Just Cause 2

Preview - Why does Paul like it? Just 'cause...

Just Cause 2 hasn't exactly been screaming at us for the last couple of years, if we're honest. The original game struggled to impress on the Xbox 360 console, and for a high impact game of this nature this made communicating why it was fun pretty hard.

Fresh out of our walkthrough session with Avalanche though and it is already clear that the follow up title will have no trouble in wowing the gaming public. From the first glimpse of the scenery to the sheer scale of the open-world map, this game impresses at every turn.

Just Cause 2 takes us to the other side of the world and to the tropical fauna of fictional island Panau. Our protagonist, Rico Rodriguez, returns to once again to battle and overthrow evil dictator Baby Panay - as well as confronting his former boss, Tom Sheldon.

While the gameplay takes its lead from the first game, the action is much more open and dynamic here. The player is free to roam the game world without being forced to pursue the main campaign. This obviously reminds one of Grand Theft Auto, but here the gameplay is much more tongue in cheek and less concerned with realism.

This was evident as Peter Johansson talked us through the main features of the action. The artificial intelligence has been completely reworked for Just Cause 2 and now employs a Halo-like planning system that enables enemies to employ their own strategies. This includes making the most of the environment and equipment to surprise the player.

Then there is the hybrid aiming. This provides some assistance to ensure players can aim quickly at enemies but leaves them in full control over the crosshair itself. Players are encouraged to aim accurately with related rewards. They can also lock on to specific limbs to decide whether to disable or kill their foe. Along with this comes the adaptive difficulty that scales the game to match the player's ability, a simple idea but one that looks to make the experience much more accessible.

Along with these new mechanics come some seriously fun weapons. There are several new types, such as laser-controlled rockets, one-handed grenade launchers, remote triggered explosives and detachable miniguns. These are then complemented with new vehicles ranging from the impressive Jumbo Jet to more run of the mill jeeps and cars - each of which exhibit their own handling. Driving and fighting the vehicles look great fun, and players can shoot out tyres to send their assailants tumbling into oblivion.

The most impressive part of the walkthrough though was the grappling and parachuting abilities. Here, players can throw out a grapple to any object in the environment. If they hit something moveable it can be dragged towards them, if they hit something locked down they can pull themselves forward. This becomes a surprisingly flexible way to interact. Perhaps you are being persued by a vehicle; well, simply grappled between a bridge and their car to watch them explode when the tether takes effect.

The parachute enables Rodriguez to elegantly descend from heights - a sort of base-jumping mechanic. This in and of itself is quite enjoyable. However, couple this with the grappling and riding features and you have the makings of something really rather special. Players can deploy the parachute and then grapple-pull themselves along with the hook. Or they can jump from one car to the next combining the chute and the grapple.

These elements provide a toolkit through which you can really play in the game world. It turns the sometimes flat open-world experience into something dynamic and playful - taking the best of GTA and Crackdown. This is all wrapped up in the new graphics engine to look simply stunning. Draw distances and close fidelity combine to convince the audience that this is a place where freedom, fun and reality combine.

We know it is easy to wax lyrical about a previewed game, especially when we've not had a first-hand go on the thing. But what we've seen turns Just Cause 2 from a game we weren't all that excited about into a potentially top title for 2009. Bring it on!