Originally this was the only game in the series I had played and I was very excited to come back to it having played the first two. Having finished it again it builds off of everything fun about Just Cause 2 and makes it better. My favourite of the series and I don't see it changing.

First off the story, shock horror Rico is thrown into a politically unstable country and has to kill the dictator. However Just Cause 3 makes its main story much more interesting than the previous two. The Mediterranean island of Medici is where Rico was raised, coming back to it for the first time in years to kill the ruthless dictator General DiRaviello. This is my favourite version of Rico by far as he isn't just a one note action star that only speaks in one liners, he actually has relationships with the side characters and seems to care about who he is fighting against. Once again both Rico and Sheldon have been recast, I'm not sure as to why this is but the actor does a good job to not make Rico as one note as the previous games. DiRaviello is by far the best antagonist as he appears frequently enough so you don't forget about him. The small cast of side characters make for good interactions in cutscenes and it is nice to have meaningful characters other than Sheldon.

The gameplay is the best part of this. This game is a blast to playthrough. Everything great about 2 is here with updated fluidity and fixed the janky controls. Thankfully instead of the chaos system which Just Cause 2 had where you had to get a certain amount of chaos points before the next main mission unlocked, Just Cause 3 uses a liberation system where certain missions are locked until you have liberated enough provinces on the island. This is a way better alternative as it is just the dumb fun that this game is best known for. Rico can zip across power plants blowing up everything in his path and its the most entertaining part of the game. The gun combat is a little bit tricky to get the hang of as there isnt really a lock on feature and most enemies are armoured so it takes a while to kill them.

Visually the islands of Medici are stunning to look at. A lot of inspiration from Italian style architecture can be seen primarily in the villages. A couple decent tracks on the soundtrack but nothing I would seek out. Im very surprised for a 9 year old game that I experienced no frame drop even when loads of things were exploding around me.

There are a few things that I think bring this down a bit. I think that Rico is far too weak in this game. They switched up the health system where Rico no longer needs medkits to heal and will heal automatically and I suppose to balance this they made his health a bit lower. However pair this with the bullet hells that are clearing out bases and you will find yourself dying quite a lot. I also found a lot of loading screens that took especially long which kills the pace a bit, especially after dying. Ill put this more down to its age than anything else. Ironically there is a bit less fluidity in the animations, mainly when skydiving, I suppose this is to make grappling in mid air easier but its a shame when Just Cause 2 had very fluid animations for an older game.

Just Cause 3 is the perfect amount of dumb fun mixed with a fairly interesting story. If you want to play a Just Cause game but don't want to play the whole series, just play this one. You get everything good about the last game, without any of the bad the next game adds. Solid recommendation

The best Just Cause game, simply because it has the best story, world, and gameplay loop. It's a game that feels extremely focused, with all of the systems in place working smoothly with each other. Visually vibrant, much better looking than the first two games, and also has more likeable characters, including improvements to Rico himself. And traversing around the map with the wingsuit just feels awesome. It's not a masterpiece or anything, but a huge improvement for the series, and just a great time overall.

Upon revisiting JC3 years later, my perspective has shifted significantly. I no longer view it as a disappointing follow-up to JC2. I have come around to loving it due to stuff like the wingsuit, which makes traversal very fun, as well as the endless arsenal of weapons that are both enjoyable & satisfying to use when conquering bases or villages.

I have also found the side challenges to be engaging now, which is a stark contrast to years ago. This newfound appreciation is likely due to my increased enjoyment of the gameplay loop & unlocking meaningful upgrades. All of this is complemented by the presentation, which still holds up nearly 9 years later with the soundtrack being surprisingly good & crunchy sound design.

Even though I have developed a greater appreciation for this game, it unfortunately also highlights why it falls short in comparison to JC2 in my eyes. The main issues lie in the map design and story missions, which are such downgrades. The story missions lack the consistent bombastic moments that JC2 threw at you and the map seems to not have been designed with them in mind.

Medici looks beautiful but lacks any personality that Panau oozes with & having such diverse environments prevents it from feeling repetitive, which Medici does unfortunately suffer from. There are so many locations in JC2 that I can still recall years later, but after only recently replaying JC3 again, I can barely remember any locations because they all just blend.

However, these flaws didn't completely derail my revisit journey, which has made me realize that the game is truly great, contrary to my initial mixed feelings when it was first released. I can see why it's considered the best one in the series for many people, although for me, JC2 still holds the top spot in the series. Nonetheless, that shouldn't discredit the stuff that JC3 has done right, and I still give it a strong recommendation if you are looking for a simple but fun open-world game.

