miffy495 Posted March 18, 2010 Dammit, the search function on the forums failed me. You'd think putting in "Just Cause" would turn up this thread. Oh well. Anyway, holy shit. I just spent the half hour that the demo gives you with the game and preordered it on Steam immediately. I also just downloaded the demo of the first game for a laugh. Man, that game was hilarious. And amazing. And exhilerating. And, just, damn. If S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is this year's Far Cry 2, Just Cause 2 has to be this year's Red Faction Guerilla. Less in the "man, I can blow up fucking ANYTHING" sense, the buildings are not destructible. More in the "holy shit I just grappled onto a helicopter, hijacked it, crashed it into a water tower, landed on a motorcycle, drove into a construction site, pulled a minigun off its mounting, and used said minigun to bring down a huge construction crane onto the head of an enemy that was standing 4 feet in front of me" sense. In so many words, this shit is dope. The cool thing is, the game doesn't do this for you. It certainly facilitates it more than other games, but if you want to grapple to something while in motion, you'd better have damn good aim because you need to target it perfectly and lead for movement. Unless it's a vehicle, those you can lock on to. You need to do most of the work yourself. The game doesn't seem particularly hard to just run and shoot through, but if you want the really cool shit to happen you need to learn how to do it. I definitely like that. It's still not particularly difficult to make cool things happen constantly, but it's a far cry from a "win" button that a lot of games have. If you play the game in a straightforward manner, you're going to just have a GTA game that happens in South America from what I can tell. If you play to be crazy, goddamn will you be rewarded. The only thing I can say against the half hour I played is that it took a bit of doing to find the sweet spot for graphics settings on my laptop. In the end, I got it looking pretty good by setting the water effects down from "Very High" to "High" and that freed up enough horsepower to get everything else up above medium. I really don't know what else to say about this game right now. It is pure, most-outrageous-James-Bond-moments joy. It's an engine for bringing out all the best scenes from crazy spy movies and letting you control them. As I played, I was giggling. Pure, unrestrained happiness is contained within that box. At least download the demo, for whatever you have. I played it on PC with an Xbox 360 pad plugged in, and it immediately recognized the pad and changed the interface to show the buttons on the controller rather than keypresses, so if you prefer your third person action with a gamepad as I do, this game accommodates perfectly. The only concern is that it won't work with Windows XP, so if you don't have a Vista or 7 box, you may need to look into the consoles. Do it anyway. Goddamn this is fun. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thl Posted March 19, 2010 I really appreciate how the entire story of the Just Cause 2 demo goes like this: girl: so... i hear you like to blow shit up dude: yep girl: cool Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jayel Posted March 19, 2010 I spent almost 2 anda half hours on the demo already. this is quiet possibly the most time i've spent playing a demo since... maybe the original Diablo? i really dig it. It just came out of nowhere. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garple Posted March 19, 2010 The only thing I can say against the half hour I played is that it took a bit of doing to find the sweet spot for graphics settings on my laptop. But it actually worked??? That's awesome. What kind of crazy super-powered laptop do you have? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miffy495 Posted March 20, 2010 But it actually worked??? That's awesome. What kind of crazy super-powered laptop do you have? I got it back in October to be a games machine, so I'd certainly hope it could still run things pretty well. It's an ASUS something or other. With 4 gigs of RAM, an Intel Duo T9600 dual-core processor, and an Nvidia Geforce GT 240M running the video. It's actually a pretty capable gaming laptop. I'm very happy with this thing. It's become my primary game machine, as I can take it anywhere with me. I used to play Pokemon Pearl or Air Traffic Chaos during downtime at work, now I play Dawn of War 2 and Just Cause 2. I know a lot of negative comments get thrown at laptops as dedicated games machines, but I couldn't be more pleased with the way this thing rolls. EDIT: Here we go. Not one of their explicit gaming models, but my upper spending limit was $1500 for a laptop (scholarship fund) and this one was the best in that price range. It can run Crysis. Well. It can run Just Cause 2 very nicely. I like this machine. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miffy495 Posted March 21, 2010 I'll also add on the subject of the game that this thread is about that I have now played the demo 4 times in 3 days, which is quite a bit for such a seemingly limited experience. Every time the map zooms out at the end of the demo to show how big the actual map is, I get shivers. Honestly, I think I could get enough mileage out of this demo to justify my $45. Can't freaking wait for Tuesday. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garple Posted March 21, 2010 The sounds of the guns in this game are so sharp, crisp and satisfying. I love the way the sound echos and seems to carry off into the distance. I don't usually care about gunfire sounds. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted March 21, 2010 This strikes me as the perfect multiplayer game. Anyone know why it doesn't have it? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garple Posted March 21, 2010 This strikes me as the perfect multiplayer game. Anyone know why it doesn't have it? Maybe it will be easier to tell when we've played the real thing. Maybe they were so ambitious with the single player they couldn't or didn't want to do multi. Maybe they thought they'd have had to settle for a tacked on multiplayer experience. I'm just talking out of my ass, though. Maybe they take the game more seriously than we think they do and don't want it to be...ah who am I kidding, they literally REQUIRE you to cause "chaos" to unlock new mission objectives. They actually use the word "chaos." Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brkl Posted March 21, 2010 GTA is perfect for multiplayer too, but didn't have it until GTA4. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
