Just Cause 2 - review

Of course, when I say life-long dream, I only realised how much I really, really wanted to do it after I'd actually done it.

I also attached another soldier to a passing bus and beat the living daylights out of another evildoer I had strung up, pinata-style, from a large hoist on board an oil-rig I had parachuted onto from a hijacked passenger jet merely moments earlier.

All these acts of destruction were designed solely to sow the seeds of rebellion among the repressed subjects of a corrupt South American regime.

Then I got on with the game.

Just Cause 2 has a story, and a plot, and characters, but you'll barely notice them, for various reasons. Firstly, the voice acting and general story would seem poor on a freeview late-night cable movie channel, as clear a definition of 'so-bad-it's-good' that you'll ever find, and the missions do tend to become a touch repetitive as the hours pass.

But, secondly, when there's so much fun to be had just messing around, who needs a story?

Here, the sky's not just the limit, it's your playground. So is the sea, the jungle, the mountains, the military bases, the oilrigs, the ancient temples... you get the idea.

The picturesque island setting of Panau, recently taken over by the evil 'Baby' Panay, who assassinated his own father to grab power, is a beautiful, immense, flawlessly-realised environment of almost unparalleled scope.

Your role, as subversive superstar Rico Rodriguez, is to cause mayhem and chaos wherever you can, mostly by destroying pretty much anything you can find which bears the white star of Panay's regime. How you do this is up to you, but it will invariably attract the attention of the local military, who can also be dealt with as you see fit.

Destruction is measured in chaos points, which fill up gauges and unlock missions as you inflict violence on everything around you.

There are three rival gangs on Panau, each with their own missions and objectives, and success increases their influence and civilian unrest which, rather cleverly, means that whenever you enter into a violent debate with government forces, the odd gun-toting local will actually join in to give you a hand.

There are also races, which are all against the clock and competed in using land or air vehicles or your trusty grapple hook and parachute.

The latter items are the games shining lights, magnificent devices which allow you to conduct the game with astonishing versatility.

The hook can pull you at great speed to any object or vehicle within range, and a quick deployment of the parachute as you are being reeled in will effortlessly paraglide you into the air.

You are quite free to explore Panau from the sky, constantly using the ground to slingshot you along and keep you airborne, but you are never more than a phone call away from a black market dealer who will happily supply you with an immediate supply of jets, helicopters, vehicles weapons, whatever takes your fancy.

The game does suffer from the odd bug, which can be frustrating, and the controls take a bit of getting used to. It took me two solid evenings to feel comfortable with the hook and parachute combos, with stress levels being raised by one particular level which was against the clock, but YouTube is filled with tutorial and walkthrough videos which are incredibly helpful.

If you fancy a game which pretty much lets you do what you want, and have a lot of fun in the process, you can't really ask for more.

8/10

Just Cause 2

Age restriction: 15+

Avalanche/ Square Enix

PS3/XBox 360 - 37.99

PC - 24.99

(click here to buy it from www.game.co.uk)