Gameplay - 9/10
Blowing up enemy bases is fun but does get a bit repetitive especially if you go for 100% completion (which I did and fully recommend doing so that you can get the most out of your experience)

Sound - 10/10
No sound compression as far as I could tell and the explosion sound effects are great.

Story - 3/10
Don't play this game for the story as it is pretty 'meh' but still better than Just Cause 4's and I only played the story missions to get 100% completion.

DLC - 8/10
Again, Don't play the DLCs for their stories, but the weapons you get from them however, are great. The wing suit that you get from the Sky Fortress DLC is really fun and can rinse a small base in a few well placed rockets. The ship from Bavariam Sea Heist DLC can beat all the sea races with almost no difficulty. The Eden Spark that you also get from the Bavarium Sea Heist is so fun as you literally summon lightning down on your enemies. The mech that you get from the Mechland Assault DLC can one shot the final boss (Just use the rebel drops to drop it in and chuck Di Ravello into the lava) and is also pretty much needed to get a boat that is stuck in a lake that you need to transport to a garage to chop (You can do it with a helicopter but it is like 10x easier with the mech.

Price
The XXL edition, which includes the base game and all of its DLC, is the one I recommend and is I think £55 but usually goes on sale for about £3 (that's how much i bought the XXL edition for)

Enjoyment - 7/10
Difficulty - 5/10

Action man recapturing little towns and military fortresses from baddies. Traversing the islands is the best part about this game. Excellent sense of freefalling and gliding. Story is a bit pish, but explosions, tether grapples and flying makes it worth it.
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This game has a special place in my heart. It is just the word 'summer' for me. The fresh colors, the sea, the flower fields, the snow in the mountains, the big cities, the old villages and everything about the movement mechanics makes me feel so free and simply happy. Italy coast atmosphere feels soooo good. Just flying freely over the water or the mountains or the fields is one of the best feelings I've ever experienced in a videogame. It reminds me of Forza and Flight Simulator, even though I haven't played them. It's about playing for the sake of having fun, no complex or off-the-path objectives, no nothing to do, just you and your character floating in the air while admiring the beautiful landscapes and lightning. Controlling the helicopters is great but flying the jets is a whole different thing. The blue sky above, the blue sea below, the sun shining on the waves and the wind blowing on the camera. DAMN. I LOVE this game.

As a game itself, it is not mediocre but rather just good and a ton of fun. You can approach any ordeal as you want. For example, as I made my way through the platinum trophy I pretty much cheated on every challenge in order to get the 5 gears by using helicopters in destruction challenges (instead of the correct weapon) or roaming freely on the flying so as to keep the timer up. I actually think doing all of this however you want is completely intended as there are other times where the game makes you do something in some specific way instead of letting you choose.

The physics are surprisingly very good and blowing stuff up is so fun and satisfying. Regarding the combat and the shooting mechanics, it is bad. Enemies just stop on their feet to shoot and miss you. Maybe they'll move a little but it is simply soulless, mindless, too simple. Also, once you get the nuke gun everything becomes so much easier AND in a way more satisfying too. I feel like the aiming system would improve with mouse and keyboard, unlike the movement and flying which are actually better with a controller. To me, all of this isn't an inconvenient as I'm mostly focused on flying and roaming around freely, but when it's forced to complete a mission then it's tiring or boring at best.

The gameplay may be repetitive or mindless at times but I find that completely fine. For example, look at Spiderman or Spiderman Remastered or Spiderman Miles Morales or Spiderman 2. Are they almost the same game? Yeah. Are they freaking fun as hell? Absolutely. Also, as for many games such as Death Stranding, I feel like you must play this game, not just watch it.

It is also very surprising and disappointing that Just Cause 4 wasn't that big of a deal for me. Just the color palette and the overall tone of the game is such a turn off. Everything looks mildly bad with that image filter and the performance is much worse taking into account the inexistent graphical improvements. I wish both games were better optimized for consoles.

I haven't played the first or the second one but tbh I think I'm not missing on much as they've probably aged poorly and all the things that made those special are already present in the recent titles. Hopefully, a future Just Cause 5 may be the greatest one yet, but it doesn't look like it. Another game for this saga or a remake of some sort is extremely unlikely. So I'm just content that I can easily play my favorite one of them (this one) on a PS4 or PS5 whenever I want.

Hell, it's been seven years since I played it for the first time. It's my second time getting the platinum trophy for this game and I've enjoyed it a lot. I wouldn't surprise myself getting a third 100% playthrough in the future, but for the moment I have other things to do. God, I'm craving for the second Elden Ring platinum rn.