RICO Rodriguez is one of my all time favourite video game characters. He gives no fucks. If there’s something to blow up, he’ll blow it up. If there’s a dictator to take down, he’ll do it single-handedly, albeit with his trusty grapple hook and wing suit. And chaos seems to follow Rodriguez about. Or is it Rodriguez that pursues chaos? Either way, playing a character like the always-seemingly-well-connected Rodriguez is never disappointing.
Just Cause 4, to be clear however, is not the next generation of Just Cause games. There are no major changes to game mechanics, no real innovation in story and, graphically, it doesn’t jump out from the screen as I’d expect it to. Not to say that it’s not pretty, it’s just a bit disappointing. Honestly though, Just Cause has only ever been about one thing. Explosions and destruction. As a result then, Just Cause 4 doesn’t disappoint.
Rodriguez finds himself back in an undisclosed Southern American island where he is tasked with taking out yet another dictator and his weather control system. The twist here is that Rodriguez’s father was the lead scientist, but walked away years ago; when Rico was boy, learning the system would be used for nefarious purposes. Rico learns this a little while into the game, but this is as deep as the story goes really. It’s a catalyst that does the job of propelling the story forward, but it’s as generic as they come.