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Just Cause -- GTA in Paradise
- August 04, 2006 13:29 PM PST
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When you're Rico Rodriguez, destabilizing a tyrannical South American regime is just another day at the office.
You are Rico Rodriguez--badass, stuntman, gentleman, lover, and the hero of Just Cause, Eidos' upcoming action/adventure title. After a series of successful missions aimed at destabilizing a despotic South American regime, you get "hired" by the local police force to assassinate a corrupt police chief.
Pop Quiz, Hot Shot
There will be a pop quiz at the end of this paragraph, so please pay attention. Your target is surrounded by guards on a luxury yacht in the middle of a crowded bay. Ergo, getting there and neutralizing the target without getting capped will require careful consideration. So what do you do?
Ghostridin' the whip
A) Hop in the water and swim out to the yacht.
B) Commandeer a boat, GTA-style and make a fast dash for the yacht.
C) Tether your grappling gun to an automobile approaching the waterfront and unfurl your parachute. Glide across the water, using the grappling gun to grab onto other boats, until you reach the yacht.
The answer is D) all of--or none of--the above. Because the reality of Just Cause is the emergent game design means you can approach any mission in virtually any imaginable way. The game is so wide-open that you can run and gun your way through the game's 21 main missions and 300 side missions--scattered across a massive 250,000 acre world--in any order you choose.
As you play, you'll wield numerous cool weapons from the aforementioned grappling gun to heavy artillery to a variety of explosives. You'll also pilot, cars, mopeds, choppers, and even a Boeing 747 and a cool underwater scooter. In an interesting twist, when you're flying a plane, you can climb out of the vehicle and perform a variety of stunts and wing grabs.
Action Rico
At times you'll engage in stealthy tactics, but the emphasis will be on action--to which we say hallelujah. Thus far, only two features concern us. First, the stunts you can perform have no impact beyond looking cool, and feel like a missed opportunity. Second, the cut scenes look fairly outdated, but maybe they'll improve before the game's release before the end of the year.
"Hey, I can see my house from up here!"
