Just Cause 3 (Xbox One) Preview

The demo of Just Cause 3 really showcased its madness. The story this time sees Rico returning to his home to try and free it from the grip of the dictator, Di Ravello. The series' core crazy gameplay returns and massively raises the bar. Much like the more recent Saint's Row games' introduction of superpowers, the new Just Cause introduces a number of gadgets that may make the regular methods of travel irrelevant - just like how the President could run faster than cars and eventually fly faster than the planes, Rico can use his grappling hook to grab onto things and zip to them faster than land vehicles, and then engage his wing suit to literally fly around the open world… although mastering these methods of transport without face-planting into trees or grinding along the side of buildings takes some practice.

The demo really showcased how this game is the perfect pick up and put down, insane, open world adventure. For those that love clearing everything on the map, the massive open world environment was brimming with points of interest and objectives to complete, much like the recent Far Cry titles, there are a ton of bases to destroy to help liberate each area from the grip of Di Ravello's forces. It's easy to get completely lost in this content, seeing a large communications base full of radar dishes on a hill, deciding to destroy it, but on the way getting side-tracked for hours with challenges, outposts, side missions, and just the general insanity of it all.

This is where Just Cause 3, really shines, however - in the complete freedom given to the player. Handing them a ton of ridiculously fun gadgets, a great big destructible sandbox, and just letting them do whatever they like with it. Two of the gadgets that really stood out during the demo were the tethers and the sticky rockets. The tethers can be attached between any two objects, and then reeled in to yank one to the other and stick it there - attaching enemies to surfaces, tanks to buildings, helicopters to towers, and then reeling in to catapult them towards each other. The sticky rockets that can be attached to anything, when activated they propel whatever they are attached to off at high speed before then exploding. Combinations of these devices lead to big laughs and crazy setups, for example, tethering an enemy soldier onto a pedestrian passing on a motorcycle at high speed, sticking rocket boosters onto an enemy vehicle to turn it into an explosive battering ram, and so many more.

Freedom also comes in the form of destruction, so much of the world is fully destructible and the destruction looks fantastic. Considerable work has evidently been put in for the system, with Rico able to tear structures apart in superb inventive fashions. It's hard to think of any other game where players can hang upside down on the bottom of a helicopter, tether a tank to said helicopter, and then use it like a wrecking ball to smash out the supports of a gargantuan tower, which then dramatically falls onto the masses of enemies below. It is how the objects come apart that is so impressive as it's clearly not just pre-rendered destruction, reacting to how gamers have destroyed the object, with pieces falling and breaking off at the appropriate locations. It is most noticeable when destroying towers or bridges, with the unique destruction making for some very impressive set pieces.