Just Cause Preview

By Tom Bramwell Published 21 August, 2006

Para trippin'.

Just Cause is the kind of game that makes even James Bond's more improbable antics look positively sane. Rather like our favourite cocktail-shaking military spy, the game's hero, Rico, comes equipped with all sorts of high-tech gadgets, can fire all manner of stupidly powerful weapons - but with sillier hair. But it all goes a bit crazy, as you soon find out.

For a start, Rico has a parachute which allows him to casually jump out of planes and land directly on the roof of a speeding car with ease, or whip out his grappling hook to grab the back of a vehicle, then open his parachute and rise up into the air for a bit of motorway paragliding. As you do. But our particular favourite sees Rico shoot his grappling hook up to reach a helicopter, pull himself up to grab onto its tail, and then simply leap into the cockpit.

All in a day's work, it seems. Now we just need the cocktail.

In short, Just Cause is the kind of unhinged action game that lets you do stuff you wouldn't be able to do in real life - whether that's driving cars at ridiculous speeds, shooting planes down with giant guns or, you know, paragliding down a motorway. And we can't help loving it for it.

Set on the fictional island of San Esperito, the game world measures an incredible 32 by 32 kilometres, or 253,036 acres, and is made up in 34 provinces. In other words, it's huge; the "biggest world ever in a game", according to Eidos, with the exception of some flight sims. The capital city alone, they reckon, is equal in size to GTA's Liberty City.

It's a tropical paradise, complete with lush jungles, sandy beaches and crystal clear waters. Oh, plus corrupt police, homicidal guerrillas and a mentalist dictatorial regime. Rico's agency has decided it's about time said regime got turfed out, and that he's the man for the job - so the start of the game sees you parachuting in from a carrier plane high above the island.

Free as a bird

'Just Cause' Screenshot 1

Meet Rico, a man who's afraid of nothing. But never remembers to turn the gas off.

As you descend into freefall, you get your first taste of the sense of freedom offered by the game. Rico's parachute features some kind of crazy new CIA technology that allows you to release and retract the 'chute at any point. The 360 degree camera allows you go get a full view of the island, and a feeling for just how much ground you're going to have to cover.

On landing, you'll notice a high level of detail to the environments - in the Xbox 360 version, which is the one we got to see, you can zoom right in to see individual blades of grass, if you like that sort of thing, and there are some great light and shadow effects. The island also has a full, randomly generating weather system (unless you're playing the PS2 version), complete with rain, thunder and lightning.

But who cares about all that nonsense? There's work to be done. There are 21 story missions, which might not sound like an awful lot, but then there are the nine racing missions, 13 collecting missions and 112 side missions. Oh, and 135 missions which see you "liberating" the likes of military strongholds, government bases and drug barons' villas. So nearly 300 in total, then - which is in itself a silly number.

Your first priority will be to work out how to get around the island - which generally involves nicking yourself a nice vehicle. There are nearly 90 different types in the game, and while most of these are 1950s cars, you can also expect to see lorries, motorbikes, tanks, jetskis and the like.

But don't go thinking it's simply a matter of pulling off a quick carjack and driving off at speed. That's perfectly possible, of course, but why not make things a bit more interesting by pressing the A button to adopt a "stunt position" on the vehicle's roof? Yes, very silly, but rather cool all the same.

From that position, you can release your parachute, if you so desire, and go soaring up into the air. And once you're flying, you can use your grappling hook to grab on to the vehicle, which will then pull you along. Best of all, you can then retract the grapple before releasing it to grab the car in front, repeating the maneouevre to pull yourself right along the road using all the vehicles you can see like some kind of funky monkey bars. Ace.

Action stations

'Just Cause' Screenshot 2

Makes a nice change from the tube, anyway.

Once you've reached the location of your mission, as indicated on the map and by arrows in-game, the fun really begins. To demonstrate this, Eidos showed us a mission where your task is to intercept a drug dealer arriving at the airport, and get rid of him so you can take his place and get in with the local cartel.

