Just Cause 3 XXL Edition

I've lost count of how many outposts I've flattened in Medici, and that's honestly the most honest thing I can say about Just Cause 3. This is not a game that pretends to be something subtle. Avalanche Studios built a playground where the grappling hook, the wingsuit, and a seemingly infinite supply of explosive red fuel tanks are the main characters, and every system is tuned to make you feel like a one-man natural disaster. Rico Rodriguez is technically liberating a fictional Mediterranean republic from a military dictator, but the story is thin enough to see through, and the game knows it. What actually holds up is the traversal. Chaining the grapple to the wingsuit to a car roof to a helicopter and back again never really gets old, because the game keeps handing you new tools just as the previous ones start to feel routine. Challenge Modes scatter across the map test your speed, accuracy, and creativity with those same tools, giving the open world some structure without forcing you down a linear mission path. The sheer scale of the map means you can spend an hour just flying across it without firing a shot, which is its own strange kind of fun. The XXL Edition bundles in the Air, Land and Sea Expansion Pass, which adds three substantial DLC packs: Sky Fortress brings a jetpack and aerial combat, Mech Land Assault drops a rideable mech into the mix, and Bavarium Sea Heist shifts the action offshore. On top of that, the Weaponized Vehicle Pack, Explosive Weapon Pack, Reaper Missile Mech, and Kousava Rifle round out the loadout. For a first-time buyer, this is the version to get. The DLC packs in particular add enough mechanical variety to extend the life of a game that can otherwise start to feel repetitive around the midpoint. And repetitive is the honest word. The liberation loop, moving town to town, blowing up the same red-and-white propaganda statues and fuel tanks, follows a pattern that the game never really breaks. Mission structure is similarly formulaic, with objectives that rarely ask you to do anything the open world doesn't already let you do on your own terms. Driving mechanics feel noticeably stiffer than the rest of the game, which is unfortunate when missions push you into a car for extended stretches. At launch, performance issues were a known complaint on PC, and while patches have improved stability over the years, the odd frame drop during particularly chaotic sequences is still possible if your rig is below par. For players who want a story-driven, mission-focused experience with strong writing, Just Cause 3 will frustrate. For players who want to tether a soldier to a gas tank, fire the whole assembly at a radar dish, and watch the chain reaction unfold in slow motion, this game is close to ideal. The XXL Edition makes the value proposition easy: everything is in the box, the chaos ceiling is high, and the Mediterranean backdrop is genuinely good-looking even a decade on.

Alex · Scout Team

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