2 Yrs✓#
Not_Connor
2 Yrs✓#
19/02/25 - Just Cause
This game has been in my backlog for too long so decided to finally get around to it before it collected any more dust.
Background
The original Just Cause is the only Just Cause published by Eidos Interactive, the company that had Tomb Raider, Hitman, and Thief for a while until it became defunct in 2009. For all the games in the franchise, Swedish company Avalanche Studios was the developer behind it, including this very first one. The company, originally known as Rock Solid Studios, has a bit of a troubled star with a failed video game adaption of the movie series Tremors but when this was cancelled, the developers Christofer Sundberg and Linus Blomberg became unemployed and in debt. This didn’t stop them from launching a new company with six other employees and beginning work on their first game, “Rick: Terror in the Tropics” which would eventually become “Just Cause”. And it seems they did quite well since not only just they start the Just Cause franchise but they also did a video game adaptation of Mad Max alongside a sequel to Rage and starting theHunter series. For today, let’s investigate the original Just Cause.
Plot
The story of Just Cause is quite simple. The “Agency” drop operative Rico Rodriguez int the fictional world of San Esperito in hopes of overthrowing its dictator since that guy owns some dangerous weapons. That’s about it really. It’s a matter of finding the threat and dealing with it. No plot twists, no character development, not much dialogue. Just go to the area and stop it. I’m not expecting an amazing story from a game like this but I think it needs a bit more substance to make me care about the characters or its plot. It’s also quite short too but then again maybe it’s for the best that it doesn’t outstay its welcome.
Gameplay
The main campaign of the game is divided into 19 missions, one of them being split into three smaller ones. On the whole, I found it quite fun. Each tends to offer a large fight with a wide range of weapons and plenty of vehicles to choose from, with lots of explosions and action taking place. The grapple gun, while far from perfect, allows travelling around the map and hijacking vehicles to be very entertaining. A couple of bugs are seen in the game such as vehicles appearing out of nowhere, the inability to drive and a random crash, so there is a lack of polish still here. I also found jumping from large heights a bit of a gamble since sometimes the parachute doesn’t go off but yet sometimes you don’t take any fall damage at all. Being hit by a vehicle is also risky since sometimes it is only a little bit of health but other times its almost all of it. So, I guess if I were to summarise the main campaign up, I would say it’s a beautiful yet chaotic mess. I can’t help but admire it.
Other missions happen outside of the main campaign such as liberation missions and boy is it one of the most repetitive side missions I’ve ever seen. Premise-wise it’s quite fun. Simply go with a group of armed soldiers and take out an area of either government soldiers or the mafia, doing so “liberates” the area which grants access to a fast travel point, new vehicles, and access to other weapons. And yeah, it can get chaotic quickly with tanks and grenades thrown all over the place so it can be fun the first several times. The problem is that it barely changes the formula. They may be a bit stronger but you have stronger weapons by then and lots of experience. They may have a bigger battle with barricades but simply being in between buildings just solves the problem of tanks. And the fact that this repeats about 40 times across the map with little reward or progress just makes it a lot more tedious. I tried to do them all but I gave up halfway through, what’s the point? I got everything I needed from the main campaign missions, making the map green won’t change anything.
Other side missions exist too but don’t offer much. Each liberated area provides small side missions to increase the areas ranked, allowing for unlocking better vehicles. I don’t find them useful because, again, everything I need is already unlocked in the main campaign. However, I can appreciate that they try and vary these missions up, providing a different task until it starts to repeat. Racing tracks are also present but these are mostly for fun, acts as a good way of learning the area and using the vehicle. And of course, it cannot be a Ubisoft game without collectibles all over the open world. No there isn’t a reason for collecting them besides giving a small boost to the area in the hopes of unlocking a vehicle. On the whole, these just feel like ways of padding out the length of what is otherwise a short game.
Let’s take a step back for a moment and focus on the combat itself. Rico can carry up to two main weapons alongside pistols and explosives. The pistols are a fairly decent weapon and work as an alright backup, particular with unlimited ammo so you can’t go wrong with them. Failing that you can punch someone but I don’t think many people know you can either do that let alone find it actually useful. Grenades are actually quite good at taking out a bunch of enemies, although having one fired at you can be tricky since Rico cannot really run (he just walks slow to me) or duck so be cautious for those. In terms of weapons, it’s mostly assault rifles and submachine guns. I can never tell them apart to be honest but the ones I did use worked quite nicely, with plenty of ammo and alternative weapons being dropped at moment’s notice. RPGs are quite rare but very useful at taking out vehicles so I usually saved those for missions. There’s also a sniper rifle that just exists. I mean it can act as a typical assault rifle but with a lack of ammo and no stealth missions in the game, I don’t really get the reason for its inclusion. And finally there’s the shotgun which worked quite well, almost too well as it has essentially no reload time so taking out a boss can take as little as five seconds.
Rico also has a PDA equipped which acts as a menu for calling in help. This is where fast travelling comes into play, allowing Rico to go to areas he has liberated or, very helpfully, the area for his next campaign mission. These have speedy load times and saved a lot of hassle so it’s really nice to have it. The only drawback to this fast travel is sometimes you have to scroll down a menu to find the area you’re looking for so that can be annoying. The PDA also has a map which is handy for finding collectibles, liberated islands and a route to take to get to a destination. I had no problems with that, it just did its job and did it well. Vehicles can even be summoned with the PDA which saves the hassle of having to look for one. Other functions of the PDA is essentially just stats, showing how much of the country has been liberated and how many collectibles have been obtained. On the whole, the PDA is the most handy feature of the whole game, hope to see it in the later entries.
And we cannot talk about Just Cause without mentioning the vehicles. Each can be divided into five categories to let’s go through them real quick. Bikes were my original go-to for travelling around the world, they are very fast with good braking and can never seem to be destroyed so easily. That last point is why I never went for cars, if there was any sort of enemy about them there was a good chance it would be blown up in seconds. Helicopters were my primary mode of travel by the end of the game since, not surprisingly, there is no traffic in the air and can cover a large distance in the quickest time. And there’s also boats which are fine but are only useful for going around the islands and not in them.
Presentation
The map of San Esperito is fine. Maybe not the prettiest country during the time this game was released but for a new company I think it’s decent enough. It’s quite vibrant and it can look great when the sun is setting over the sea. I just wish there was more interesting things going on in the map rather than driving in similar looking areas again and again.
Musically speaking, the game is also ok at that too. Nothing too exciting but it sure beats it being silent which can happen if you’re walking out of the car from time to time. Also, there’s a bit of a weird thing with the police where the volume they speak doesn’t affect their distance. So, they may sound quite close and about to shoot you but in reality, they are likely 100 metres away shooting someone else. It’s just as annoying as hearing and seeing a helicopter follow Rico throughout most of the game, just leave me in peace.
Summary
Just Cause can be a fun game and has a great take for an open world with some solid vehicles, but it really suffers from a lot of repetition, a short dull story, and several bugs. I would only recommend this if you’re eager to see how Just Cause got its start.
Rating: 5/10
Update: I’m glad I got around to playing Just Cause even if it was quite messy. I do have the other three games but I have no idea when I’ll get around to those. For now, it’s business as usual with the Tomb Raider series so I’ll pop back to that next :)
This game has been in my backlog for too long so decided to finally get around to it before it collected any more dust.
Background
The original Just Cause is the only Just Cause published by Eidos Interactive, the company that had Tomb Raider, Hitman, and Thief for a while until it became defunct in 2009. For all the games in the franchise, Swedish company Avalanche Studios was the developer behind it, including this very first one. The company, originally known as Rock Solid Studios, has a bit of a troubled star with a failed video game adaption of the movie series Tremors but when this was cancelled, the developers Christofer Sundberg and Linus Blomberg became unemployed and in debt. This didn’t stop them from launching a new company with six other employees and beginning work on their first game, “Rick: Terror in the Tropics” which would eventually become “Just Cause”. And it seems they did quite well since not only just they start the Just Cause franchise but they also did a video game adaptation of Mad Max alongside a sequel to Rage and starting theHunter series. For today, let’s investigate the original Just Cause.
Plot
The story of Just Cause is quite simple. The “Agency” drop operative Rico Rodriguez int the fictional world of San Esperito in hopes of overthrowing its dictator since that guy owns some dangerous weapons. That’s about it really. It’s a matter of finding the threat and dealing with it. No plot twists, no character development, not much dialogue. Just go to the area and stop it. I’m not expecting an amazing story from a game like this but I think it needs a bit more substance to make me care about the characters or its plot. It’s also quite short too but then again maybe it’s for the best that it doesn’t outstay its welcome.
Gameplay
The main campaign of the game is divided into 19 missions, one of them being split into three smaller ones. On the whole, I found it quite fun. Each tends to offer a large fight with a wide range of weapons and plenty of vehicles to choose from, with lots of explosions and action taking place. The grapple gun, while far from perfect, allows travelling around the map and hijacking vehicles to be very entertaining. A couple of bugs are seen in the game such as vehicles appearing out of nowhere, the inability to drive and a random crash, so there is a lack of polish still here. I also found jumping from large heights a bit of a gamble since sometimes the parachute doesn’t go off but yet sometimes you don’t take any fall damage at all. Being hit by a vehicle is also risky since sometimes it is only a little bit of health but other times its almost all of it. So, I guess if I were to summarise the main campaign up, I would say it’s a beautiful yet chaotic mess. I can’t help but admire it.
Other missions happen outside of the main campaign such as liberation missions and boy is it one of the most repetitive side missions I’ve ever seen. Premise-wise it’s quite fun. Simply go with a group of armed soldiers and take out an area of either government soldiers or the mafia, doing so “liberates” the area which grants access to a fast travel point, new vehicles, and access to other weapons. And yeah, it can get chaotic quickly with tanks and grenades thrown all over the place so it can be fun the first several times. The problem is that it barely changes the formula. They may be a bit stronger but you have stronger weapons by then and lots of experience. They may have a bigger battle with barricades but simply being in between buildings just solves the problem of tanks. And the fact that this repeats about 40 times across the map with little reward or progress just makes it a lot more tedious. I tried to do them all but I gave up halfway through, what’s the point? I got everything I needed from the main campaign missions, making the map green won’t change anything.
Other side missions exist too but don’t offer much. Each liberated area provides small side missions to increase the areas ranked, allowing for unlocking better vehicles. I don’t find them useful because, again, everything I need is already unlocked in the main campaign. However, I can appreciate that they try and vary these missions up, providing a different task until it starts to repeat. Racing tracks are also present but these are mostly for fun, acts as a good way of learning the area and using the vehicle. And of course, it cannot be a Ubisoft game without collectibles all over the open world. No there isn’t a reason for collecting them besides giving a small boost to the area in the hopes of unlocking a vehicle. On the whole, these just feel like ways of padding out the length of what is otherwise a short game.
Let’s take a step back for a moment and focus on the combat itself. Rico can carry up to two main weapons alongside pistols and explosives. The pistols are a fairly decent weapon and work as an alright backup, particular with unlimited ammo so you can’t go wrong with them. Failing that you can punch someone but I don’t think many people know you can either do that let alone find it actually useful. Grenades are actually quite good at taking out a bunch of enemies, although having one fired at you can be tricky since Rico cannot really run (he just walks slow to me) or duck so be cautious for those. In terms of weapons, it’s mostly assault rifles and submachine guns. I can never tell them apart to be honest but the ones I did use worked quite nicely, with plenty of ammo and alternative weapons being dropped at moment’s notice. RPGs are quite rare but very useful at taking out vehicles so I usually saved those for missions. There’s also a sniper rifle that just exists. I mean it can act as a typical assault rifle but with a lack of ammo and no stealth missions in the game, I don’t really get the reason for its inclusion. And finally there’s the shotgun which worked quite well, almost too well as it has essentially no reload time so taking out a boss can take as little as five seconds.
