Just Cause 2
Encyclopedia
Just Cause 2 is an open world
action-adventure
video game developed by Avalanche Studios
, published by Eidos Interactive
, and distributed by Square Enix
. It is the sequel
to the 2006
video game Just Cause
.
Just Cause 2 employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in Just Cause. The game is set on the other side of the world from the original Just Cause, on the fictional island of Panau. Panau has varied terrain, from desert to alpine to rainforest. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist
, aiming to overthrow the evil dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay and confront his former mentor, Tom Sheldon.
, not having to focus on the game's storyline.
Progress in the game is measured with Chaos, which is earned by completing missions, destroying government property, collecting items for the factions and reaching 100% completion in settlements and military bases. Chaos unlocks new agency missions and stronghold takeovers. Chaos and stronghold takeovers expand the factions' area of influence, which unlocks faction missions and race challenges. Agency missions progress the story, while faction missions are completely optional. Helping one faction does not prevent the player from helping the others.
The artificial intelligence
uses a planning system which enables enemies to perform various actions. Enemies can use the environment to their advantage, taking cover behind objects and adapting to the objects around them. Additional elements include vertical gameplay using a grappling hook and parachuting maneuvers and also manual aiming system.
There is also a real-time deformation system and individual components can come loose from vehicles.
Initially, the player must acquire weapons and vehicles in the field. Early in the game, the player encounters a black market supplier, from whom weapons and vehicles can be purchased, with an option to have them delivered to the player's location via helicopter. As more Chaos is gained, additional weapons, vehicles, and the extraction option become available on the black market. All weapons and vehicles on the black market have parameters that can be upgraded in several steps, by building upgrades with weapon and vehicle components found within the game world. There are over 2,000 parts that the player can acquire.
Notable features of Just Cause 2 include the grappling hook, which gives players the ability to tether objects to each other. For example, in a high speed vehicle chase, the player can use the grappling hook to attach a pursuing vehicle to the ground, forcing it to stop and often flipping or turning the vehicle causing damage to it. The grappling hook also allows the player to pull himself, and hold onto objects such as walls or helicopters.
In addition, the player has a parachute which is always ready to be deployed, even if it has been deployed and discarded only moments before. This can be combined with the grappling hook and used as a fast method of transport.
The PlayStation 3 version of the game allows the user to capture video of their gameplay and either export it to the XMB
or upload it to YouTube
from within the game.
in Southeast Asia. Formerly a US ally, Panau is ruled by Pandak "Baby" Panay (the son of the former leader, US-friendly "Papa" Panay, whom Baby Panay is suspected to have murdered) who institutes a harsh, oppressive dictatorship and cuts off all ties to the US. Rico's mission is to oust Panay from office, as well as track down and assassinate Tom Sheldon, whom the Agency fears has gone rogue after disappearing during the regime change. In order to find Sheldon, Rico allies himself with the three dominant criminal gangs on the island: the Roaches, an organized crime
syndicate, the Reapers, a communist revolutionary army and the Ular Boys, an indigenous
tribe opposing foreign influence. He eventually gathers enough information to track down Sheldon, who not only reveals that he's been investigating a larger conspiracy behind Panau, but that he is in fact the "Sloth Demon", the Black Market dealer that often calls Rico to give information on the gangs as well as provide weapons and vehicles (with "Sloth Demon" being an anagram of "Tom Sheldon"). He tells Rico to continue causing chaos on Panau while he goes to explain the situation to the Agency.
