Just Cause 4 doesn't make a good first impression. After a very boring prologue, which was supposed to be a spectacular one, we watch the interludes wondering if we are really dealing with the title released at the end of 2018 at the end of the eighth generation consoles. Although we didn't play on Xbox One or PlayStation 4, but only on PC (high detail), it's no secret that developers are trying to make every game look almost identical on all target platforms.
However, it can't be said that the Just Cause 4 design leaves much to be desired. Avalanche's work looks really good, but given what other open-world game developers have shown, it seems that the reviewed production lags far behind hits like Assassin's Creed: Odyssey, not to mention Red Dead Redemption II. Fortunately, however, what's most important in Just Cause 4, the explosions, looks great. Sometimes the game also serves to create an atmospheric landscape in such a place that we can stop for a while and admire the sunset. It doesn't happen often, because just like in the previous parts of Just Cause, the gameplay here is extremely dynamic, and the player has a moment of rest only while browsing the map or modifying various settings in the menu.
The main character of Just Cause 4 is, of course, the one-man army in the form of Rico Rodriguez, who ends up in a fictional country called Solis, located in North America, to deal with a military organization called the Black Hand. Residents would love to get rid of it themselves, but of course they don't have a chance with such a grouping, so our hero enters the action. I mentioned that he is a one-man army and in fact during the vast majority of missions he acts alone, but on the radio or in any other way, he is helped by various NPCs.
Just Cause 4 is not only about liberating Mr. and Mrs. Solis, but also about getting advanced technology to manipulate the weather conditions. The Black Hand is in her possession. As if that weren't enough, Rico Rodriguez's task is also personal, but what does it mean exactly, you will find out in the course of the game. I would just like to add that the whole story is not particularly interesting and in fact it is a pretext for mass destruction of the environment. It's good news, because Just Cause fans didn't expect any changes in this area, counting on total demolition.
There is a reason why the authors of Just Cause 4 boast about the size of the open world. The area of a thousand square kilometers makes an impression. Obviously, the individual locations are much more diverse than the "three" ones. It's not just the jungle, but also snow-covered mountains, steppes, desert areas and rainforests. Apart from large areas filled with trees, we will also visit cities, towns and villages, swim on rivers and (or rather, most importantly) get up in the air.
As far as the ways of exploring new places are concerned, in this respect Just Cause 4 causes almost a little dizziness. The inseparable elements of the main character's equipment are, of course, a parachute, a wingsuit and an abutment. In the last case, we are talking about a line with a hook, thanks to which we do not have to cover shorter distances on foot, but we can be attracted by selected objects of the environment (e.g. walls). The game allows you to make use of a variety of land vehicles, including high-speed passenger cars, off-road vehicles, trucks, armoured transporters and motorcycles. If we decide to explore the world by sea or air, we will not be disappointed either. Boats, warships, motorboats, helicopters, airplanes, drones... There are plenty of them. And you can always go on a train trip, landing on the roof of one of the train cars.
Just Cause 4 also has a lot of side activities to offer. Looking at the subsequent locations, you may get the impression that these are just the usual "clogs" of games with the open world, but here it's worth getting out of the main path and taking part in stunts for the purposes of filming, exploring tombs or performing a few training operations. The game rewards you for performing these optional tasks, including points that allow you to modify your winch. Sometimes missions are similar to those in the main thread, but sometimes we just have to go through the designated location at a certain speed, blow something up, find something, and so on. So it's so varied that it's hard to talk about boredom.
You have probably already noticed that the weather in Just Cause 4 (not counting the information about Black Hand technology) hasn't been spoken yet, because in fact the various weather conditions, which were widely advertised before the premiere, are only an addition, not a main course. Avalanche Studios completely wasted the potential of this solution, which probably worked hard on, because during the first few hours of fun we will watch only green areas (or maybe even longer, it all depends on whether we focus on the main thread or side missions).
What a spectacular storm with lightning tries to make our lives miserable only after occupying at least a few areas on the map, and performing the task, in which we struggle not only with our opponents, but also unfavorable moments, even deadly, aura takes only a dozen or so minutes. It is still a bit better, but I am far from delighted, even taking into account the fact that a tornado or other attractions prepared by the creators, make an impression, but should be better exposed in the feature campaign.
Just Cause 4 has a very interesting mechanics related to loading levels. When you start the game, it automatically loads, and when you choose the "continue" button from the game menu, you will immediately take control of Rico Rodriguez. This is a very interesting patent, especially considering the fact that even later the game does not read anything in the background, offering the possibility of free map exploration. At the same time, it is really well optimized, because at high settings on a computer with an AMD FX-8350 processor, 16 GB RAM and GeForce 1050 Ti graphics, it worked smoothly at about 40 frames per second, and any drops in liquidity were really sporadic. Reservations can only be made until the application is turned off. It is not possible to simply close it, because each time the program is turned off incorrectly, which results in activating the tool asking us if we want to send a bug report.
To sum up, Just Cause 4 can be a lot of fun, as long as we focus on what is most important, i.e. a rack-up, turning a blind eye to a story that is not necessarily engaging, or an outdated graphic design. Although the potential of changing weather conditions has not been fully exploited, the game makes up for this disadvantage with a huge and varied terrain, lots of means of transport and an extremely rich arsenal, in which apart from the usual weapons, there are also numerous gadgets available that can wreak havoc on hundreds, if not thousands, of ways.