Rico calls upon the resources and abilities of a quirky cast of destructive helpmates. It’s more a game about people who’ll do whatever it takes to overthrow a dictator … while joking about the mass destruction and chaotic carnage they leave in their smoking, smoldering wake. That doesn’t mean, however, that this is a game about the good guys winning the day. It’s up to ever-resourceful Rico to return home, connect with his bumbling boyhood bud, Mario, and aid rebel forces in toppling the General’s ill-gotten annexed empire. In this go-round, Rico’s thump-a-tyrant mission is personal: Malevolent General Di Ravello has amassed military might and grabbed Rico’s homeland of Medici with an iron fist. Just Cause 3‘s protagonist is one Rico Rodriguez, a guy who’s really good at giving power-hungry dictators a case of despot dyspepsia. Which means making sure players can blow up … everything. But when it comes to the Just Cause franchise, its designers have sought to make their roving digital adventures pop by making their games, well, pop. Some do so by focusing on extreme sword-and-sandal fantasy. Of course, with each new pick-your-path contest, the gamemakers’ challenge is to make sure theirs stands out from the pack. These days you can’t drop an Xbox controller or a crumpled potato chip bag in the average gaming area without hitting one or two such games. Open-sandbox adventures seem to be the genre du jour.
