Just Cause (PC)

The game is good to play... for a while. Then, missions and side-missions become boring and repetitive. There are also loads of bugs present - I found that aeroplanes plough into the ground all the time, and some missions are impossible to complete.

However, I cannot fault the spectacular size and beauty of the terrain, or the large variety of vehicles available. And at least all the numerous side-missions will keep you striving for 100% completion... if you don't get bored!

The gameplay isn't that fantastic, I agree, but the scenery is excellent. I've played this game for hours, just flying around being constantly amazed with the draw distance for the terrain and the excellent cloud and weather effects.

The terrain/scenery is not as detailed as Crysis up close, but given the sheer scale of the map, and what they've done with it... fantastic! It's worth getting if you just want to relax and fly or cruise around...

Just Cause is dire - even though it opens with a spectacular controlled parachute drop, the game quickly becomes a boring, tired afair of jumping from vehicle to vehicle and shooting down hundreds of cretinous opponents. The combat engine is very bad and you quickly realise there is no point in trying to use your head to survive. It is just a case of point and shoot. Just Cause uses the GTA free roaming system of wandering round using any vehicle available, which in itself is not a bad thing. However, the gameplay is poor and you quickly realise there is no point in carrying on. The graphics can be good with some excellent atmospheric effects and the HAVOC physics engine allows for fancy environmental interaction. Nevertheless, the programming is poor and the game designers must have been bored while creating the scenery, since evrything looks samey and lacks real detail. The soundtrack is decent and lends a 'latin' mood, yet this is hardly a reason to play a game. Avoid buying this. You will not play it more than once. My rating: 55%