Now, the simplest way to do this, of course, would be to get yourself a vehicle, race after his car, and shoot the beggar. But where's the fun in that? Instead, you can use your parachute to land directly on the car he's in, then kick out the driver and take his place, so that the drug dealer is now your prisoner. Nice.

Once again, you could just shoot him at this point. But why bother when you can put your foot down and drive straight towards the edge of a cliff, leaping out and releasing your parachute at precisely the last moment? Thus leaving the car and its passenger to meet a grisly end on the rocks below...

Of course, things don't always work out they way you might have planned, what with the police, the drug dealers and the guerrillas to contend with. If you find yourself in a tight spot at any time, you can call for an extraction via your PDA. This will send up a smoke flare, and a helicopter will pop down, pick you up and return you to your safe house, where you can stock up on health power-ups, guns and ammo.

As you might expect, there's a wide range of weapons to choose from - the best one we saw was the rocket launcher, which is handy for blowing up helicopters and causing absolute carnage on the streets.

But if you get tired of all that carnage, or of completing all those missions, it looks like there's still fun to be had just exploring the island, what with it being so vast and varied. According to Eidos, environments include an oil rig you can base jump off and a volcano with a whorehouse in the middle - can't wait to see that one.

Or why not go for a swim off one of the island's glorious beaches? Once again, the level of detail here is amazing - pop your head under the water and you'll see ridges in the sand, tiny fish swimming out in and out of coral reefs, evil-eyed sharks and even sunken wrecks. And if you're feeling lazy you can always hoon around on your underwater scooter.

Take your pick

'Just Cause' Screenshot 3

'Wheeeeeee!' Or perhaps not.

Of course, your idea of fun might not be mucking about in the sea, scooter or no scooter - but the point is, Just Cause is designed to offer loads of different options. If you like zooming around in fast cars, you can go right ahead; if you're a Pilotwings fan, you might find the parachute becomes your preferred mode of transport. If you get bored of one mission, you can just leave it for later - there are plenty of others to choose from. Of course, you'll probably want to try out the old grappling hook-helicopter trick at some point, because it's just great fun.

Which, by the looks of things, pretty much sums up Just Cause. It's all about mucking about with big guns, experimenting with your parachute and grappling hook, working out which vehicles get you where you need to be fastest, discovering exciting locations and generally exploring all the game's elements - and having a great time doing it all.

And from what we've seen so far, it all works well; there were some issues with collision and vehicle handling, and at times it seemed we were spending too much time getting from place to place and not enough in the heart of the action. But Eidos assured us we were playing an old build of the game, and that these problems have been ironed out for the finished version. So if you've had enough of gritty urban gangbangers, hyper-realistic shooters and fancy something a bit more unhinged, Just Cause looks well worth keeping an eye out for.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (60) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • templar-wizard #1 6 years ago

    I would like to play a hyper-realistic shooter. Could you name one?

  • Scimarad #2 6 years ago

    Sounds like an awful lot of fun. Plus I'd rather play someone who has a positive reason for causing all the mayhem even if it an incredibly tenuous one.

    /is bored of gangsters

    Edited by 2 at 21/08/06 @ 07:41

  • reality_cheque #3 6 years ago

    I'll have to keep my eye out for a demo, this looks interesting :)

  • TripSkyway #4 6 years ago

    Sounds great, I liked the look of the videos. Nice to hear it's as fun as it looked.

  • richardiox #5 6 years ago

    Demo still due this week?

  • Ryuken #6 6 years ago

    "I would like to play a hyper-realistic shooter. Could you name one?"

    Wait for Armed Assault or Enemy Insight, if they ever come out though.

  • sharpfish #7 6 years ago

    The most important question, tearing or no tearing?

  • TheChojin #8 6 years ago

    This game looks much better then anything a PS3 could ever do init.

  • bag-in-box #9 6 years ago

    The most important question, a lot of bloom or a hell a lot of bloom

  • magicpocket #10 6 years ago

    The most important question right now is did Pakistan cheat? but that has nothing to do with this.

  • mr rick #11 6 years ago

    I like the "never remembers to turn the gas off" caption a lot.

    More than I suspect I would like this game.

