Retro Game Walkthroughs for Just Cause (Xbox 360)
Submitted By: Hannard
Just Cause
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Half Grand Theft Auto, half nineties Amiga game 'Hunter', Just Cause is a pretty entertaining game. Granted, the frame rate suffers a bit on the PS2, but it's still worth checking out on any of the four formats it's available on - PC, PS2, XBox and 360. But while your character can take a fair bit of damage, it's still not the easiest game in the world. And so, here are a few tips to help you on your way.
Tip 1. Auto-targeting rocks!
While the manual and the game do tell you about the over your shoulder view, the only reason to use it is to blow up barrels. And only then if there are enemies around the barrels. Otherwise, the auto-target makes it so easy to dispatch enemies that you shouldn't use anything else.
Tip 2. Heal-up!
While your character can take a lot of damage, health packs are far and few between. You'll only find them occasionally, when you kill an enemy. So remember to back to a nearby base and use the health box.
Tip 3. Vehicle drops are your friend!
There's no money system in this game, hence calling in outside assistance costs you nothing. If you're ever stuck without a vehicle, call in the dirt bike, it's a great off-road vehicle. If, on the other hand, you need firepower, the buggy - which is unlocked a few missions into the game - is pretty damn cool. Why? Because it carries rockets and machine guns, that's why. Pressing right will let you switch between machine guns and rockets. The rockets also auto-target on enemy vehicles which is handy. A word of warning, though - once you've set the smoke signal to call in a vehicle, move away. Otherwise the vehicle will be dropped right on your head, killing you. Which leads me neatly onto tip..
Tip 4. Remember the Green Cross Code.
Whereas in Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row you can be hit head-on by a car and survive, if that happens in this game, you're dead. And the cars won't grind to a halt the moment you walk in front of them, either. So watch out. This applies to enemy cars as well - the first time I played the game, I blew the soldiers away bad-ass style, only to be mown down by a blue police car. Not very dignified to say the least.
Tip 5. Know your side-missions.
Completing the side missions gets you extra weaponry and vehicles. And whereas the main story missions - which I won't spoil for you - are fairly varied, there are just a few basic types of side-missions.
Liberation: You have to run into a village, gun down the police or enemy drug cartel, and then blow up a blockade ramp with grenades. Repeat this three times, and the village is yours. It's fairly easy, the only sticking point being if you find yourself being unable to blow up a blockade ramp. The reason for this is that you can only blow up ramps in the order they're highlighted. The red arrows point to the one to destroy.
Assassination: You're tasked with killing someone. They may either be on foot or in a vehicle. If it's the former, it's fairly easy to off them - preferably by running them over. If they're in a car, it's trickier. You have two options. If you have a helicopter, or the rocket buggy, blow them to smithereens. Otherwise, get into stunt position, leap to the top of their car and get in. If they were driving, they'll be forced out and you can stop and kill them. If they were a passenger, then they still are and you can drive the car over a cliff, where the vehicle will explode and kill or at least severely wound them.
Collection: You'll be sent to pick up an item that has been stolen or sold or something. You may have to slaughter the people holding it to get away with it, but that's no great problem. The trouble is that you'll almost certainly end up being pursued by the police or drug cartels. The best way to deal with this is to either drive like the clappers or to take to the air and parachute as far away as you can. Unless there's a helicopter on your back, this lets you put some distance between you and your pursuers.
Hijacking: This is like collection, except harder. Because you have to actually get a vehicle and bring it back with you. If the vehicle gets damaged enough by your pursuers, it'll be destroyed. The secret to this is to stick to the roads and drive as fast as you can. It may be tempting to go off-road, but unless you've got a lot of flat ground between you and your drop-off point, you might damage the car. Plus, on the roads, there's actually traffic that can interfere with your perusers.
Tip 6. Choose your vehicles.
More vehicles become unlocked as the game progresses, but by and large the best two to go for are the military helicopter and the special-ops buggy. The former can be had by grappling one out of the sky, and the latter can be dropped by the agency when you collect it. Both are easy to control - the helicopter in particular is far easier to use than the one in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas - and they both fire rockets launch and fire machine guns which can be used to eliminate most foes with easy. Be careful, though. Rockets will also damage your vehicle if they're fired too close. If you really need to get across the countryside, the mountain bike is good too, but it's completely unarmed.
Tip 7. Master the parachute and grapple.
Right from the beginning of the game you have an infinite supply of parachutes, meaning you can freefall, open a parachute, freefall some more, and so on till you land. You can actually open your parachute very close to the ground without incurring damage. Pushing up on the joypad will make your character raise his legs, letting the parachute carry you further. You can also parachute off cliffs, high ledges, buildings and other places. Parachuting is a great way to get on top of enemy vehicles, or right slap bang into the middle of a heavily defended zone, bypassing the guard towers.
The grapple's allows you to hook onto any car and take to the air, but more usefully it can be used to take control of a helicopter. The way to do this is to get close to where the copter's hovering, then fire the grapple. This will hook you up, but actually commandeering the copter is harder. You have to push the grapple button and hold it down to reel yourself in, all the while keeping it in your sights. It's tricky to master, but once you get the hang of it, you can get yourself an armed-to-the-teeth vehicle that makes any mission easy.
Tip 8. Cunning Stunt Bonus!
While going into stunt mode and parading around on the roof of a car may look cool, it also has a purpose. When you're in stunt mode, you can steer your car - I have no idea how - but you can't speed it up. So what you can do is, if you're pursuing a character who's in a car, is ramp your car up to maximum speed, get close to the other car, go into stunt mode, and then leap over to his car, and jump inside it. You can do this with any vehicle, police included.
Tip 9. Police, Stop, Action!
You'll find yourself being pursued quite frequently in this game, either by the police, an enemy drug cartel, or both. If you're just facing pursuers in cars, you can get out and blast them all to hell fairly easily. The trouble starts when you've got helicopters after you. Their machine guns aren't accurate, but they can hit you from quite a long way away. If this happens, just get in a car and drive until your wanted rating goes down. Although if you're on a mission, it may not go down till the mission's over, in which case drive like the wind.
Tip 10: Arrr. Tis the black spot.
There are black spots scattered around the maps, which show vehicles and points of interest. What you might not realize is that these also crop up as useful features during missions. For example, on the mission where you have to destroy a load of drug fields, there are two black dots near the entrance to the fields. One is a truck full of toxic defoliant, and the other is a sprayer that also spreads defoliant. So jumping on one of these makes it much easier to destroy crops. Whenever you're on a mission, always check these dots out.
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Half Grand Theft Auto, half nineties Amiga game 'Hunter', Just Cause is a pretty entertaining game. Granted, the frame rate suffers a bit on the PS2, but it's still worth checking out on any of the four formats it's available on - PC, PS2, XBox and 360. But while your character can take a fair bit of damage, it's still not the easiest game in the world. And so, here are a few tips to help you on your way.
Tip 1. Auto-targeting rocks!
While the manual and the game do tell you about the over your shoulder view, the only reason to use it is to blow up barrels. And only then if there are enemies around the barrels. Otherwise, the auto-target makes it so easy to dispatch enemies that you shouldn't use anything else.
Tip 2. Heal-up!
While your character can take a lot of damage, health packs are far and few between. You'll only find them occasionally, when you kill an enemy. So remember to back to a nearby base and use the health box.
Tip 3. Vehicle drops are your friend!
There's no money system in this game, hence calling in outside assistance costs you nothing. If you're ever stuck without a vehicle, call in the dirt bike, it's a great off-road vehicle. If, on the other hand, you need firepower, the buggy - which is unlocked a few missions into the game - is pretty damn cool. Why? Because it carries rockets and machine guns, that's why. Pressing right will let you switch between machine guns and rockets. The rockets also auto-target on enemy vehicles which is handy. A word of warning, though - once you've set the smoke signal to call in a vehicle, move away. Otherwise the vehicle will be dropped right on your head, killing you. Which leads me neatly onto tip..
Tip 4. Remember the Green Cross Code.
Whereas in Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row you can be hit head-on by a car and survive, if that happens in this game, you're dead. And the cars won't grind to a halt the moment you walk in front of them, either. So watch out. This applies to enemy cars as well - the first time I played the game, I blew the soldiers away bad-ass style, only to be mown down by a blue police car. Not very dignified to say the least.
Tip 5. Know your side-missions.
Completing the side missions gets you extra weaponry and vehicles. And whereas the main story missions - which I won't spoil for you - are fairly varied, there are just a few basic types of side-missions.
