Rico Rodriguez is a bad-boy CIA agent who's working undercover. He's at his best when overthrowing government rule, and his latest target is the island of San Esperito. Now, when I say "island," I'm not talking Jurassic Park or Key West. The game encompasses over 1,225 square miles of terrain. This includes mountains, urban areas, and beaches -- all of which Rico will be able to explore as he attempts to uncover the government's stash of weapons of mass destruction. Oh, and Avalanche ices the cake by claiming there will be no loading breaks. Gulp.
You have your everyday assortment of vehicles to jack and weapons to empty of ammo. However, the things I saw in the demo lead me to believe Just Cause goes beyond what you thought was possible in these types of games. In one sequence, the demo dude had Rico go all Teen Wolf and surf the top of a van. Once that was tiring, he leapt high in the air and popped his parachute -- which he steered to the top of a moving truck. He then removed the driver from the vehicle and got inside, all without setting foot on the ground.
Additionally, traveling by sea and air are pretty darn exciting. We witnessed Rico cruising in an F-15 style fighter plane which was as fast and responsive as you'd expect from an arcade flight game. Even watching him swim around underwater was breathtaking, thanks to some awesome water effects.
As for missions, Avalanche wants to give you the freedom to decide how to complete them. There's little to no linearity, so use any methods your sick mind can come up with to discover a solution. Having one of the 25 guns at the ready is a good place to start. You can also do side missions for the cops, the dope fiends, and the rebel military.
The demo was running on PC, and it looked pretty darn next-gen to me. How this will translate to current-gen PS2 and Xbox ports remains to be seen. Avalanche talks a big game, but this will be their first project, so anything can happen. But rest assured, there are a lot more reasons to keep your eyes on Just Cause than, "Just 'cuz."
