Peter McCoy
Apr 9th, 2010, 09:25:36 AM
After playing the demo a few weeks ago I knew I'd be buying this one. I got the PS3 Limited Edition yesterday (same price as the normal version but you get a code to unlock a few items earlier) and had a blast (literally) playing it last night after I got home from work.
The premise is the same as the first game - a group of Islands is currently ruled by a regíme which until recently was playing nice with the US. But once Baby Panay killed his father and took over, they've spat their dummy out. So Rico Rodriguez (you) is sent in for yet another regíme-change mission to overthrow Baby Panay's dictatorship. Elaborate stunts and balls-to-the-wall action return with more flair and improved controls which makes for (so far) a vastly superior experience to the original outing. Rico's signature mode of transportation - his parachute - returns with enhanced usage this time - the ability to use your grappling hook to slingshot your way around the islands. Just target the ground or a building or tree and as you reel in, open your chute and take to the skies. Just re-grapple when you need to gain momentum. You can also leap onto the top of cars, boats and air vehicles (or grapple the underside of choppers since the top is a bit dicey) and leap onto other passing vehicles or jump inside and take over. It's extremely over-the-top but it never pretends to be something it's not. It's not a serious game, it's just one huge sandbox to play in.
I have to agree with the reviews I've read so far - the voice acting is terrible but the gameplay is just so entertaining. I've done three missions so far - two of the central plot missions (of which there are only a handful) and a faction mission where I had to help a renegade group take over a nuclear power plant.
The opening mission sees you skydiving into a base where several memory cards have fell from your chopper, and if the miloitary get the info stored on them it's bad news for your overall mission to overthrown the current government. Once on solid ground you have to get inside the base and locate the cards, which is quite easy. At one point a chopper flies in to deal with you but a nearby flak cannon is yours to control. Blow it up and move on. The action is very fast-paced with a lot of moving around and blowing stuff up and killing bad guys.
The second mission had me travel to a highrise casino to save my first contact from the military goons. As I used my grappling hook to scale the side of the skyscraper, I got my first glimpse in daylight of just how expansive the game is - the draw distance is incredible. Once at the top I located a few demolition charges before a pair of choppers showed up to deal with me. So I grappled over to one and threw the pilot out, then used my newly-acquired vehicle to deal with the second chopper. Marvellous! But then I saw a hole in the corridor/bridge joining the summit of each tower, and my contact was there, being attacked from both sides. So I jumped out onto the nose of the chopper and grappled over to his aid.
The second half of the mission involved my contact driving with me standing on top of the car to deal with our pursuers. This was quite easy with the grappling hook. You can grapple a vehicle, then grapple the ground, tethering the car to the road. Once the car drives past the tether point, the cable is pulled taught and flips the car - awesome, and quite funny to watch.
My first faction mission was to escort a technician into a military-controlled power station and take it over. The gate was well-guarded so I used my grappling hook to gain some momentum then opened my parachute, sailed over the wall and dropped down inside. The first guard I killed had a shotgun - MINE!
I had to escort a technician through the grounds of the power plant until he could hack into something which apparently gave them control of the location. It's now a faction stronghold. During the mission, there were plenty of military badguys to waste, plenty of gas cylinders to ignite. A cool trick is to tether a badguy to a cylinder and then ignite it - the cylinder flies off with the guy attached to it then explodes. Booya!
I did try to tether a truck to a helicopter which worked, but no matter how hard I tried, it would not lift the truck off the ground - instead the helicopter just threw a wobbler, swaying from side to side.
There are around 8 agency missions and 30-odd faction missions. After that the various islands are littered with upgrades and collectibles - weapon, vehicle and armour parts, ancient skulls, contraband cases, cash stashes ertc. Then there's the military assets you can destroy to rack up chaos points and cash - dictator statues, bio-fuel shafts, broadcast towers, communication stations, cranes, fuel depots, gas holders, gas pumps, generators, industrial chimneys, radars, SAM sites and a whole load more. As well as that, there are 50 well-guarded and well armed and armoured Colonels to assassinate. I've only played 3 hours and am really looking forward to working my way towards a 100% completion score. I haven't had this much fun in a game for entertainment value since Crackdown. And I question Crackdown 2's ability to beat this one - I'll have to wait and see.