After clearing everything up, Sheldon suddenly demands that Rico quickly make his way over to his hideout. They tell him that Jade Tan, a mysterious agency asset whom Rico had met earlier, has been caught snooping around in Panay's military base, and will be tortured without questions. Rico heads to rescue her, and destroys the base where she is held. However, Jade is bundled into a truck and a fleet of gunmen attempt to make a getaway along a frozen lake. En route, a nuclear submarine emerges from the ice, but Rico hijacks the truck carrying Jade, and they are both are airlifted to safety by Sheldon and Kane. Later, Jade reveals that the Roaches, Reapers, and Ular Boys are secretly being supported by benefactors of Russia, China, and Japan respectively in an effort to bring down Panay, and Rico and Sheldon wonder what the small nation that is Panau has that is able to attract such dominant superpowers. Nonetheless, Rico and Sheldon track down the foreign intelligence officers liaising with the factions and assassinate them. Soon after, the island is amidst so much chaos that Panay is forced to leave the capital and take refuge in his fortified military base. Enlisting the aid of the factions, Rico assaults Panay's hideout. Panay is apparently killed during the assault, as well as Karl Blaine, and Rico discovers that Russia, China, Japan, and the US have been secretly fighting over Panau for its oil supply, which is supposedly the richest in the world.
With Panay dead, the situation in Panau turns into a free for all as foreign nations scramble to claim the oil. Russia, China, and Japan send a fleet of supertankers to Panau, while the US begins scrambling military forces to defend the island. Rico is tasked with holding off the supertankers until reinforcements arrive. However, a massive nuclear submarine suddenly surfaces from the sea. Rico investigates the submarine and discovers Panay, who is still alive but injured. Panay proceeds to fire four nuclear missiles at Russia, China, Japan, and the US, but his clothing is accidentally snagged on one of the missiles and he is hauled off with it. In pursuit, Rico grapples onto one of them and both men battle in mid air as Rico disarms each missile one by one. Finally, on the last missile, Rico pins Panay into the exposed missile core and reprograms the targeting computer before leaping to safety. The final missile changes course and explodes over Panau's oil fields, killing Panay and destroying Panau's oil reserves. Rico reunites with Sheldon, Kane and Jade, who express their dismay at this decision as the oil was worth millions, but Rico explains that the oil is not worth dying over, and now that it's now destroyed, all interest in Panau will be lost, preventing a war between the major superpowers and sparing the innocents of the island. Sheldon agrees, and assures Rico that a US-friendly president will be installed on Panau, and that the nation will be closely monitored. The group raise their glasses, to good friends, and a job well done.
The PC version only runs on DirectX 10 hardware and is thus incompatible with Windows XP. It supports several features and graphical effects that are missing from the console versions such as Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
, soft shadows and increased detail. Compatible Nvidia
graphics cards additionally support Bokeh
lens effects, enhanced water simulation and stereoscopic 3-D
.
(DLC) which includes Rico's Signature Gun, the Bull's Eye Assault Rifle, a chaos parachute (a different skin), the Chevalier Classic car and an agency hovercraft. In the US, DLC included Rico's signature handgun and the Monster Truck, which was a GameStop US exclusive before being released in other regions. The DLC was made available over the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live
, and Steam on June 22, 2010.
, Steam and Xbox Live Marketplace
. The black market aerial pack and black market boom pack have now also been released as downloadable content for purchase. A Chevalier Ice Breaker car, themed as an ice cream truck was also released for free.Tuk Tuk boom themed as Tuk Tuk laa but with a gun on it. Ricos normal parachute for those who liked the old parachute.
, it has an average score of 84 on the PC, 83 on the PlayStation 3 and 81 on the Xbox 360. Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
of Zero Punctuation
named it his "Game of the Year", calling it a "bundle of free-roaming fun."
, sales reports ending March 31, 2010, Just Cause 2 has sold over 1,480,000 units worldwide.
Open world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
action-adventure
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
video game developed by Avalanche Studios
Avalanche Studios
Avalanche Studios is an independent, privately held video game developer based in Stockholm, Sweden. It was founded in March 2003 by Christofer Sundberg, Linus and Viktor Blomberg. Avalanche Studios focuses on developing original intellectual properties for games and other media and base their...
, published by Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
, and distributed by Square Enix
Square Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
. It is the sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
to the 2006
2006 in video gaming
-Events:* January 26, 2006 -- Nintendo announces its newly redesigned handheld, the Nintendo DS Lite. The new model is lighter, smaller, has configurable brightness and features an improved user interface.* January 26, 2006 -- Konami Corp...
video game Just Cause
Just Cause (video game)
Just Cause is an open world action-adventure video game developed by Avalanche Studios and published by Eidos Interactive. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360 on September 22, 2006 in Europe, September 27, 2006 in North America, September 29, 2006 in Australia and...