  • UncleLou #12 6 years ago

    Sounds interesting, but also very much like Boiling Point, including the problem that it just takes too damn long to get anywhere.

    Btw, from what I've read, the island on which the demo (out this week on the 360 and a few days later on the PC) takes place has been created specifically for the demo and won't be in the full game.

  • Huntcjna #13 6 years ago

    Im looking forward to this seems like it will be fun, roll on the demo.

  • S.J.Rogers #14 6 years ago

    Cant wait... This game is sounding better and better with ever bit if info i read.

    Moved to the top of my wish list....!

  • Grump #15 6 years ago

    Suddenly lost all interest in Saints Row. This seems to take the whole sandbox genre a bit further.

  • Darkuss #16 6 years ago

    I guess the PS2 version will suffer from a slew of problems due to technical limitations. Unfortunately, it's the only version I can go with :(

  • PearOfAnguish #17 6 years ago

    The capital city alone, they reckon, is equal in size to GTA's Liberty City.

    This worries me. Liberty City is stuffed with detail, what are the chances that Just Cause has lots of bland copy and paste streets?

    EG: In your experience, how often have you played an 'early build' of a game that had issues the developer/publisher assured you would be gone for the release, which actually WERE gone for the release? Not a rhetorical question - genuinely curious.

    I'm not speaking for EG, but often when devs send out or demonstrate preview code they'll have a list of bugs printed out. In my experience if they're aware of and tell you about them beforehand the majority are fixed for the final version. I've seen several games though where the bugs just popped up during the demo and were still present in the final (although once or twice I've seen the guy demoing whip out his mobile phone and call the playtesters to tell them about an unknown bug that's just been discovered).
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 10:26

  • the_dudefather #18 6 years ago

    looking foward to this myself, and with saints row and crackdown (maybe) out in the same month its looking good for xbox 360 sandbox adventures (as i have come to call them)

    edit: the elder scrolls: daggerfall had about 160,000 square miles of explorable area, ok, most of this was automatily created and generic looking, but still...
    Edited by 2 at 21/08/06 @ 10:51

  • Donny #19 6 years ago

    Does anyone remember Boiling Point.

    /shudders

    I hope its not another one like that.

    /shudders

  • sharpfish #20 6 years ago

    "Important because you won't buy it if there's some tearing?"

    I won't buy it if it's crap regardless of tearing. If it's an amazing game I will put up with mild tearing. If it has as much tearing and performance issues as quite a few other substandard 360 demos have had recently then I wont be buying no. On a 32" or larger LCD TV tearing is unbearable to anyone with an ounce of knowledge to what "next gen" is supposed to have down as the minimum before they pile on the bloom and the poly counts, or for that matter what "plug and play" or "known and consistent hardware speed" means on consoles and why games should never have to rely on disable vsync on a console (a cheap hack by another name). On PC it's fine, on a "next gen" console and a large HDTV it sucks enormous donkey dick. deal.

  • Darren #21 6 years ago

    @Sharpfish - I share the same view as you as regards v-sync tearing in Xbox 360 games. It really is a big issue on the Xbox 360 especially as it's much more noticeable on HDTVs and high-definition is, after all, the Xbox 360's biggest selling point. It seems bizarre that developers continue to ignore it. I'm starting to think that HD gaming is just a waste of time and wish for 480p games with anti-aliasing rather than 720p ones with slowdown and v-sync tearing. Thank goodness for Nintendo's Wii, eh?

    I'd rather have less effects and detail so long as the framerate is smooth and tear-free. As you say on the PC it's an option which is fine, that's how it should be, but on the consoles you're left at the mercy of the developers so if it annoys the heck out of you, as it does me, you have no option but to reconsider buying it on the console and hope the game comes out on the PC! There's no real excuse for tearing on fixed spec hardware like the Xbox 360 especially hardware that's reputedly 11 to 13 times more powerful than the Xbox...

  • S.J.Rogers #22 6 years ago

    I have a 50" HD Plasma, should i be worried?
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 11:07

  • kaosridder #23 6 years ago

    darren - I wonder if its a hardwareissue, 'cause there is actually tearing even in my dashboardsequence.

