The story is just bad. You have no idea what's going on and just seem to be doing things for no real reason - and that's because the game tells you what's happening at the start, and by the end of the first mission you have forgotten. The other main problem with it is the open world - it is a sandbox game, but no one of any importance exists in it except yourself, which reiterates my point about the game getting boring quickly.
Overall, a fun game for a few hours - good, looking, too - but massively let down by its exceptionally bad voice acting, uncompelling story, dull world and horrendous repetitiveness.… Expand

Amazing sandbox-style play that's set apart by the fun and interesting grappling-hook-and-parachute dynamic. The plot and acting for the story mode is sub-par, but this game is not about the story. It's about bouncing around a massive Island chain flying jets, riding bikes, attaching gas canisters to unwitting bystanders and sending them to the moon, and generally f'ing sh't up.

With 400 square miles of rugged terrain and hundreds of weapons and vehicles, Just Cause 2 defies gravity and belief. One of the best (if not the best) free-roaming games out there!

Good times initially, the open world is so impressive. Nothing like it on the market. Controls better than GTA, looks good, but it's just boring after a while. I found myself rushing to complete the game so I could mark it off my list.

A really good game for all action fans. I am also a fan of it. But there is only one thing. At least I miss a little bit the alternation in this game. Thats why I evalueted it only with 7 points. Have fun with it.

Well, first off the good bits. This is an amazingly beautiful game with some of the prettiest vistas and locations ive seen. Diverse enough to have snow, desert and tropical island in one game. Oblivion eat your heart out. Whats more is that it seems to be well optimised that lower spec pc's (within reason) can play it and still have it look fantastic. It has some pretty cool vehicles (military jet) and and awesome little locations like the floating zeppilin night club and the island from lost easter-egg. Sadly however these gold stars are not enough to make up for the river of crap they are floating on. Beginning with the smaller flaws: the weapons and most of the vehicles. Most of the guns are just plain boring with the revolvers being the coolest, if not the most efficient to use. Granted there is DLC but that doesnt add a great deal of fun stuff either. The most fun by far is the remote explosives which make stunning explosions (especially if you put them throughout an entire base and set them off simultaneously). Most of the vehicles are terrible. they are not fun to drive, handle like dogs and look a bit like barbie-mobiles. Even the tank is just a glorified APC (would have been so much cooler to have a T-80 or a challanger or something). Greater faults: the grappling hook + parachute. Yes they are fun. For the 1st hour. After that they become a tool for getting about mostly and the novelty of tying people up gets lost after the 50th group. There is only so many times you can do something before it gets dull. Getting about using the combo is waaaay too slow for the size of the game and is really just for when you cant find a better vehicle to do so in. Even in vehicles it takes stupidly long times to get anywhere and a jet is the only real way of doing so. This wouldnt be a problem however if it wasnt for the last, big major flaw:
The Big one: Nothing exciting to do in sandbox mode. At all. Almost all the locations (of which there are hundreds) provide nothing to do other than find briefcases or kill some dumass AI soldiers in random villages or cities. Jumping off of buildings and generally doing stunts isnt actually any fun as it takes almost no amount of skill to do. This would also be less of a problem had a healthy storyline and side quests been present. They are however, identi-kit rush this base, pick up minigun, gun down chopper, repeat, missions. the storyline ones offer some variation, but even that is cheesy and only visual. Not to mention the ever present lip-sync bugs.
Its all a real shame too. This game, with a better storyline, more varied and interesting side-quests (look to peers like GTA and Saints Row 2 for inspiration guys) and my personal desire (not actually that big a deal) more destructable objects other than radio towers, would have made this game almost perfect. On a sidenote, i personally noticed that this game became a lot more fun for me after i began using cheats. Infinite ammo (while still needing to reload) as well as infinie explosives were my favourite and seemed to make a massive difference to the entertainment value. Im still not quite sure whether this is in favour or against the game as a whole.
In Summary:
+ Beautiful game, almost no peers in this respect.
+ Great explosions and demolitions
+ Some cool vehicles, weapons and locations

- Ways of getting around too dull, most vehicles not fun or useful
- Most weapons not actually fun to use
- Not much to actually do that is different - gets boring quickly
- Repetitive missions and side quests
- Bugs in sound syncing and other various non-game braking ones
- Poor AI

Overall: 4.5/10 (i rounded up to 5)
P.S. at the time of writing, the game is £5 on steam. It is very hard to not recommend the game at that price as it will most probably provide enough play time and enjoyment for the money.… Expand

Not a game you want to get into for deep gameplay, but for dicking around purposes its top notch. When you get used to all the insane things you can do to the laws of physics it gets more boring, but as a rental game it's perfect.

some of the best graphics i have ever seen. the multiplayer mod makes it addicting. for ten dollars on steam, this is a great deal. the controls are a bit hazardous if you don't have a controller. luckily i got one just to play this game. the map size is great for exploring in all different types of vehicles. i actually never beat the campaign because i was too busy flying and driving around. the storymode is forgettable but the opposite can be said about the multiplayer mod. go buy it.… Expand

Loads of fun. Just Cause 2 truly understands the sand-box. It feels like like a polished mash-up of boiling point and Red-Faction Guerrilla maybe the Saboteur). First of all it gives you freedom. You can do whatever you feel like and It is all engaging. There is a plot to follow and factions to do side-missions for and endless opportunities to create chaos. The chaos will have the authorities after you which then leads to the evasion-game. I love the fact that you can shoot your way out of trouble, run, drive or para-sail away or even the hijack the chopper they bad guys sent after you.
Travel: best I have ever seen. There is instant-travel (extraction from anywhere), stealing boats, cars, motor-bikes, planes, helicopters and then there is the hook. The grappling-hooks is so useful you will forget to walk places. There is a cool mechanic where you can use the grapple to ascend then engage your parachute to fly...then use you grapple to 'web-sling' your way around. No game has such a cool variety of transportation. If you don't become obsessed with collecting every little trinket in the game you will find hours of over-the top game-play here. Just flying a plane around to scout new locations can be entrancing. The island has a variety of terrain and the day-night cycle makes for amazing sunsets and vistas. Don't complain about the repetition in the game as this is the nature of the sand-box. Having 70% of the side missions available (after getting 20 hours worth of plot-mission value) is nothing more than gravy. This genre is not about deep plots anyway. If you want a game that is fun-to-play then look no further.… Expand

First and foremost, if you're a completionist, you will absolutely love this game; but I'll get to that later. Instead, I'll start out by saying that the graphics in this game are close to stunning. Between the setting sun and the motion blur while on top of a car, the great visuals make experiences vary from beautiful to intense (but epic). Not to mention the explosions, they're the best explosions I've seen in a game (so far). However, the water whitewash looks 2D and like clip art at times (same with smoke when it passes through buildings), but water has always been an extremely difficult thing to design and program in all games. Also, the vision haze that comes with going underwater was not applied to some objects. So, you would see a rock as clearly as if you were out of the water, but this only happened rarely. The soundtrack was, unfortunately, unoriginal and, even though the setting was a southeast Asian island, the oriental accents and touches in the soundtrack didn't quite work. For some reason, also, they decided to make some ambient tracks hispanic/spanish themed and (even though Rico Rodriguez, the protagonist, is clearly hispanic or hispanic-american) that didn't seem to match the other James Bond/oriental tracks of the score. This takes us to voice acting..........which was atrocious. The Asian accents were over exaggerated and I never felt like I was actually listening to someone have a conversation. The writing was pretty bad, too, although some of Rico's one-liners (excluding the ones heard during actual gameplay, those were just blunt and lacked any clever input) were nice. Many times, the dialogue felt like they were simply trying to put in a cutscene for the sake of it and the cutscenes that were shown before each Stronghold Mission were just strange and random proclamations of the faction leader's hatred of Panay or appraisal of Rico's skill. The only part of writing that was okay was the gist of the main story, not the actual dialogue of the main story, but the ideas behind it. Panay's plan for global dominance wasn't something like mind control or something ridiculous, it was an actual economic advantage that would have allowed Panay to control trillions in the world's economy. This takes us to mission variation, which is also not so there. Although the action is usually great, the 42 missions that are available are either go destroy, go kill, go retrieve/steal, or go kidnap a guy. Now, for the completionist. There are 362 locations with a percent completion score for each location, allowing you to be sure you've done everything possible within that town/base/village. It'll even mark the location as "complete" which allows you to systematically complete all the locations, this will take much more of your time than you expected, and much more time than it felt like. Similar to locations are collectibles and races which are marked as completed (or collected) just as locations are. The only downside to this is how overwhelmed you can get until the world is divided into faction territories and you will also never reach 100% completion as they made it impossible to find every little crate in the 50 sq miles of land and sea. Just by the by, the world is enormous in a good way, but sometimes a bad way. Distance between locations can be a bit annoyingly large. But, the way the world varies from tropical islands, cities, deserts, mountains, snowscapes, grass planes, jungles, and forests is astonishing. It feels like a living, breathing world instead of a boring plane that the designers called "land." Especially when it comes to explosions and destruction, the world reacts smoothly and beautifully. The grappling hook makes for an amazingly useful tool to traverse the world and the ability to ride on top of vehicles (including airplanes) makes the action even more intense. To the action: explosions look terrific, this may be a little specific but when cars crash, roll, and flip, it is extremely awesomely cool. Needless to say, you will have extreme action experiences throughout the game. Downsides, however, the police system is completely unscaled. There really is no level of how pissed off they get. If you have level 1 "heat," the will send a helicopter and every police vehicle and person within 5 miles will converge on your location. This level of intensity doesn't change until level 6, where it isn't even a challenge but just a whipping. Trying to fend of 3 helicopters at once and the entire government army is not possible, my friends. Hijacking a vehicle is also completely unexciting: as you watch the pilot and Rico sit in place, you push a button and one single punch is executed, then another, and another, then your done. Also, you will get extremely frustrated with your health, as the same weapon will inflict radically different amounts of damage under the same conditions. It's frustratingly unpredictable. But if you're a completionist, buy this game, no question.… Expand

Damn fun game. From parachuting off skyscrapers to tying a soldier to a passenger jet and taking off with it, there will never be a moment when you're bored. The downsides of the games are mainly in the story and voice acting. I had no idea voice acting in games could be that bad, and I much preferred the game when I set the voice volume to 0. If you're looking for a pointless game to blow stuff up in, this is it. It also has the biggest playable map I've ever seen, with tonnes of easter eggs and unique vehicles there to find. The mod community for the game is also pretty incredible. Definitely worth checking out at least. Reminded me of Prototype a little.… Expand

THE GOOD: Unbelievably huge game world. Fantastic graphics. Lots of vehicles and weapons. Blowing stuff up is fun. THE BAD: Blowing stuff up is repetitive. Missions are boring. THE UGLY: Racial stereotypes and bad accents.

Where's the story?

It's a fun game but I just don't care about stuff. It's just blowing stuff up for the sake of blowing stuff up. The island feels too big. It takes too long to get places, even in a plane. There is not enough ammo considering I'm supposed to destroy things before I can move onto the next mission.

The game is graphically pleasing - you can just stand and admire the beautiful island landscape. Good job. The gameplay however, did not keep me involved - i played only for about 6 hours until i got bored. What's the motive? Why should i continue playing? Everything is the same - you come to a village, start shooting, soldiers come in never-ending waves, you shoot them, etc. Perhaps for kids this is a fun way to spend time - for me unfortunately the gameplay is extremely monotone and boring.… Expand

Its a little bit of fun mostly. The appeal of this game really only lies in the beautiful graphics and the open world with the ability to destroy and to do a few amusing things if you were to put your mind to it. As for the story its not very interesting and the missions are rather generic and repetitive.

Just Cause 2 has A LOT of destruction, a lot of guns and an absolutely stupid story, but overall I found this game a lot of fun. The grapple system is great, the graphics are descent and the vehicles are great as well. I didn't really like the idea of having to cause destruction to progress in the story, but the destruction was extremely fun. Tethering someone to a rocket and then setting the rocket off never gets old. =D… Expand

This is clearly a game designed around a sandbox, instead of a sandbox around a story. It is pure, unadulterated fun meant to entertain those who seek to down their foes in the most creative ways possible. Played as a standard third-person shooter it will feel tedious and unimaginative, so only buy this if you are out to explore the various extremely entertaining ways to do things. The graphics are amazing and performance very, very good for what you get and the physics..WOW. All in all, a great FUN experience meant only for the creative gamer, I would not recommend this game to anyone looking for a deep story and fleshed out characters.… Expand

Yes, the gameplay is really fun. With a good story and likeable characters this game would be fantastic. But the story and characters are really bad. The missions feel repetitive, and for me the game got boring faster than it should've.

It felt unpolished product, story/script was cheesy as hell, including awful voice acting and hideous Lip syncing. Gameplay was too easy and over the top, mostly because of stupid AI. All weapons felt flat, no recoil, nothing. Physics overall was terrible, especially car handling. Even music was forgettable.
The only thing I liked was the graphics and environment. Really nice colorful world. Too bad the gameplay couldn't match it.… Expand

I played for 50 minutes and got bored. The animation and dialogue I didn't appreciate. The graphics are absolutely gorgeous maxed out, but that cannot pull it's score up. The gameplay is open, however the gunplay does not feel satisfying. Uninstalled off of steam after one session.

Running around causing chaos is really quite fun! For a few hours. The grappling hook / parachute tools are cool to use, the combat works fairly well, and there are lots of vehicles to drive around in and lots of map to explore. Unfortunately, the story falls flat, and destroying random stuff for no compelling reasons gets old in a hurry. Or at least it did for me.