.
Just Cause 2 employs the Avalanche Engine 2.0, an updated version of the engine used in Just Cause. The game is set on the other side of the world from the original Just Cause, on the fictional island of Panau. Panau has varied terrain, from desert to alpine to rainforest. Rico Rodriguez returns as the protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
, aiming to overthrow the evil dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay and confront his former mentor, Tom Sheldon.
Gameplay
The player is free to roam the game's open worldOpen world
An open world is a type of video game level design where a player can roam freely through a virtual world and is given considerable freedom in choosing how to approach objectives...
, not having to focus on the game's storyline.
Progress in the game is measured with Chaos, which is earned by completing missions, destroying government property, collecting items for the factions and reaching 100% completion in settlements and military bases. Chaos unlocks new agency missions and stronghold takeovers. Chaos and stronghold takeovers expand the factions' area of influence, which unlocks faction missions and race challenges. Agency missions progress the story, while faction missions are completely optional. Helping one faction does not prevent the player from helping the others.
The artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science that aims to create it. AI textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents" where an intelligent agent is a system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its...
uses a planning system which enables enemies to perform various actions. Enemies can use the environment to their advantage, taking cover behind objects and adapting to the objects around them. Additional elements include vertical gameplay using a grappling hook and parachuting maneuvers and also manual aiming system.
There is also a real-time deformation system and individual components can come loose from vehicles.
Initially, the player must acquire weapons and vehicles in the field. Early in the game, the player encounters a black market supplier, from whom weapons and vehicles can be purchased, with an option to have them delivered to the player's location via helicopter. As more Chaos is gained, additional weapons, vehicles, and the extraction option become available on the black market. All weapons and vehicles on the black market have parameters that can be upgraded in several steps, by building upgrades with weapon and vehicle components found within the game world. There are over 2,000 parts that the player can acquire.
Notable features of Just Cause 2 include the grappling hook, which gives players the ability to tether objects to each other. For example, in a high speed vehicle chase, the player can use the grappling hook to attach a pursuing vehicle to the ground, forcing it to stop and often flipping or turning the vehicle causing damage to it. The grappling hook also allows the player to pull himself, and hold onto objects such as walls or helicopters.
In addition, the player has a parachute which is always ready to be deployed, even if it has been deployed and discarded only moments before. This can be combined with the grappling hook and used as a fast method of transport.
The PlayStation 3 version of the game allows the user to capture video of their gameplay and either export it to the XMB
XrossMediaBar
The XrossMediaBar is a graphical user interface developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The interface features icons that are spread horizontally across the screen. Navigation moves the icons, instead of a cursor. These icons are used as categories to organize the options available to the user...
or upload it to YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
from within the game.
Plot
The game picks up a couple of years after the first Just Cause, with Agency operative Rico Rodriguez being dropped into the island nation of Panau, located in the Malay ArchipelagoMalay Archipelago
The Malay Archipelago refers to the archipelago between mainland Southeastern Asia and Australia. The name was derived from the anachronistic concept of a Malay race....
in Southeast Asia. Formerly a US ally, Panau is ruled by Pandak "Baby" Panay (the son of the former leader, US-friendly "Papa" Panay, whom Baby Panay is suspected to have murdered) who institutes a harsh, oppressive dictatorship and cuts off all ties to the US. Rico's mission is to oust Panay from office, as well as track down and assassinate Tom Sheldon, whom the Agency fears has gone rogue after disappearing during the regime change. In order to find Sheldon, Rico allies himself with the three dominant criminal gangs on the island: the Roaches, an organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
syndicate, the Reapers, a communist revolutionary army and the Ular Boys, an indigenous
Indigenous peoples
Indigenous peoples are ethnic groups that are defined as indigenous according to one of the various definitions of the term, there is no universally accepted definition but most of which carry connotations of being the "original inhabitants" of a territory....
tribe opposing foreign influence. He eventually gathers enough information to track down Sheldon, who not only reveals that he's been investigating a larger conspiracy behind Panau, but that he is in fact the "Sloth Demon", the Black Market dealer that often calls Rico to give information on the gangs as well as provide weapons and vehicles (with "Sloth Demon" being an anagram of "Tom Sheldon"). He tells Rico to continue causing chaos on Panau while he goes to explain the situation to the Agency.
