The 2 games I played the most this summer, reviewed!
Heard some good things about this game, but I was a bit cautious because I generally get bored very quickly in sandbox games. I played the demo until I ran out of time. Then I played it again. And again. So I decided to get the game. Found it very cheap on bee.com (and I got it 3 days after I ordered it - never get stuff this fast from the UK).
So, the full game then. First of all, I have to say something about the graphics. They're AWESOME. Sunsets/sunrises are always pretty special in games, but I've never seen them as beautiful as in this game. It has "God rays" (there's some fancy name for this, but I forgot - anyway it's pretty!) Textures and everything also look great. There is some pop-in, as with most-open world games, but it's only really noticable when you're flying low over the ground with a plane or parachute.
Also, the map is HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE. I saw a comparison with other games, and it's about 30 times larger than GTA4. You can see it here. The only thing I don't like is that they added an unrealistic amount of scenic variation. You can basically drive from tropical paradise to snowy mountains in a matter of seconds. I would've prefered if it was just a tropical setting, combining the tropical/alpine/desert settings in one map just feels "off". Yeah it's a videogame, but still.
The grappling hook/parachute combo is a lot of fun, and it's my favourite way to cross fairly short distances. It's also the best way to escape 'heat'. Car/plane/boat/bike handling is pretty well done, some vehicles definitely have a unique feel to them. I loved flying sports planes around the island to discover new locations, and it's cool to see the sun rise and set when flying as well. I love exploring the island, there are some random unique locations like the Mile High club (awesome music!), tourist resorts, old temples, etc.
As for the gunplay, it's far from perfect, but I honestly think it's better than in GTA4 (which is about the only non-RPG open world game I've played this gen). It has some crazy weapons as DLC, but just upgrading a SMG or assault rifle already makes you some sort of Terminator.
Anyway, it does suffer from my sandbox fatigue, especially since there are no minigames present, and the missions are all pretty similar (although there are some really fun ones - that "mystery island/bermuda triangle" mission was great). There also aren't any shops or anything, the money is only used for buying weapons or vehicles.
All in all, I'm really impressed with this game. It only has a couple of minor flaws, and like most sandbox games it gets repetitive after a while, but the overall package is great. It's really a must-play, and it's now in my top 3 of games released in 2010.
Oh yeah, there's Just Cause 2 website, where you can link your Gamertag/PSN iD/Steam profile, so you can see all the in-game stats (and there are a lot!) online. Sadly, it no longer works. On the forum I read they'd fix it, but it's been over a month now. Boo.
Need for Speed Hot Pursuit
So this gen, the Need for Speed series has a bit of a "dudebro" image, BUT I remember when Need for Speed was a brand new series on PC. I'm pretty sure I played either 2 or 3 (which was called...Hot Pursuit, believe it or not!) on PC, or at least a demo of it. I played Hot Pursuit 2 on a friend's PS2 (and borrowed the game for a week, I wasn't really into racing games back then but liked this one). None of the other recent Need For Speed sub-series interested me much, but since I always liked the Hot Pursuit games, I had to buy this one. Well, when it got a price drop, but still!
And I'm not disappointed. It's one of my favourite racing games this gen. Lots of content, good graphics (especially on pc, check out some of the pics in this NeoGAF thread), good online, and I quite like that autolog thing. Especially because I can show off my progress to non-gamers like YOU. Looky here: http://hotpursuit.needforspeed.com/uk/autolog/career/Temujinski STATS STATS STATS omg I'm drowing in them. And liking it. Every game should have this, really. Not just the stats, but the ability to take pictures and post them online.
The stats also betray that I'm mostly a copper. Tis true, I like the chase. It's just a lot of fun to pursue and take out those dirty racers!!! It's really why I always liked the Hot Pursuit series over "normal" racers.
One (of two) things I don't like about the game is the difficulty. The Hot Pursuit mode is pretty easy (especially as a cop), but the time trials, rapid responses and stuff were you race against the time are awful. I guess this is party because of reason number 2: visibility. I don't know what this is, but I had this in Burnout as well: I just find it extremely hard to see what is ahead, and when it involves other cars, at what speed they move. I'm probably a minority, but I've seen other people complain about this as well. I think it's because, compared to other games, you can't really see ahead that much. Like, most racing games have about 1/3rd of the screen dedicated to what comes ahead, while I feel that Hot Pursuit and the Burnout series only have about 1/5th or 1/6th of the screen with the road ahead. This...probably doesn't make much sense to a lot of people, but I swear it's true! Also, there are too many lights on screen! That light in the distance...is it just part of the scenery? Is it another car? Is it an indication there's a turn ahead? By the time I figure it out, I've already crashed into it.
I know that part of this is because my brain is stupid, but really, even stupid people should be able to enjoy games like this! And how come I never had this problem, in, say, Outrun 2 or something? It really is something specific to Criterion and how they make their games.
...But other than that, great game! Heh. I had to replay the last three or so rapid responses about 20 times, and nearly threw my controller outside the window...but actually finally getting a merit on all events is so worth it. I'm pretty much done with the cop side of things, but I'm not sure if I'll be so obsessive about the racer side. It actually seems harder overall. And racing is just...racing you know? Hot Pursuit is so much more fun. I really hope they continue making Hot Pursuit games. Rest of the NFS series can die in a fire as far as I'm concerned.
That's it for now. Next update...film reviews! Or, games reviews. Haven't decided yet.
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