Excellent game. It excells in freedom, destruction, and entertainment. It is not the perfect game, however. After a while the game gets slightly repetative and replayability dims. This does not mean it is a bad game, rather not worthy of the 8-9 score due to the lack of significant motives for replayability, as I do not find myself coming back to it terribly often. However, it does provide fun on a scale of the huge map that expands from many different seaons. It looks beautiful. Sunsets are astounding and the dynamic weather is well executed. The gunplay, on the other hand, is not so strong. Point and click mechanics are, however, balanced by the opportunities provided by the grapple - which provides a new dimension to shootouts. Definately worth a buy on a Steam sale, although not full retail. A solid 7.… Expand

I remember when this came out three years ago and didn't pick it up because of the price. I picked up on sale this past week. I wasn't expecting much, just like the first one. The only new thing besides this and the first is the grapple hook and weapon and vehicle upgrades. It's huge sandbox open world but it forces you to do side missions that you may not even want to do in order to progress the story. The story can be completed in under 3 hours, but since it forces you to do repetitive and boring side missions you're looking at about 9 12 hours for one playthrough. The story starts good but then turns into a Left-Wing dreamland
"AMURCIA EVIL WANT OIL BLOW UP LAND FOR OIL!!"
Conspiracy theorists, democraps and the whole Left-Wing will enjoy this propaganda lie.
It could of been an average sandbox game, but the second it brought politics into it, I lost all intrest and I am not going to listen to the lies it tries to preach.… Expand

well .. i liked game's gorgeousness ... but still its not worth .. game is having weak driving controls ... weak shooting mechanics and Worst Voice Acting ever i seen in my life .. but still the good thing is the open sandbox gameplay .. with Grapple Hook getting me feel like a true stunt guy ... still give it 7/10 .. not any best game .. but just fine

Do not let them seduce you with good looking trailers. They are made from cut scenes which generally looks good. But when cut scenes stop everything good stop. Practicaly unplayable console port with bad story, bad shooting and medicore gfx! Avoid it!

There is A LOT that can be improved on in this game. Otherwise, it's fun to mess around with, if you want more details. Everything other people said about in the "mixed" sectionis mostly true

Exhilarating and trololol would be 2 words that sum up this game pretty nicely. As said by many others, the missions in this game do get a bit repetitive later on, but they're not really that bad when you get to play it. Only the Stronghold takeovers are truely repetitive. But the missions are not the real beauty of the game. You have the most fun on Just Cause 2 when you're just trolling around the highway/countryside highjacking cars and killing people like in GTA, but now you have a grapple hook and a parachute that are great for just doing random things with. All in all, a great buy for its price.… Expand

3/5 (Ok) Open world, great gameplay let's you do pretty much anything you want. It's fun. Really. But then you start to play for real and the gameplay now feels like an obstacle to your success. And then the story is boring, and then the missions are boring, and then you stop playing and you forget about it.

Hell, writing this review makes me want to give it another try. (last played Jan. 2011)

Magnifique jeu pour les paysages. Les moyens de déplacement à la disposition sont une superbe idée :
avion, hélicoptère, moto, voitures, quad, bateaux.....Mais le maniement avec clavier est vraiment navrant !!!
Pas moyen de se diriger comme on le veut...
La liberté d'aller où l'on veut est hypersympa aussi mais le gros gros problème ce sont les sauvegardes :
dès que le personnage meurt, c'est la sauvegarde automatique qui se lance même si vous avez passé une après-midi à jouer.... et sauvegardé manuellement toutes les 10 minutes : tout le niveau est à recommencer car la sauvegarde automatique ne se lance que quand on a terminé une mission : ce qui est parfois très difficile ou très long.
A la fin on en a vite marre de se retrouver 30 km en arrière...
Donc le jeu vaut la peine pour voir ce que pourrait être un jeu de rêve mais qui ne l'est pas....
Je l'ai acheté moins de 10 euros, je regrette de ne pas m'être contentée de la démo gratuite!!!
A voir absolument mais il faut être tenace et mordu pour pouvoir finir le jeu!!
Quel dommage...en espérant que la version 3 corrigera ces problèmes...?

Score : 9 pour le graphisme, les idées; 3 pour le reste… Expand

honestly in my opinion, the cutscenes, voice acting and the character are just awful..i hate his voice.
everything else is just spot-on i cant tear myself away from this. the missions are nothing special but the game play is just awesome, run around shooting and destroying everything, upgrading and flying planes while on top of them...sweat.

This game gets repetitive very fast. Every mission what you are doing for 3 different factions seem to be all the same. Its good open world game but suffers from variation between missions, this type of playing is boring and outright stupid.