Rico Rodriguez is back! I had the opportunity to take a special peek of Just Cause 2 with Peter Johansson, the Senior Game Designer.  The first installment of Just Cause was not received very favorably by most gaming outlets, but hopefully Just Cause 2 will change the face of the franchise.  Avalanche Studios has been hard at work in the studio creating an all new version of their Avalanche Engine just for the game.  So far, everything looks smoother and cleaner than the first installment.

In Just Cause 2,  Rico, a CIA black ops agent,  is relaxing in the isles of South America (probably celebrating his victory in Just Cause 1), when his old partner in crime, Maria Kane needs Rico's help.  You take the roll of Rico and are on a mission to overthrow an evil dictator Baby Panay, then hunt down and kill Tom Sheldon, his former boss.  It's up to you to use your aerial expertise and advanced grapple skills to take down everyone in your way. 

The demo I saw started out more than 30,000 feet in the air.  It wouldn't be Just Cause if Rico didn't jump out of the airplane and rocket straight towards Earth.  That's exactly what happened.  So now we need to get to the military base below without causing too much drama.  Using pull strings on the parachute, Rico lands safely on a small boat.  From here, Rico basically finds the most embarrassing way to kill all the military personnel.  Yes, we have a gun, but guns aren't as fun as grappling two enemies together and having their lives end as soon as their heads collide.   That isn't gruesome enough for you? Grapple someone off of the tower they are on and watch them fall to their death.  Still not cruel enough? How about grappling someone to the back of a moving car and watching their body get a major asphalt burn.  Anyway, you get the picture.  The grapple hook can get very amusing and fun.  It's up to you how you use it.  Use it to your advantage as well.  If there are people shooting at you from the truck in front of you, just grapple to the truck, and shoot them all in the face and steal their truck.  It's that easy.  If you choose to use weapons instead, just stop by your friendly black market to pick up the latest weapon and vehicle upgrades (over 2000 parts are available).

After you kill most all of the soldiers on the military base, you get the chance to shoot your rocket launcher at a bunch of silos.  Now that you've caused some real destruction, you better get the hell out of there.  So Rico took a nearby helicopter and flew away to go and rescue an agent's informant.  We want answers and we want them now! 

We see the informant and thus starts an epic car chase.  As mentioned earlier, feel free to grapple from vehicle to vehicle.  Plant explosives on the top of a vehicle and grapple away seconds before detonation.  If you want to wrestle someone out of the car, you need to pass the 4 button combo time test.  Eventually, we catch up to the informant.  Play the game if you want to know what happens to him.

Basically, Just Cause 2 is all about choices.  Over 300 different settlements to visit, over 100 vehicles (even a huge jumbo jet), tons of weapons, etc.  The game is HUGE.  How huge?  According to the Senior Game Designer, the game has the ability to occupy you for 90 hours or more.  With that kind of content, there is no need for multiplayer (which is not included in the game).  Prepare to spend a lot of time in the air grappling and parachuting (just like the first Just Cause).  The game looks beautiful too.  Not sure if it was because I was watching the demo on a large high definition projector screen, but check out the trailer below and see for yourself.  I wasn't able to get my greasy paws on the game, but unless Avalanche really tripped up with the controls and mechanics, this game will be a nice addition to your game library.  I'm not sure it will keep you coming back for 90 hours, but the content is there if you do fall in love with the game.

Thanks to Eidos and Avalanche for taking the time to show us Just Cause 2.  This high flying action sandbox game is coming to  your Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC in 2010.  Count on VGChartz to keep you up to date on any news regarding the game.

If you missed it, here's the Just Cause 2 E3 trailer: