Empowered In The Sandbox Analysis

Empowered In The Sandbox

Avalanche Studios' fictional island nation of Medici is simultaneously expansive and dense, seemingly there is always somewhere to go or something to do in your immediate vicinity; effectively encouraging exploration and straying off the beaten path. From its countless villages and towns in need of liberation from its oppressors to the many military outposts and bases to sack to the plethora of different challenges to undertake; Just Cause 3 does a fine job in spoiling you for choice. It is slightly disappointing then that some of the base architecture feel recycled to the point where you know where the various chaos objects are located. Considering that delivering a forceful blow against Di Ravello's many military
In spite of it feeling like you are simply running down a checklist of utter destruction at times--in particular when liberating cities--, chartering a course to the nearest unliberated area and blowing up the required radars, fuel tanks, and statutes make for an incredibly enjoyable gameplay loop. However, it's highly recommended you intersperse Medici's liberation effort with other activities, like story missions and challenges, in order to stave off the inevitable repetitiveness for as long as
Success in combat is largely dependent on being able to move swiftly vertically and refraining from remaining in one spot for too long. As a matter of fact, your deaths are more likely to stem from a preoccupation with a given chaos object and failing to adhere to the "always keep moving" rule than anything else. This is not to suggest that Just Cause 3 doesn't feature plenty of combat, though. Over the course of the game, you'll kill hundreds of faceless enemies utilizing a wide assortment of death-dealing instruments; from pistols and submachine guns to rocket launchers. Sadly, the combat never manages to feel rewarding; perhaps in large part due to the enemies are more often perceived as annoying rather than dangerous. They feel like an inconsequential but persistent pest you occasionally take the time to crush under your boot, but for the most part, leave be. This renders combat in Just Cause 3 a strange beast, as instead of willfully engaging with it at every turn, I instead opted to avoid it for as long as possible. A strategy encouraged by the fact that most of my engagements were against bullet sponges soaking up entire magazines before dying - giving it a sense of inflated