The sky darkens and the air browns as the sandstorm comes in. I struggle to run to shelter in the strong winds so grapple hook the short distance to a protective wall. As I hunker down I can see the glimpses of the base's disintegration through breaks in the dust. Fuel tanks shred and explode in the gale, Black Hand vehicles and soldiers whip past in the wind - anything without concrete foundations is fair game for the storm. When the weather settles down, the enemy base is a wreck. It would take me ten minutes and a ton of explosives to do what the storm has done in 30 seconds.
When Just Cause 4 works as advertised it's an incredible show, marrying an explosion-filled open world and the stunts and gadgets of a Mission Impossible movie with truly awesome extreme weather systems. However, those moments when all the parts of the sandbox come together are crushingly rare, and what's left is a game that's less coherent than its predecessor.
To me, the Just Cause series has always seemed more generous than other sandbox games. Tools and terrain aren't drip fed to you through the campaign, but are instead immediately available. As soon as you're through Just Cause 4's opening missions you have the entire island of Solis open to you and you're free to wingsuit, grapple, and parachute across it. Unlike Just Cause 3, that attached a progression system to your mobility gear, in this game your parachute and wingsuit both arrive fully-upgraded. All of this this means that after half an hour of playing I'm reminded of the simple joy of gliding over a luscious land, tipping my arms and swooping between the supports of a bridge.
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