Review: Just Cause 4

There’s a unique appeal to sandbox games, with their open worlds and engaging combat mechanics. The freedom to explore a large (though perhaps not entirely), open world and execute impressive stunts and large-scale destruction holds a primal attraction. While Swedish Avalanche Studios has a long history and has, in some ways, shaped the genre, the core issue with their Just Cause series remains that the concept is more compelling than the execution. The potential is evident, but the technical execution has been inconsistent. Avalanche, along with their new distributor Square Enix (who replaced Bandai Namco), should consider whether their release cadence allows for sufficient polish before launch.

We appreciated Just Cause 3, which, despite its technical issues (which never felt fully resolved before we moved on), possessed a certain charm. Its beautiful weather system, pleasant South Sea island setting, and B-movie narrative, complete with exaggerated character portrayals from both heroes and villains, gave it a distinctive flair. (Just Cause 3 is also currently available on Xbox Game Pass). Just Cause 4 takes a slightly darker turn, incorporating snow, cold, darkness, and storms alongside the series’ trademark exotic environments. Flying in a wingsuit through your first storm is a memorable experience and a highlight of the game. However, the novelty diminishes with repetition, and the game’s darker tone and color palette somewhat dampen the overall atmosphere.

Returning players will find themselves in familiar territory. You once again assume the role of Rico Rodriguez, this time confronting an arch-villain in Solis who wields control over the weather. This translates to thunderstorms, tornadoes, snowstorms, sandstorms, and everything in between. As always, you must create as much destruction as possible, and the game provides fun and creative methods to achieve this, including tethering enemies to various objects. The stunt work is also a highlight; picture driving a car off a cliff at high speed, exiting the vehicle to stand on its roof, and deploying a parachute, grappling hook, and wingsuit just before impact. At its best, Just Cause 4 delivers the playful and over-the-top action that we’ve come to expect.

However, the experience feels somewhat lacking. After grappling around countless times, initiating numerous chain explosions, and performing stunts in extreme weather conditions repeatedly, Just Cause 4 can feel a bit empty and generic. The narrative has never been the series’ strong point, and while there are eccentric NPCs and attempts to explore Rico’s father’s past, the game ultimately feels like a sandbox without a truly compelling objective. It’s a place to spend a few hours before moving on to something more engaging.

Technically, Just Cause 4 represents an improvement over its predecessor, but the progress is incremental. The most egregious bugs and frame rate issues have been addressed (as one would expect on Xbox One X), but the frame rate, even after patches, isn’t consistently smooth, even on the XB1X. The overall graphical presentation doesn’t feel cutting-edge, but rather resembles a last-generation game with enhanced shadows and clipping issues that affect fine details like hair strands. The image scaling is also peculiar, resulting in noticeable differences in detail as you approach objects. This issue was more effectively handled in Halo 5 on the base Xbox hardware, which was less powerful at the time. The audio is generally well-executed, with a catchy soundtrack and suitably over-the-top voice acting, but there’s nothing that screams high production value for a title marketed as AAA. While humor is appreciated, much of it in Just Cause 4 feels forced. The game might have benefited from a longer development cycle. The physics are inconsistent; sometimes accurate and believable, while other times the ragdoll physics are erratic, causing Rico to flail wildly when hit by projectiles, yet survive kilometer-long falls that would be fatal to even superheroes.

Extreme weather is awesome. Unfortunately, all press images seem to be from the PC version. Just Cause 4 unfortunately does not look nearly as good on console.

Avalanche Studios deserves recognition for their efforts to improve the vehicle and combat controls, which are generally well-implemented. While they functioned reasonably well in the third installment, the enhancements are welcome. The firefights can be enjoyably chaotic, but they become repetitive over time, and the objectives often boil down to “go to location X and perform task Y,” typically involving defending a person or hacking a computer. While this is a common foundation for open-world games, it can feel either repetitive (as is the case here and in later Assassin’s Creed titles) or compelling, as demonstrated by Witcher 3 (which boasts a superb narrative, a quality that Just Cause 4 doesn’t seem to prioritize).

It’s unfortunate that Just Cause 4 is plagued by so many minor issues, as it’s an entertaining action game at its core, a “mass distraction simulator.” It doesn’t aim to be profound or serious, but rather to provide fun and explosive action, which can be satisfying in moderation. However, the game is marketed and priced as a AAA title, and despite our desire to support Swedish and Stockholm-based developers, we must evaluate Just Cause 4 accordingly. In this context, it falls short compared to its competitors. The graphics often appear buggy and unpolished, even after a month since its official release and after applying the now-standard post-release patches (the latest of which was a 5 GB update yesterday). The game simply doesn’t look or play as expected for a 600-700 SEK title on a powerful console like the Xbox One X.

In conclusion, Just Cause 4 represents a missed opportunity. It’s not a bad game, but it’s far from exceptional. Fans of the third game and previous installments should consider it. Other console owners may want to wait for a price drop and further patches, if those ever materialize.