Just Cause 3 is the latest game in the Avalanche Studios open world action adventure game and from the look of the Fire Starter teaser trailer and first gameplay images below it’s shaping up to be a thing of beauty. While it’s still early days in terms of the game’s announcement, which came at the end of last year, more information is starting to trickle out from the developers and we’ve managed to piece together a preview of what to expect from the initial scraps that have been released to-date.
We’re expecting more to come in the months that follow, especially at E3 in June 2015, where the game will undoubtedly be playable and start to pick up its initial reviews. Building on the critical success of Just Cause 2, expectations are definitely going to be high for the upcoming sequel, but we’re backing it to go on to be one of the games of the year when it hits the shops.
Release date
While an official release date is still in the wings, Avalanche has confirmed that the game will be hitting the shelves in time for the winter holidays in 2015. It’s scheduled for release on the Xbox ONE, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC, continuing the trend for games to focus on current generation development, as opposed to catering to the previous generation of consoles as well.
Storyline
This time around you take the series hero Rico Rodriguez back to his homeland of Medici, a sunny Mediterranean island republic that has been taken over by a ruthless dictator called General Di Ravello. Rico arrives with the simple mission of ridding his home of the tyrannical rule and safeguarding the island for his friends and the rest of the people inhabiting Medici.
Gameplay
Open world 3rd person adventure gaming has been dominated by either Grand Theft Auto V, Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag or Watch Dogs in recent years, but Just Cause 3 will deliver its own take on the genre, introducing a new challenger to the modern day thrown. Rico will have the 400 square mile expanse of Medici to roam around in with similar gameplay style as in the previous title.
From what we’ve been able to make out, it looks like the concept of Destruction will be replacing the Chaos gameplay progression of Just Cause 2. While the two are similar, it would appear that the upcoming game will be all about dealing out the maximum amount of destruction as possible, which, we assume, is one of the reasons Rico will have an unlimited supply of both C4 explosives and grenades in his latest big scale adventure.
One thing we know for certain is that Rico’s kit will include both the parachute and the grappling hook once again to help him make his way around the island a little faster and dish out cleverly crafted destruction with a range of options for carnage. With the grappling hook he can hijack vehicles, skim over long distances and reel in objects, plus with upgrades you can earn throughout the game you’ll be able to level-up your grappling might to slingshot heavy objects and pull a helicopter out of the sky. With the parachute, you can soar over the island and take out your enemies from above with either one or two weapons or by dropping grenades on them as you silently ghost above them.
The new addition to the Just Cause 3 equipment roster is the wingsuit, which you can check out in the image below. It adds a lot more speed to your aerial exploits, giving you even more opportunities to ambush your targets throughout the island of Medici.
Vehicles will be just as big a feature of JC3 as they have been in the two previous game and from the look of the trailer below and all of the screen shots that Avalanche has released, it would appear that there’s going to be a lot of choice. We’ve already seen classic pickups and jeeps, along with gun crusted choppers, little hatch backs and racy sports cars, but they’ll be putting out an update on all of the vehicles in the not too distant future, so we’ll be adding them here shortly.
In terms of weapons, you’ll have the brilliant gun rack once again, which holds up to three weapons at a time, giving you a fair few options in terms of your arsenal combinations. You’ll be able to access these no matter what you’re doing and with the new addition to the game of unlimited C4 and grenades you’ll have a lot of destruction tucked into your kit as you dish out the damage like it’s hot molten cheese at a fondue party.
Graphics
As it’s been developed just for the latest generation of consoles and PC gaming tech, the graphics have been fine tuned to within an inch of near perfection. They had a lot of class to build on from 2010’s Just Cause 2, which was no slouch in itself in terms of graphics.
The island is filled with lush vegetation that’s been rendered impressively with a lot of variation in the Mediterranean landscape and built up areas. Movement looks slick and fluid, backed up by some very lifelike explosions and fire animation, but we’re expecting a full gameplay trailer soon, which will be a pretty good indicator for just how good the game’s graphics are going to be.
First impressions
Just Cause 3 looks like it’s going to be a whole lot of fun to play as you maraud across the island in an attempt to oust the git that is General Di Ravello. There’s going to be a lot to explore along the way and the new addition of the wingsuit only adds to the genius of the game. There’s still a while to go before the release date in the holiday 2015, so there’s bound to be a few more surprises up the Avalanche sleeve, so watch this space for more details.
Share our Just Cause 3 preview with:
Just Cause 3 Firestarter trailer:
Image gallery:
Rico looking very cool with the new wingsuit.
The grappling hook returns with a bang.
It looks like destruction is going to be the name of the game in JC3 with explosion a plenty, especially with unlimited C4 and grenades.