  • fletcherr #24 6 years ago

    There's a volcano with a whorehouse in it? Is that a Pastafarianism reference (beer volcano / stripper factory)?

  • BadBoyBonner #25 6 years ago

    Templar Wizard

    "I would like to play a hyper-realistic shooter. Could you name one?"

    Operation Falshpoint on the highest setting, it goes from marginal difficulty to a total git!

    *edit* Obviously I am talking about the PC version, which also features no tearing or v-sync issues even on an old voodoo card! lol
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 11:15

  • BadBoyBonner #26 6 years ago

    Kaos Ridder

    I agree, I get tearing in my dashboard, which is horrid. WTF must they be thinking it makes it look like some kind of decrepit CDi player or something! Not being able to run the Dashboard at 60 FPS doesn't exactly fill you with awe for the raw power of the machine! lol Perhaps it's calculating Pi to power of 10 or something as it does it to show off or something! lol
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 11:25

  • DrDamn #27 6 years ago

    @Darren
    What does the hardware have to do with whether this will be an issue or not. Same goes for a solid 60fps. These things as features have been around for many generations of hardware - why should this generation be any different to the last?

    Developers will still try to push the game/hardware beyond their own capabilities (or given time frames) and they won't achieve them. They have to try and compete with other developers in visual terms in order to get noticed. This situation will always exist regardless of hardware.

  • BadBoyBonner #28 6 years ago

    [link url=htt p://www.geocities.com/hjsmithh/Pi/Records.html
    ]http://ww w.geocities.com/hjsmithh/Pi/Rec...[/link]

    but after checking it out can not see the xbox360 breaking any new records in that field! lol

  • BadBoyBonner #29 6 years ago

    @DrDamn

    Come on mate, even the Pc-Engine (first released in Japan by NEC on October 30, 1987) could flawlessly scroll one screen ontop of the other without tearing, I am sure it isn't too much to ask! lol

  • Xerx3s #30 6 years ago

    This game looks sooooo good and is soooo large, htf would it run on the xbx and ps2? Are there screenshots of those versions?

  • DrDamn #31 6 years ago

    @BadBoyBonner
    You are kinda agreeing with me there. I'm not making excuses for the X360 hardware - far from it. My point is that machines have been able to do this for years and years, but games have also been released for years with poor frame rates and vsync problems. Having new and more powerful hardware doesn't solve issues like this. Give developers more power and they will use it for loads of things and only the best devs will get the balance right so the game looks great and runs great.

  • BadBoyBonner #32 6 years ago

    Xerx3's

    PS2 - Shots
    http://uk .gamespot.com/ps2/action/justca...
    Edited by 3 at 21/08/06 @ 11:42

  • Placebo #33 6 years ago

    @Ryuken: Wait for Armed Assault or Enemy Insight, if they ever come out though.

    ArmA's coming out for sure, see more at GC ;)
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 11:34

  • glaeken #34 6 years ago

    So how different is the 360 version to the other versions? That is really what I would like to know. Have they made improvements beyond just running in a higher resolution. I think the game sounds great fun I just would like to think it has been made a proper 360 game rather than a tarted up last gen game.

    Oh and I think this site needs a script that can cut all talk about tearing out of threads and paste them all into a sticky thread in the main forum titled "Endlessly talk about tearing until you feel like bashing in your own skull with a rock just to make it stop"

  • Fatfish #35 6 years ago

    /looks at PS2 screens
    /feels sorry for Xerxes/PS2 owners

    I'm actually looking forward to this game. If they can keep the balance right and the frame rate nice and steady, this could be a real blast. The parachute/grappling hook ideas sound excellent - it just comes down to how the dev implements them. Keeping my fingers crossed though - would much rather this than Saints Row.

  • BadBoyBonner #36 6 years ago

    @DrDamn

    So exactly how much of the hardware resources do you think the dashboard screen uses exactly? Or how much do you think it should use?

