I picked up Just Cause 2 after a long time of not playing it a little while ago and I had a bit of a realization…
I simultaneously get bored easily with and highly enjoy these games. Outposts and towns are incredibly repetitive, and those make up 90% of the game’s runtime. It’s not like that’s all there is, and Just Cause 3 does have some other side diversions and new tools, but in the end, I’m just running, driving, and/or flying around a massive largely empty, albeit pretty map.
It’s incredibly mindless sometimes, and I never stick around too long, but there’s also this call to it. It is mindless.
It’s simple. I know where to go, what I’m gonna do. Im gonna see some pretty sights, big explosions, and I’m gonna zip around like a deranged Spider-Man. No deep planning or strategy, just spur-of-the-moment chaos. See a thing? Blow it up.
It’s almost like candy. As long as I only come back and play it here and there, I will play it consistently.
Side note: On a certain level, exploring Just Cause’s maps is pleasant in its own way. They are remarkably pretty and it kind of scratches an itch of just being able to GO. No real destination, no plan, just going.
I only played JC3 but the player is basically invincible - the lack of a health bar and the quick recovery lean into the fact that the game isn’t trying to be serious, but instead lets you have fun messing around with stuff. When I played I was mostly just trying to do fun trick shots/find ways to do fun nonsense with the phyisics engine. A few of my friends and I had a fun time trying the max out the random task scores (free falling the longest distance, grappling up the most, etc) without looking at online strategies