Liberation: You have to run into a village, gun down the police or enemy drug cartel, and then blow up a blockade ramp with grenades. Repeat this three times, and the village is yours. It's fairly easy, the only sticking point being if you find yourself being unable to blow up a blockade ramp. The reason for this is that you can only blow up ramps in the order they're highlighted. The red arrows point to the one to destroy.
Assassination: You're tasked with killing someone. They may either be on foot or in a vehicle. If it's the former, it's fairly easy to off them - preferably by running them over. If they're in a car, it's trickier. You have two options. If you have a helicopter, or the rocket buggy, blow them to smithereens. Otherwise, get into stunt position, leap to the top of their car and get in. If they were driving, they'll be forced out and you can stop and kill them. If they were a passenger, then they still are and you can drive the car over a cliff, where the vehicle will explode and kill or at least severely wound them.
Collection: You'll be sent to pick up an item that has been stolen or sold or something. You may have to slaughter the people holding it to get away with it, but that's no great problem. The trouble is that you'll almost certainly end up being pursued by the police or drug cartels. The best way to deal with this is to either drive like the clappers or to take to the air and parachute as far away as you can. Unless there's a helicopter on your back, this lets you put some distance between you and your pursuers.
Hijacking: This is like collection, except harder. Because you have to actually get a vehicle and bring it back with you. If the vehicle gets damaged enough by your pursuers, it'll be destroyed. The secret to this is to stick to the roads and drive as fast as you can. It may be tempting to go off-road, but unless you've got a lot of flat ground between you and your drop-off point, you might damage the car. Plus, on the roads, there's actually traffic that can interfere with your perusers.
Tip 6. Choose your vehicles.
More vehicles become unlocked as the game progresses, but by and large the best two to go for are the military helicopter and the special-ops buggy. The former can be had by grappling one out of the sky, and the latter can be dropped by the agency when you collect it. Both are easy to control - the helicopter in particular is far easier to use than the one in Grand Theft Auto San Andreas - and they both fire rockets launch and fire machine guns which can be used to eliminate most foes with easy. Be careful, though. Rockets will also damage your vehicle if they're fired too close. If you really need to get across the countryside, the mountain bike is good too, but it's completely unarmed.
Tip 7. Master the parachute and grapple.
Right from the beginning of the game you have an infinite supply of parachutes, meaning you can freefall, open a parachute, freefall some more, and so on till you land. You can actually open your parachute very close to the ground without incurring damage. Pushing up on the joypad will make your character raise his legs, letting the parachute carry you further. You can also parachute off cliffs, high ledges, buildings and other places. Parachuting is a great way to get on top of enemy vehicles, or right slap bang into the middle of a heavily defended zone, bypassing the guard towers.
The grapple's allows you to hook onto any car and take to the air, but more usefully it can be used to take control of a helicopter. The way to do this is to get close to where the copter's hovering, then fire the grapple. This will hook you up, but actually commandeering the copter is harder. You have to push the grapple button and hold it down to reel yourself in, all the while keeping it in your sights. It's tricky to master, but once you get the hang of it, you can get yourself an armed-to-the-teeth vehicle that makes any mission easy.
Tip 8. Cunning Stunt Bonus!
While going into stunt mode and parading around on the roof of a car may look cool, it also has a purpose. When you're in stunt mode, you can steer your car - I have no idea how - but you can't speed it up. So what you can do is, if you're pursuing a character who's in a car, is ramp your car up to maximum speed, get close to the other car, go into stunt mode, and then leap over to his car, and jump inside it. You can do this with any vehicle, police included.
Tip 9. Police, Stop, Action!
You'll find yourself being pursued quite frequently in this game, either by the police, an enemy drug cartel, or both. If you're just facing pursuers in cars, you can get out and blast them all to hell fairly easily. The trouble starts when you've got helicopters after you. Their machine guns aren't accurate, but they can hit you from quite a long way away. If this happens, just get in a car and drive until your wanted rating goes down. Although if you're on a mission, it may not go down till the mission's over, in which case drive like the wind.
Tip 10: Arrr. Tis the black spot.
There are black spots scattered around the maps, which show vehicles and points of interest. What you might not realize is that these also crop up as useful features during missions. For example, on the mission where you have to destroy a load of drug fields, there are two black dots near the entrance to the fields. One is a truck full of toxic defoliant, and the other is a sprayer that also spreads defoliant. So jumping on one of these makes it much easier to destroy crops. Whenever you're on a mission, always check these dots out.