Hey everybody welcome back to LegalSpeak a ColdNorth Production. I'm TheLawMorris and this is the video essay series where I get to talk about the games I've been playing and what I think of the video game industry as a whole, you can check out everything we do all in one spot over at ColdNorthPro.com. Today we're going to be talking about my thoughts on Just Cause 4.
Quick disclaimer I haven't finished the game at the time of writing so please do not consider this a full review of the game just my take on my first 15ish hours with the game.
In my first few minutes with the game I found myself experiencing a familiar feeling one that I have felt for far longer than the Just Cause series has been around. I felt the same way I still feel anytime I go into the theater to see a new Bond movie. Every time I see a new Bond movie for the first time I hope its great, I expect it to be okay, but I know I'm going to enjoy myself.
Some Bond movies are fantastic like Goldeneye and Casino Royale. Even though these movies haven't aged well they still ooze with style and intensity and are fondly remembered as the high water mark for the series. When it comes to Just Cause the second game is that high water mark. The game that set the series apart as something to be revered and adored. When compared to it's contemporaries Just Cause 2 succeeded in so many ways other B-Tier games could only dream of.
Other Bond movies are lacking in that intangible quality but still provide a perfectly serviceable adequate James Bond movie experience. You would be hard pressed to find a Bond fan who lists Tomorrow Never Dies as their favorite Bond movie or even their favorite Brosnan Bond movie but that doesn’t change the fact that as a Bond movie its still perfectly enjoyable. Just like Tomorrow Never Dies followed the high water mark Just Cause 3 plays that role in it's own series. Just Cause 3 was good yet unremarkable. Back in 2015 it satisfied my thirst for a next gen Just Cause game but three years removed, hell even at the time it was obviously no Just Cause 2.
And of course there are a few Bond movies that are so wild in their approach they stand out not for being bad but for being absurd. I recognize the many MANY flaws of Die Another Day but the camp, bad dialogue, over the top story, and terrible acting make me love the movie even more. Die Another Day leans into everything that makes it a Bond movie in such a ridiculous fashion that the only time it could have survived at the box office much less succeeded to the degree it did was the early 2000's. Just Cause 4 hits that same level of commitment to being a Just Cause game. The introduction of a jetpack in Just Cause 3 flirted with that line but the fact that it was DLC felt non committal. Dropping a constantly roaming super tornado that never goes away right in the middle of the map for the player to interact with and eventually manipulate is something that is so unbelievably Just Cause that no other game, not even Saints Row, could get away with.
Story has always taken a back seat in Just Cause games but when played all the way through the stories end up in what I can only describe as crazytown. The biggest problems with the stories has always been the time it takes them to get to crazytown because once they're there that’s where they're at their best. Apparently the writers of Just Cause 4 read my mind and start the story of Just Cause 4 right on the steps of city hall in crazytown and go from there. Insane rivalries, soap opera levels of familial connection, and Rico's never before mentioned father!? Just Cause 4's story is obviously a result of Telemundo and Bollywood having a few to many drinks and needing to do the walk of shame the next morning. And just so we are all on the same page I think that’s a good thing!
The performance of Just Cause 4 (at least on a PS4pro) is not so hot. Frame rate issues run rampant through the game, motion blur looks like its cranked up past 11 all the up to 13 and texture pop is out of control. As I played the game I couldn’t help but notice how ugly character models are and how terrible the optimization of the console versions of the game is. But as I write this I am beginning to question myself, are the graphical and performance issues intentional? Are they just a part of the package that Avalanche is trying to deliver? Similar to how soap operas look absurd with their perfect stage lighting and higher framerate than the 24fps standard across almost all other film mediums. This is probably one of the few times I'm giving the developer to much credit but regardless of whether it was intentional or not the game looks like butt.
If the game looks like a bad butt it plays like a great butt! The game plays like Jessica Biel's butt in that one Adam Sandler movie looks. It's been said a million times since the dawn of 3D games that in order to make a game fun something as simple as moving around in a 3D space has to be fun and in Just Cause 4 not only is it fun its an absolute blast. The movement in the game is so incredibly fluid and well controlled that its immediately accessible to just pick up and play but the seasoned player that really sunk some time into Just Cause 3 will be satisfied to find that the skill celling is extremely high. While the past three games have been entirely focused on finding things that are red and blowing them up Just Cause 4 is more story focused than chaos focused and this provides for more meaningful interactions with missions and led to me being more invested in the stakes of the moment to moment gameplay. Gunplay is punchy and sounds satisfying, and blowing stuff up while less of a main objective is still oh so sweet.
I walk into a new Bond movie with a sense of excitement not for a conclusion to anything, because I know that wont happen, but simply for the contained experience being presented to me right now. I got that same feeling in the opening hours of Just Cause 4, excitement in what I was about to experience. Excitement in spite of knowing the series wont have changed in any substantial way at the conclusion of the game and knowing there will be another entry in 3-5 years. Just Cause has become the video game equivalent of high quality comfort food and despite all its flaws I love me some high quality comfort food.
Which Just Cause game is your favorite and what do you think of this one? Let me know in the comments down below.
I'll be back next week talking about whether or not you're playing games the right way. If you just cant get enough make sure to subscribe and check out our podcast HardReset on iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, and iheartradio for more free form video game discussion. This week we talked about what games roster would have made the PlayStation classic actually good. And our movies podcast NoRefunds the podcast that watches bad movies so you don’t have to. You can find everything we do over at ColdNorthPro.com but until next week just go play some games.
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