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.
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.