Rico also has a PDA equipped which acts as a menu for calling in help. This is where fast travelling comes into play, allowing Rico to go to areas he has liberated or, very helpfully, the area for his next campaign mission. These have speedy load times and saved a lot of hassle so it’s really nice to have it. The only drawback to this fast travel is sometimes you have to scroll down a menu to find the area you’re looking for so that can be annoying. The PDA also has a map which is handy for finding collectibles, liberated islands and a route to take to get to a destination. I had no problems with that, it just did its job and did it well. Vehicles can even be summoned with the PDA which saves the hassle of having to look for one. Other functions of the PDA is essentially just stats, showing how much of the country has been liberated and how many collectibles have been obtained. On the whole, the PDA is the most handy feature of the whole game, hope to see it in the later entries.
And we cannot talk about Just Cause without mentioning the vehicles. Each can be divided into five categories to let’s go through them real quick. Bikes were my original go-to for travelling around the world, they are very fast with good braking and can never seem to be destroyed so easily. That last point is why I never went for cars, if there was any sort of enemy about them there was a good chance it would be blown up in seconds. Helicopters were my primary mode of travel by the end of the game since, not surprisingly, there is no traffic in the air and can cover a large distance in the quickest time. And there’s also boats which are fine but are only useful for going around the islands and not in them.
Presentation
The map of San Esperito is fine. Maybe not the prettiest country during the time this game was released but for a new company I think it’s decent enough. It’s quite vibrant and it can look great when the sun is setting over the sea. I just wish there was more interesting things going on in the map rather than driving in similar looking areas again and again.
Musically speaking, the game is also ok at that too. Nothing too exciting but it sure beats it being silent which can happen if you’re walking out of the car from time to time. Also, there’s a bit of a weird thing with the police where the volume they speak doesn’t affect their distance. So, they may sound quite close and about to shoot you but in reality, they are likely 100 metres away shooting someone else. It’s just as annoying as hearing and seeing a helicopter follow Rico throughout most of the game, just leave me in peace.
Summary
Just Cause can be a fun game and has a great take for an open world with some solid vehicles, but it really suffers from a lot of repetition, a short dull story, and several bugs. I would only recommend this if you’re eager to see how Just Cause got its start.
Rating: 5/10
Update: I’m glad I got around to playing Just Cause even if it was quite messy. I do have the other three games but I have no idea when I’ll get around to those. For now, it’s business as usual with the Tomb Raider series so I’ll pop back to that next :)
2 Yrs✓#
Not_Connor2 Yrs✓#
20/02/25 - Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light
Another spin-off for the Tomb Raider and the first game from the franchise to be released in the 2010s. Quite convenient to be looking at this since both Guardian of Light and its sequel Temple of Osiris are coming to mobile devices in the near future. How good that port will be and if anyone would prefer to play it on mobile is anyone's guess at the moment, but we can have a look at the PC version.
Background
Now normally when it comes to a spin-off, it's usually given to a different developer whilst the ones on the main franchise work on the next main entry. However this is not the case. Not only was this developed by Crystal Dynamics but the whole team who worked on this had worked on the previous trilogy of games, those being Legend, Anniversary and Underworld. The game was developed using the engine from the latter game, probably to make them spend less time on working with new technology and more on how they can shake things up. So how did they shake things up?
Plot
Well it wasn't with a ground-breaking story that's for sure. The plot is quite straight-forward actually. 2000 years ago in Mexico, Xolotl (Guardian of Darkness) was banished in an artefact known as the Mirror of Smoke, trapping him in a statue. Naturally, this is broken by a war chief who ignores Lara's requests and so the game revolves around Lara chasing after him with the Guardian of Light: "Totec". I do wish there was a bit more to the story than that, even if the game only clocks in around 5 to 6 hours of gameplay. It does treat the player to some cutscenes but these are quite few and usually just involve some taunting from Xolotl. Despite that, this is really the only thing weak with the game, the rest is actually very good.
Gameplay
The game can be played in two ways: solo or co-operatively. I played solo so my thoughts will reflect that but I think playing this with a friend is the ideal way of playing through this.
The major element that separates this from almost all other Tomb Raider games is that this is not a 3D platformer like those in the main entries or a 2D platformer like most previous spin-offs. Instead, this is an isometric action-adventure which has only appeared in one other Tomb Raider game, that being the spin-off Tomb Raider: The Prophecy. This style of game really suits the Tomb Raider franchise since it can incorporate almost every element of the 3D games into this sort of style. It really benefits things like the puzzles as all the elements needed for solving it can be seen in one go.