After clearing everything up, Sheldon suddenly demands that Rico quickly make his way over to his hideout. They tell him that Jade Tan, a mysterious agency asset whom Rico had met earlier, has been caught snooping around in Panay's military base, and will be tortured without questions. Rico heads to rescue her, and destroys the base where she is held. However, Jade is bundled into a truck and a fleet of gunmen attempt to make a getaway along a frozen lake. En route, a nuclear submarine emerges from the ice, but Rico hijacks the truck carrying Jade, and they are both are airlifted to safety by Sheldon and Kane. Later, Jade reveals that the Roaches, Reapers, and Ular Boys are secretly being supported by benefactors of Russia, China, and Japan respectively in an effort to bring down Panay, and Rico and Sheldon wonder what the small nation that is Panau has that is able to attract such dominant superpowers. Nonetheless, Rico and Sheldon track down the foreign intelligence officers liaising with the factions and assassinate them. Soon after, the island is amidst so much chaos that Panay is forced to leave the capital and take refuge in his fortified military base. Enlisting the aid of the factions, Rico assaults Panay's hideout. Panay is apparently killed during the assault, as well as Karl Blaine, and Rico discovers that Russia, China, Japan, and the US have been secretly fighting over Panau for its oil supply, which is supposedly the richest in the world.
With Panay dead, the situation in Panau turns into a free for all as foreign nations scramble to claim the oil. Russia, China, and Japan send a fleet of supertankers to Panau, while the US begins scrambling military forces to defend the island. Rico is tasked with holding off the supertankers until reinforcements arrive. However, a massive nuclear submarine suddenly surfaces from the sea. Rico investigates the submarine and discovers Panay, who is still alive but injured. Panay proceeds to fire four nuclear missiles at Russia, China, Japan, and the US, but his clothing is accidentally snagged on one of the missiles and he is hauled off with it. In pursuit, Rico grapples onto one of them and both men battle in mid air as Rico disarms each missile one by one. Finally, on the last missile, Rico pins Panay into the exposed missile core and reprograms the targeting computer before leaping to safety. The final missile changes course and explodes over Panau's oil fields, killing Panay and destroying Panau's oil reserves. Rico reunites with Sheldon, Kane and Jade, who express their dismay at this decision as the oil was worth millions, but Rico explains that the oil is not worth dying over, and now that it's now destroyed, all interest in Panau will be lost, preventing a war between the major superpowers and sparing the innocents of the island. Sheldon agrees, and assures Rico that a US-friendly president will be installed on Panau, and that the nation will be closely monitored. The group raise their glasses, to good friends, and a job well done.
Weapons
- Players can also equip a number of different weapons, guns, player were also can held with different firearms. Players in the game world, will be collected using a variety of upgrade parts, can be further upgraded weapons
- Pistol = FN Five Seven handgun (5.7x28mm caliber)
- Submachine gun = MP5K
- Assault Rifle = M4A1
- Sniper Rifle = Accuracy International AS50(Semi-auto)
- Revolver = .44 magnum
- Machine gun = M249 SAW
- Sawed-off Shotgun = Sawed-off ShotgunSawed-off shotgunA sawed-off shotgun also called a sawn-off shotgun and a short-barreled shotgun , is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel and often a shorter or absent stock....
- Shotgun = TOZ-194TOZ-194The TOZ-194 is a 12 Gauge, pump-action shotgun manufactured by the Tula Arms Plant. Designed during the last years of the Soviet Union, the manufacture of this firearm has started after its collapse, and since then it has gained a certain popularity within civilian shooters in Russia itself and in...
