Just Cause 2 to get "a lot" of DLC
"We're going to have some fun," says dev.
Avalanche Studios has told Eurogamer that although "a lot" of Just Cause 2 DLC is planned, you will have enough on your plate wading through the extra content after the 15 to 20 hour main campaign has finished.
"Yeah, we're going to have some fun with DLC," beamed lead designer Peter Johansson, "but unfortunately I can't talk about the specifics.
"We're going to have a lot of DLC. We'll see what happens," he added with a grin. "DLC is important, but a game like Just Cause 2 can live pretty long because it's not just playing through the story and being done with it - there's the completion rating and playing with friends. That's what we do in the office!"
Johansson said his save file at the time of the interview was 60 per cent complete, a feat that had taken him 55 game hours to accomplish. Finishing the campaign, he explained, represents barely a quarter of what's on offer.
To this end, Avalanche and publisher Square Enix may produce a website to correlate user game-activity, a bit like Rockstar's Social Club for Grand Theft Auto IV.
"I'm not sure what the plans are from Square's side, but we are definitely going to do that for the game; we'll have these metrics, lots of metrics, and everything in as simple a form as we can do," said Johansson.
"In this game it's really fun to track completion rating as well, because this game is going to take people a long time to do!"
The PS3 version of Just Cause 2 allows you to record and upload videos to YouTube, and thus document your wacky stunt-filled adventure. But why did this not appear on Xbox 360?
"It was decided it was going to be an exclusive feature," said Johansson. "You know how it can be in the business."
Just Cause 2 is due for release on 26th March on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360. The idea is that you, Rico Rodriguez, must bring down the ruler of Panau island by causing as much chaos with your super-powered grappling hook as possible, working for various factions in the process.
It's silly, exaggerated and fun, and Avalanche is happy about that.
"This genre is getting crowded, so you really need to find your own direction and identity. We're not taking ourselves too seriously and a lot of the ideas in Just Cause 2 started out from testing fun ideas. I guess that's down to having freedom as a developer, and that's really fun to work with," said Johansson.
"I want a grappling hook in real life," he quipped. "That would be so cool!"
That tongue-in-cheek approach is reflected in the game's name, Just Cause.
"Sometimes I get people asking me about the political stuff and is this a political statement - maybe we are naive, ha ha, but we didn't think about it like that! We're not trying to do any political statement at all. We're not trying to shove any message down anyone's throat," promised Johansson.
Internet-dive into our Just Cause 2 gamepages below for our considerable coverage so far.