Level design is quite strong in this game. Neither the traps, puzzles, or combat outstay it welcome, which I always find to be key for an entertaining Tomb Raider game. Each level contains collectibles and challenges allowing Lara to obtain better weapons and buffs (more on those a little later). I didn't go out of my way to complete and collect all of these but I always appreciate seeing them and I don't think they are too hard to find either. Many of the levels are fairly small so it's not difficult to get lost in and those that are a bit bigger tend to have a map for navigating in. And even then, it's fairly linear so it always feels like you're going the right way.
Focusing on Lara more specifically for a moment, she controls very well in this game. No input delays, fast movement, able to dodge enemy projectiles with ease. It's pretty much Lara done perfect. Sure maybe they shouldn't have keybinded the bomb button to the capslock button but that can simply be rebinded. Oh yes Lara can bomb areas now with no worries about the quantity of bombs available. I don't see it working well for a 3D game but it works like a charm for this style of game. Lara can still grapple with ease although like Underworld this is barely used. Lara can climb using a spear but she cannot climb walls which is a bit disappointing but when looking at the levels themselves, it's easy to see why such a decision was made. This logic also applies for the emissions of the swimming and walking on balance beams, they would be hard to implement on a game such as this.
I found combat to be the hardest part of the game. Not because of Lara, no she has many good weapons to use from a simple assault rifle to a rocket launcher and it's fun to experiment with each new weapon (and trust me, there's quite a bunch). Buffs can be collected from each area that can be used to power up Lara's speed, strength and health which makes some fights a lot easier than they could have originally been. The difficult is not from a lack of health or ammo packs either, they are quite fruitful from each area and checkpoints are quite regular too. The difficulty is the enemies themselves. Now Lara is good at dodging incoming projectiles and even a large quantity of them can be somewhat easy to take down when the distance is provided. However, these enemies hit quite hard so some fights can take a few goes if you are unlucky enough to be killed in a fight. Despite this, the enemy designs were quite good and the boss fights even more so, making use of every trick that has been presented whilst also posing a real danger.
Presentation
It's alright. It certainly has a Tomb Raider style going on and Mexico is a solid pick for a game like this. Can't say there was anything bad or wrong with it, but nothing really mind blowing either. Just picture what a Tomb Raider level could look like in a Tomb and you wouldn't be far from what's in the game. Which it went a bit more adventurous with what's on offer but I'm satisfied with what we got. Same applies to the music too, it's nice but it's not something I can remember too well or focuses too much on during my time here.
Summary
A really fun game that blends combat, traps, and puzzles all well together into a short, entertaining game. If you don't mind a basic story, then I would recommend playing this with a friend even if you have never played a Tomb Raider game before.
Rating: 8/10
Update: I am aware this game has DLC but considering its just puzzle maps and survival levels, they didn't really appeal to me. Maybe I'll play them someday and update this post but for now I'm happy with finishing off the base game. I believe the next entry will be the 2013 reboot of the franchise which I have actually played before but I'm curious to play it now I have multiple Tomb Raider games under my belt. No idea what my next post will be on (as usual) so look out for that. Thanks for stopping by :)
Another spin-off for the Tomb Raider and the first game from the franchise to be released in the 2010s. Quite convenient to be looking at this since both Guardian of Light and its sequel Temple of Osiris are coming to mobile devices in the near future. How good that port will be and if anyone would prefer to play it on mobile is anyone's guess at the moment, but we can have a look at the PC version.
Background
Now normally when it comes to a spin-off, it's usually given to a different developer whilst the ones on the main franchise work on the next main entry. However this is not the case. Not only was this developed by Crystal Dynamics but the whole team who worked on this had worked on the previous trilogy of games, those being Legend, Anniversary and Underworld. The game was developed using the engine from the latter game, probably to make them spend less time on working with new technology and more on how they can shake things up. So how did they shake things up?