- Rocket Lanucher = M136 AT-4
Development
Eidos originally announced a Christmas 2008 release date for Just Cause 2. However, on October 10, 2008, Eurogamer reported that Just Cause 2 was pushed back to 2009, and later, 2010. On November 24, Square-Enix announced that the game was set to be released in North America on March 23, 2010, three days later on March 26 in Europe, Middle East, and Asia, and April 1 in Australia and New Zealand.The PC version only runs on DirectX 10 hardware and is thus incompatible with Windows XP. It supports several features and graphical effects that are missing from the console versions such as Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion
Screen Space Ambient Occlusion is a rendering technique for efficiently approximating the well-known computer graphics ambient occlusion effect in real time...
, soft shadows and increased detail. Compatible Nvidia
NVIDIA
Nvidia is an American global technology company based in Santa Clara, California. Nvidia is best known for its graphics processors . Nvidia and chief rival AMD Graphics Techonologies have dominated the high performance GPU market, pushing other manufacturers to smaller, niche roles...
graphics cards additionally support Bokeh
Bokeh
In photography, bokeh is the blur, or the aesthetic quality of the blur, in out-of-focus areas of an image, or "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."...
lens effects, enhanced water simulation and stereoscopic 3-D
Stereoscopy
Stereoscopy refers to a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth in an image by presenting two offset images separately to the left and right eye of the viewer. Both of these 2-D offset images are then combined in the brain to give the perception of 3-D depth...
.
Limited edition
Customers who pre-ordered the game received a map and access to exclusive downloadable contentDownloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
(DLC) which includes Rico's Signature Gun, the Bull's Eye Assault Rifle, a chaos parachute (a different skin), the Chevalier Classic car and an agency hovercraft. In the US, DLC included Rico's signature handgun and the Monster Truck, which was a GameStop US exclusive before being released in other regions. The DLC was made available over the PlayStation Network, Xbox Live
Xbox Live
Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Corporation. It is currently the only online gaming service on consoles that charges users a fee to play multiplayer gaming. It was first made available to the Xbox system in 2002...
, and Steam on June 22, 2010.
Downloadable content
Two vehicle packs have been released. Two larger packs were released on the PlayStation StorePlayStation Store
The PlayStation Store is an online virtual market available to users of Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable game consoles via the PlayStation Network. The Store offers a range of downloadable content both for purchase and available free of charge. Available content includes full games,...
, Steam and Xbox Live Marketplace
Xbox Live Marketplace
The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
. The black market aerial pack and black market boom pack have now also been released as downloadable content for purchase. A Chevalier Ice Breaker car, themed as an ice cream truck was also released for free.Tuk Tuk boom themed as Tuk Tuk laa but with a gun on it. Ricos normal parachute for those who liked the old parachute.
Soundtrack
On 22 October, 2010, the original soundtrack to Just Cause 2 was released to consumers for free via the game's official website. It features music composed by Mats Lundgren and Anders Ehlin . These tracks are no longer available from the Just Cause 2 Website, with staff from Eidos forums uploading them to download sites.Reception
Just Cause 2 has received generally positive reviews from critics. On GameRankings, it had an average score of 85.83% on the PC, 83.69% on the PlayStation 3 and 82.91% on the Xbox 360. On MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, it has an average score of 84 on the PC, 83 on the PlayStation 3 and 81 on the Xbox 360. Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw
Ben Croshaw
Benjamin Richard "Yahtzee" Croshaw is an English comedic writer, video game journalist and author of adventure games created using Adventure Game Studio software. He writes articles for Australia's Hyper magazine, a major games publication...
of Zero Punctuation
Zero Punctuation
Zero Punctuation is an ongoing video game review series created by comedy writer and video game journalist Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw and published by the online magazine The Escapist.-Background:...
named it his "Game of the Year", calling it a "bundle of free-roaming fun."
Sales
According to Square EnixSquare Enix
is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series...
, sales reports ending March 31, 2010, Just Cause 2 has sold over 1,480,000 units worldwide.