The premise is the same as the first game - a group of Islands is currently ruled by a regíme which until recently was playing nice with the US. But once Baby Panay killed his father and took over, they've spat their dummy out. So Rico Rodriguez (you) is sent in for yet another regíme-change mission to overthrow Baby Panay's dictatorship. Elaborate stunts and balls-to-the-wall action return with more flair and improved controls which makes for (so far) a vastly superior experience to the original outing. Rico's signature mode of transportation - his parachute - returns with enhanced usage this time - the ability to use your grappling hook to slingshot your way around the islands. Just target the ground or a building or tree and as you reel in, open your chute and take to the skies. Just re-grapple when you need to gain momentum. You can also leap onto the top of cars, boats and air vehicles (or grapple the underside of choppers since the top is a bit dicey) and leap onto other passing vehicles or jump inside and take over. It's extremely over-the-top but it never pretends to be something it's not. It's not a serious game, it's just one huge sandbox to play in.
I have to agree with the reviews I've read so far - the voice acting is terrible but the gameplay is just so entertaining. I've done three missions so far - two of the central plot missions (of which there are only a handful) and a faction mission where I had to help a renegade group take over a nuclear power plant.
The opening mission sees you skydiving into a base where several memory cards have fell from your chopper, and if the miloitary get the info stored on them it's bad news for your overall mission to overthrown the current government. Once on solid ground you have to get inside the base and locate the cards, which is quite easy. At one point a chopper flies in to deal with you but a nearby flak cannon is yours to control. Blow it up and move on. The action is very fast-paced with a lot of moving around and blowing stuff up and killing bad guys.
The second mission had me travel to a highrise casino to save my first contact from the military goons. As I used my grappling hook to scale the side of the skyscraper, I got my first glimpse in daylight of just how expansive the game is - the draw distance is incredible. Once at the top I located a few demolition charges before a pair of choppers showed up to deal with me. So I grappled over to one and threw the pilot out, then used my newly-acquired vehicle to deal with the second chopper. Marvellous! But then I saw a hole in the corridor/bridge joining the summit of each tower, and my contact was there, being attacked from both sides. So I jumped out onto the nose of the chopper and grappled over to his aid.
The second half of the mission involved my contact driving with me standing on top of the car to deal with our pursuers. This was quite easy with the grappling hook. You can grapple a vehicle, then grapple the ground, tethering the car to the road. Once the car drives past the tether point, the cable is pulled taught and flips the car - awesome, and quite funny to watch.
My first faction mission was to escort a technician into a military-controlled power station and take it over. The gate was well-guarded so I used my grappling hook to gain some momentum then opened my parachute, sailed over the wall and dropped down inside. The first guard I killed had a shotgun - MINE!
I had to escort a technician through the grounds of the power plant until he could hack into something which apparently gave them control of the location. It's now a faction stronghold. During the mission, there were plenty of military badguys to waste, plenty of gas cylinders to ignite. A cool trick is to tether a badguy to a cylinder and then ignite it - the cylinder flies off with the guy attached to it then explodes. Booya!
I did try to tether a truck to a helicopter which worked, but no matter how hard I tried, it would not lift the truck off the ground - instead the helicopter just threw a wobbler, swaying from side to side.
There are around 8 agency missions and 30-odd faction missions. After that the various islands are littered with upgrades and collectibles - weapon, vehicle and armour parts, ancient skulls, contraband cases, cash stashes ertc. Then there's the military assets you can destroy to rack up chaos points and cash - dictator statues, bio-fuel shafts, broadcast towers, communication stations, cranes, fuel depots, gas holders, gas pumps, generators, industrial chimneys, radars, SAM sites and a whole load more. As well as that, there are 50 well-guarded and well armed and armoured Colonels to assassinate. I've only played 3 hours and am really looking forward to working my way towards a 100% completion score. I haven't had this much fun in a game for entertainment value since Crackdown. And I question Crackdown 2's ability to beat this one - I'll have to wait and see.