Plot
Well it wasn't with a ground-breaking story that's for sure. The plot is quite straight-forward actually. 2000 years ago in Mexico, Xolotl (Guardian of Darkness) was banished in an artefact known as the Mirror of Smoke, trapping him in a statue. Naturally, this is broken by a war chief who ignores Lara's requests and so the game revolves around Lara chasing after him with the Guardian of Light: "Totec". I do wish there was a bit more to the story than that, even if the game only clocks in around 5 to 6 hours of gameplay. It does treat the player to some cutscenes but these are quite few and usually just involve some taunting from Xolotl. Despite that, this is really the only thing weak with the game, the rest is actually very good.
Gameplay
The game can be played in two ways: solo or co-operatively. I played solo so my thoughts will reflect that but I think playing this with a friend is the ideal way of playing through this.
The major element that separates this from almost all other Tomb Raider games is that this is not a 3D platformer like those in the main entries or a 2D platformer like most previous spin-offs. Instead, this is an isometric action-adventure which has only appeared in one other Tomb Raider game, that being the spin-off Tomb Raider: The Prophecy. This style of game really suits the Tomb Raider franchise since it can incorporate almost every element of the 3D games into this sort of style. It really benefits things like the puzzles as all the elements needed for solving it can be seen in one go.
Level design is quite strong in this game. Neither the traps, puzzles, or combat outstay it welcome, which I always find to be key for an entertaining Tomb Raider game. Each level contains collectibles and challenges allowing Lara to obtain better weapons and buffs (more on those a little later). I didn't go out of my way to complete and collect all of these but I always appreciate seeing them and I don't think they are too hard to find either. Many of the levels are fairly small so it's not difficult to get lost in and those that are a bit bigger tend to have a map for navigating in. And even then, it's fairly linear so it always feels like you're going the right way.
Focusing on Lara more specifically for a moment, she controls very well in this game. No input delays, fast movement, able to dodge enemy projectiles with ease. It's pretty much Lara done perfect. Sure maybe they shouldn't have keybinded the bomb button to the capslock button but that can simply be rebinded. Oh yes Lara can bomb areas now with no worries about the quantity of bombs available. I don't see it working well for a 3D game but it works like a charm for this style of game. Lara can still grapple with ease although like Underworld this is barely used. Lara can climb using a spear but she cannot climb walls which is a bit disappointing but when looking at the levels themselves, it's easy to see why such a decision was made. This logic also applies for the emissions of the swimming and walking on balance beams, they would be hard to implement on a game such as this.
I found combat to be the hardest part of the game. Not because of Lara, no she has many good weapons to use from a simple assault rifle to a rocket launcher and it's fun to experiment with each new weapon (and trust me, there's quite a bunch). Buffs can be collected from each area that can be used to power up Lara's speed, strength and health which makes some fights a lot easier than they could have originally been. The difficult is not from a lack of health or ammo packs either, they are quite fruitful from each area and checkpoints are quite regular too. The difficulty is the enemies themselves. Now Lara is good at dodging incoming projectiles and even a large quantity of them can be somewhat easy to take down when the distance is provided. However, these enemies hit quite hard so some fights can take a few goes if you are unlucky enough to be killed in a fight. Despite this, the enemy designs were quite good and the boss fights even more so, making use of every trick that has been presented whilst also posing a real danger.
Presentation
It's alright. It certainly has a Tomb Raider style going on and Mexico is a solid pick for a game like this. Can't say there was anything bad or wrong with it, but nothing really mind blowing either. Just picture what a Tomb Raider level could look like in a Tomb and you wouldn't be far from what's in the game. Which it went a bit more adventurous with what's on offer but I'm satisfied with what we got. Same applies to the music too, it's nice but it's not something I can remember too well or focuses too much on during my time here.
Summary
A really fun game that blends combat, traps, and puzzles all well together into a short, entertaining game. If you don't mind a basic story, then I would recommend playing this with a friend even if you have never played a Tomb Raider game before.
Rating: 8/10
Update: I am aware this game has DLC but considering its just puzzle maps and survival levels, they didn't really appeal to me. Maybe I'll play them someday and update this post but for now I'm happy with finishing off the base game. I believe the next entry will be the 2013 reboot of the franchise which I have actually played before but I'm curious to play it now I have multiple Tomb Raider games under my belt. No idea what my next post will be on (as usual) so look out for that. Thanks for stopping by :)