    Personally the first time I used it and I saw it jerk an splutter I was embarrassed, it was like Sir Clive Sinclair had designed a dashboard chip made from an old Casio calculator or something. Maybe it’s just the American way of doing something and I am in love with the Japanese way; but not getting the dashboard right , for whatever reason, just plain sucks.

  • Steroyd #37 6 years ago

    That's not too bad for a PS2 game, looks better than GTA:SA anyways. :)

  • BadBoyBonner #38 6 years ago

    @Glaeken

    Tried the "rock-to-my-head-hack" but alas it didn't work, I still get V-sync an tearing issues.

  • kangarootoo #39 6 years ago

    @sharpfish

    "On a 32" or larger LCD TV tearing is unbearable to anyone with an ounce of knowledge to what "next gen" is supposed to have down as the minimum before they pile on the bloom and the poly counts, or for that matter what "plug and play" or "known and consistent hardware speed" means on consoles and why games should never have to rely on disable vsync on a console (a cheap hack by another name)"

    Holy cow, that is quite some sentence you have there.

    I'm one of the few that doesn't really care that much about tearing. I certainly don't see minor tearing as a deal breaker, not even remotely. Stuff like gameplay sits way above that in my list of priorities.

    I'm not sure you can go around accusing those who don't care about tearing as not having "an ounce of knowledge" regarding what next-gen is supposed to be all about. Maybe I missed a whitepaper publishing party, but I don't recall seeing any definitive standard of what "next-gen" is actually supposed to mean (I've seen plenty of web bourne arguments about it though).

    We all have different requirements from our games, so lets not try and get all highbrow by pretending there is any kind of right or wrong rules about any of this.

  • kangarootoo #40 6 years ago

    @BadBoyBonner

    Getting tearing on the dash actually sounds more like an issue with your TV than the 360. What kind of TV do you have, there might be some setting tweaks that could help?

  • DrDamn #41 6 years ago

    @BBB
    Dashboard by itself not vsyncing is poor yes. When used in game I guess it can't vsync as it could affect the running of the game in the background maybe? Dunno I think I've slipped into talking crap now :-)

  • BadBoyBonner #42 6 years ago

    -*Kangarootoo*-


    50" Plasma [link url=http://www.planetmicro.co.uk/product_info.asp?sto ckcode=M005329
    ]http://ww w.planetmicro.co.uk/product_inf...[/link]

    19" Widescreen LCD Videoseven monitor [link url=http://www.europc.co.uk/pages/ProductDetail.aspx?PID=6 9944
    ]http://ww w.europc.co.uk/pages/ProductDet...[/link]

    EPSON EMP7950L
    [link url=http://www.projectors.co .uk/pp/Fixed_Installation_Projectors/EPSON_EMP7950L_NO_LENS. html
    ]http://ww w.projectors.co.uk/pp/Fixed_Ins...[/link]

    That’s everything I own, and I have used the 360 on all of them all, at there native resolutions, and it does it on all of them and some upscaled resolutions too. Plus tried using the 720p res with HD leads instead of the VGA cable and it still did it.
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 12:07

  • BadBoyBonner #43 6 years ago

    Obviously it is not everything I own, I am not sat writing this sat on an orange crate, just meant it was everything I use to display an xbox 360 image. My mates xbox 360 does the same thing on his Sony plasma too.

  • Darren #44 6 years ago

    "@Darren

    What does the hardware have to do with whether this will be an issue or not. Same goes for a solid 60fps. These things as features have been around for many generations of hardware - why should this generation be any different to the last?

    Developers will still try to push the game/hardware beyond their own capabilities (or given time frames) and they won't achieve them. They have to try and compete with other developers in visual terms in order to get noticed. This situation will always exist regardless of hardware."

    The point is that we are seeing more games with v-sync tearing on the Xbox 360 in just the first few months of its life than we saw on the Xbox at the same stage and that's worrying. It was months into the Xbox's life before games came out with v-sync issues, understandable given that developers were starting to push the hardware. Anyway tearing isn't anywhere near as nauseating on a standard definition TV as it is on a 26" HDTV IMO.

    On the Xbox 360 though, unless the game is a "port" of a last-gen game like Hitman Blood Money or Far Cry Instincts Predator, it seems that nearly all the exclusive games have v-sync issues... MotoGP '06, Test Drive Unlimited (demo), Saints Row (demo), Chromehounds, Perfect Dark Zero, Madden NFL '06, Dead Rising (very slight admittedly), Ghost Recon: AW, NFS: Most Wanted, etc. etc. What's disturbing is that many of these games only run at 30 fps and in the case of MotoGP '06, the Xbox versions managed to run at 60fps with v-sync on hardware far less powerful than the 360. Now the developers, Climax, said they couldn't achieve 60 fps with v-sync yet they managed it for the first MotoGP game which came out during the Xbox's first year!!! The Saints Row developers say they can't achieve 30 fps with v-sync yet GTA on the Xbox managed it albeit at a lower resolution.

    Why is that?

    It seems like that must be something seriously wrong with the Xbox 360 if it can't run the same kind of games as the Xbox but prettier and in high-definiton with v-sync on but I'm sure that's not the case. Yes, I know the Xbox 360 is new hardware and developers have yet to master it fully but surely they should be learning to walk before they run if that's the case? It would seem that they are attempting to push the hardware too much when they don't know how to fully use it yet. Would anyone really have missed the dynamic cloud shadows or HDR lighting in MotoGP '06 if they'd been removed in favour of adding v-sync and stablising the dodgy framerate on certain corners? I know I wouldn't have. They could have added those for the sequel, once they'd refined the engine and mastered the hardware more.
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 12:19

  • dr_zoidthrob #45 6 years ago

    Ellie... the subtitle - is that a little play on The Almighty album Powertrippin'??

  • Darren #46 6 years ago

    I should add that I read on a website months before the Xbox 360 launched from someone who attended a Microsoft Developers Conference and at this conference the issue of v-sync tearing was raised. Microsoft's response was that they didn't care about it so long as the game's looked good in hi-def.

    Now I don't know if that is true or not but it did ring alarm bells when I read it at the time that many 360 games would have tearing and here we are now with many Xbox 360 games suffering from these v-sync issues.

    I only hope that Sony and Nintendo are more aware of these issues and pick up on them during the testing and quality assurance stage.

    Now back to Just Cause...
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 12:21

  • McP #47 6 years ago

    Ack! Evil bloom!
    I can't stand that effect - it made Mercenaries unplayable for me, so I shall definitely not be getting this game.

  • asphaltcowboy #48 6 years ago

    Sounds fun

  • Madder-Max #49 6 years ago

    Cannot....wait....for...this! :oD

  • kangarootoo #50 6 years ago

    @BadBoyBonner

    Wow, thats a lot of different kit, so it sounds unlikely that its an issue with your various screens.

    Specifically, do you see the tearing issue when at the front end, or when you open the dash over a game that is running?

    I see some jerkiness and tearing in a lot of cases if I open the sadh over the top of a game, but I figiure thats fine because the XB will restrict CPU time given to the dash when other more important stuff is going on. I've never seen tearing at the front end with no game running, but I am starting to suspect my eyes are just a bit crap. (either that or they are awsome and do their own image smoothing, but probably not) :)


    @Darren

    I think DrDamn made the point very well that however powerful the HW in question, it can always be overloaded should a developer choose to do so. I'm sure we all sigh when we read yet another internet comment along the lines of "high FPS AND high polycount", not "getting" that all of these things are variables and increasing one has to bite into something else.

    Anyway, seems to me that this is more about the decisions made by devs than the HW itself. If we are seeing a lot of games that suffer frame draw issues whilst displaying groovy new visual effects (as you suggest with your MotoGP06 example) then it was the decision to strike that (im)balance that is the cause, not the 360 itself.

    You wrote "but surely they should be learning to walk before they run if that's the case", but I wonder if that is really what the public want. We are a fickle lot, easily won over by stunning visual effects. Each dev has to decide what is more important to the customer, high frame rate, locked vsync. And that a nigh on impossible task as we will always find something to fault anyway.

    Some devs will get it right, some will be off base, but I think that has always been the case rather than being a symptom of this new generation of systems. I'm sure the PS3 and Wii will have similar instances and situations to face.

  • The-Bodybuilder #51 6 years ago

    This tearing crap is tedious.
    My 27" lcd tv has run games without ANY tearing whatsoever. Not once.

    But then again, i run it through vga, so maybe that's the reason why.

  • BadBoyBonner #52 6 years ago

    Mine is through VGA and it does do it. For a fantastic example play MotoGP 06 demo in multiplayer.

  • mingster #53 6 years ago

    i don't get it.. i just looked at my mates 360 on his plasma and i can't see any tearing on the dashboard.

    Its a bit 'clunky' going between screens but doesn't seem like tearing.

    I can't see why you'd get tearing on the dash.. doesn't sound right.

    i thought you only get it in 3D games when you scroll left and right quickly or go into or out of the screen and the VSync doesn't quite catch up. How does this relate to the dash?
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 13:47

  • BadBoyBonner #54 6 years ago

    All told I just think they should have had a simple separate 2D chip, a blitter or something to handle the dash, it smacks of cheap penny pinching design.

    Maybe they will fix it in an update, but would accept Dashboard tearing if it meant could have Divx/xvid playback any day of the week.

    Why don’t they have a super-advanced menu section that you can only get to by going on-line and searching it, then punching it into the xbox360 thus keeping it away from the masses(or even letting them stumble into it) and offereing tech heads (me for instance) untold pleasures of pissing about with the settings Enabling direct control over such features as anti-aliasing on off level etc, ansiotrpoic filtering on off level etc, HDR lighting on off, V-Sync on off etc, thus creating a community aspect of stating what runs best with what settings etc. It’s clearly suffering with the PC style glitches so why not take a little of the community benefit?

    *Kangarootoo -Doesn’t do it when only on the dashboard, although has been known while signing back in from an xbox one session where returning to the dash it signs me in automatically(had to sign out for the 60Hz 50 Hz shenanigans of VGA xbox one emulation).

    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 13:41

  • Krun #55 6 years ago

    Nice twist on the GTA idea. Gangstars are so last decade anyway.

  • #56 6 years ago

    Ellie,
    I really liked your article. Although the game doesn't interest me one bit.

  • Atropos #57 6 years ago

    I've played early builds of both this and Saint's Row, and Just Cause was by far the most impressive. The graphics engine is just sickeningly cool (wait 'til you see the next generation of this engine, Avalanche showed me the latest PC version in late '05 and it was proper mind-blowing stuff).

  • captainrentboy #58 6 years ago

    I've got a Samsung hdtv,and I tend to get tearing on every 360 game that reportedly has it(Sadly I've noticed it in the dead rising demo too)although I've never ever had any tearing on the dashboard,that seems like a faulty 360 to me.
    Anyway back to Just Cause,I wasn't particularly interested in this game until just recently,there seems to be a lot of positive previews coming out for it online and I just watched the trailer on the 360 marketplace and it looks like a lot of fun (Especially the driving cars off of cliffs malarky)so I think i'll end up getting this as opposed to Saints Row,as like a few of you said the whole 'gangsta' thing is getting really tiresome now.
    Ohh and graphics wise I thought it looked pretty sweet,the jungle settings looked far lusher and more detailed than Far Cry's did,although admitedly that isn't the biggest of compliments.
    Edited by 1 at 21/08/06 @ 17:40

  • Xerx3s #59 6 years ago

    Xerx3's

    PS2 - Shots
    http://uk .gamespot.com/ps2/action/justca...

    Wow, for a ps2 version, that actually looks pretty good.

    /looks at PS2 screens
    /feels sorry for Xerxes/PS2 owners

    Why would you feel sorry for me?

  • Duckers #60 6 years ago

    Yeah, Xerx3s, that's what I was thinking. I have a PS2, and it looks damn good. What are you talkin' about, people? Huh? What is it?! And, what's 'tearing on the dashboard'?

  • miiiguel #61 6 years ago

    what's "tearing on the dashboard" ? Is it good ? Should I have it ?