toblix Posted March 21, 2010 Yeah, but I thought multiplayer as a "requirement" has more to do with when the game is released rather than how many prequels it has. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garple Posted March 23, 2010 Anybody purchase the full game yet? I'm itching to buy it (and just as adamantly trying to resist due to backlog/$) and I'd love to hear some thumb impressions. Haha. Thumb impressions. "Look at me...I'm a thumb. Do I count as a finger or not, what's going on here?" Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miffy495 Posted March 23, 2010 As I indicated, I have preordered it. When it comes out tomorrow, I intend to play a fair amount. I'll let you know afterwards how it went. Excited! I'll be downloading it tomorrow while I'm in class, and playing as soon as there's some downtime at work. I'd play in the afternoon, but c'mon, Grand Thumb Auto. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garple Posted March 23, 2010 As I indicated, I have preordered it. When it comes out tomorrow, I intend to play a fair amount. I'll let you know afterwards how it went. Excited! I'll be downloading it tomorrow while I'm in class, and playing as soon as there's some downtime at work. I'd play in the afternoon, but c'mon, Grand Thumb Auto. Oh yeah! I was thinking today was Tuesday. However, it is not. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miffy495 Posted March 23, 2010 Alright, the download has begun. It's only 5 gigs, which is much less than I thought it would be. Kudos to Eidos on that one, I guess. I should already be in bed of course, so I won't be playing tonight, but I should have it ready to go by the time I wake up. Yay! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miffy495 Posted March 23, 2010 Played for about 45 minutes now. This means the two intro missions before you get to save for the first time. First off, I need guns that have more ammo. I pulled off a super badass thing where I blew up one helicopter while hanging from it, then grappled to another one while falling through the sky and hung off the front of it. I went to shoot the pilot and ran out of ammo after two shots. This meant that I had to give up on being a badass, go back down to the ground, hunt around for some ammo, and then get back up to the helicopter. Kind of hilarious in an emergent "oh shit, what if James Bond actually had limited supplies" kind of way, but also really threw off the flow of my badassery. Also, playing on PC with a 360 pad introduces just a hint of jankiness. First off, aiming while clinging to the side of a building is goddamned IMPOSSIBLE. As soon as you line up a shot with the right stick and stop pushing the stick so that you can fire, it re-centers itself and you're staring at a fucking wall. Also, unless there is an input coming from the controller at all times, it displays the numpad keys for bomb disarming and QTEs and the like. This means that during the "hijack a moving vehicle" QTE, I have to hold the control stick in any direction in order for the game to display the controls that I have in my hands. I wish there was some option in the menu to just say "I am using a controller, please only display those inputs and not the keyboard" like in Red Faction Guerrilla or Bioshock PC, but alas this does not exist. Still, I can see this being a ton of fun. It's ridiculously boilerplate, but that's part of its charm. The only asian character I've run into is a woman named "Jade Tan" which is hilariously 007, and they straight-face lines about how being sent in to kill the man who mentored you is a "bitter pill to swallow" but that's what you signed on for, so man up and do it. In short, so stupid, sorta janky, but very fun. If you don't already have the preorder savings, you may want to wait for a more substantial sale, but I'm definitely going to enjoy blowing shit up for the rest of the week. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mikemariano Posted March 23, 2010 I'm definitely going to enjoy blowing shit up for the rest of the week. ... IGN.com Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garple Posted March 24, 2010 I laughed out loud during the first cut-scene when the main character jumped out of a helicopter and said, "Don't wait up." Edit: Also, it's funny how your boss or partner or whatever says to you over the radio "You need to find a gun, Rico." And a millisecond later there's a red arrow on the screen pointing toward something labeled "weapon stash." This is such a video game. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miffy495 Posted March 24, 2010 If it were just a bit more ridiculous and just a bit less polished, I'd be saying this is the new Earth Defense Force 2017. I get the same kind of vibe from them. The "oh man, this is really fun in spots and completely infuriating in others" that I felt constantly while playing EDF is definitely front and center. I have some crazy fun times, and then die from not adapting quickly enough to control jank and get sent right back to the beginning of the mission (checkpointing in this game is ridiculous. I think there may only be "not in a mission" or "start this mission" points). I pull some move that has me giggling like hell just by virtue of how fucking crazy it was, then drive through a bush that looks just like any other bush but this one catapults me 50 feet from my motorcycle sliding my face along the ground. It is by turns fantastic and frustrating as all hell. I still like it. I actually like it a whole lot. You really do need to fight the game in order to do so though. Know what you're in for. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thl Posted March 24, 2010 At first I was a bit disappointed by all the story going on at the beginning (only had time to play the first mission last night so haven't encountered the frustrations miffy's experiencing... yet) but it's just... so... bad... that it's good. It's kind of a video game equivalent of an exploitation film, except not at all in the Grindhouse, House of the Dead: Overkill vein where it's a conscious decision. Luckily, the gameplay (so far) is ludicrous goofy fun so it's not painful like it could be. Huh, handy to have a flak cannon here! fun times!!! also, double hooking two dudes together and watching them flop all over each other is hilarious. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Garple Posted March 24, 2010 At first I was a bit disappointed by all the story going on at the beginning (only had time to play the first mission last night so haven't encountered the frustrations miffy's experiencing... yet) After the one or two missions you get into the open world stuff, and the story fades out, because you have to go rack up a certain amount of accomplishments (i.e. destruction and murder) to do the next agency mission, which I assume are the core story missions. So far the only things I don't like about this game are: flying the aircraft is really frustrating and you can only grapple with the hook, you can't climb also...which seems a little weird and awkward. Sometimes it's hard to get a good angle to grapple to your next point. And you'd think a guy who's using a grappling hook all the time would also be a great climber. But goddamn it's really fun. I love riding the motorcycles all over mountains until I inevitably crash. Edit: you can tell these bikes weren't really meant for crazy-ass rocky mountains (I mean, really, no bike is made for scaling fucking cliffs) but you can also tell that in this game, the things you're not supposed to do are actually the things you're supposed to do. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miffy495 Posted March 25, 2010 I switched over to mouse and keyboard controls. I still feel like this is a game that was designed for a gamepad, but that glitch I was describing earlier where the tooltips on the screen will change to keyboard controls when the analog sticks aren't being pressed and back to 360 inputs when they are appears to impact more than just what shows up onscreen. See, every time that that change happens, the frame rate drops for a second. This makes driving a vehicle incredibly jerky and damn near impossible, as every time I touch the stick to turn, the frame rate drops to half and then switches back. When I let go of the stick because I'm at the proper orientation, it does it again. Driving has become the most frustrating thing in the game thanks to this. So I decided to switch to mouse and keyboard, and no such problems. Oh, and the aiming is fixed when I'm hanging off something by my grappling hook. So now I'm using the control method I'd really rather not, but at least I can play the fucking game. I don't think there has been another game which I've put up with so much buggy bullshit to play. I don't count Far Cry 2 because it's actually been too buggy to let me play it so far. As a game which I've actually played, this is the buggiest. And yet I still enjoy it. I don't know, hopefully this control switch will make it better. More positively, I'm absolutely loving all the James Bond craziness, the terrible voice acting is spectacular, and the music is great. I love hearing the swelling brass spy music as I parachute off a mountaintop. Also, the mountains in this game are fucking BEAUTIFUL. Like, I am constantly being impressed with the visuals this game is giving me, particularly when I'm in free fall or parachuting. The snow caps, the lagoons, the forests, the cities, fucking everything looks like it was designed to be as gorgeous as possible from the air. It's less impressive when you get up close, but some of the vistas are almost photorealistic from the air. Fantastic stuff. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
thl Posted March 25, 2010 I had an amazing moment last night that I'm sure was intended... it involved a hand-held minigun, about 20 dudes and a helicoptor coming at me, and cheering from my revolutionary brothers as i mowed them all down like Jesse the Body Ventura with Ol' Painless and it gave me exactly the kind of feeling I want from this game. It led me to believe I was hotter shit than I actually was so I waltzed into another military base and got my face shot off with one hit from a sniper rifle. ouch! One little touch that I'm pretty impressed with is how the map is actually 3D even though it's fixed in top-down position. It's a very subtle effect but zooming in on the mountains and whatnot gives it away. It gives me a feeling of like... the Gettysburg museum's diorama of the battlefield with little lights wired into the topography to show key points. Pretty cool I think considering I check the map pretty often just to remind myself how fucking huge the place is. Sorry to hear about your difficulties, Miffy. I'm playing on xbox and obviously haven't had any of the keyboard mapping issues. Sucks that it sounds like they let the PC gamepad support slip through buggy though... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites