Just Cause (video game)

Just Cause
Box art, featuring Rico Rodriguez
Developer(s)	Avalanche Studios
Publisher(s)	Eidos Interactive
Director(s)	Christofer Sundberg
Producer(s)	Fredrik Sjöö
Designer(s)	Magnus Nedfors
Programmer(s)	Andreas Thorsen Sara Roos Fredrik Lönn
Artist(s)	Stefan Ljungqvist
Writer(s)	Odd Ahlgren Matthew J. Costello Neil Richards
Composer(s)	Rob Lord
Series	Just Cause
Platform(s)	Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox Xbox 360
Release	EU: 22 September 2006 NA: 27 September 2006 AU: 29 September 2006
Genre(s)	Action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Just Cause is a 2006 third-person action-adventure game set in an open world environment. It is developed by Swedish developer Avalanche Studios and published by Eidos Interactive, and is the first game in the Just Cause series. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Xbox 360. The area explored during the game is described as being over 1,024 km² (395 sq mi) in size,^{[citation needed]} with 21 story missions and over 300 side missions to complete.^[1]

As of 23 April 2009, it has sold more than one million copies.^[2] A sequel to the game developed by Avalanche Studios, published by Eidos Interactive and distributed by Square Enix, titled Just Cause 2, was released in March 2010. Just Cause 3 was revealed in November 2014 and released in December 2015. Just Cause 4 was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in December 2018. It has been confirmed by the CEO of Square Enix, Yosuke Matsuda that a 5th is in development but should not be expected to be out any time soon.

The core gameplay consists of elements of a third-person shooter and a driving game, with a large, open world environment in which to move. On foot, the player's character is capable of walking, swimming, and jumping, as well as utilizing weapons and basic hand-to-hand combat. Players can take control of a variety of vehicles, including cars, boats, aircraft, helicopters, and motorcycles. Players can also perform stunts with their cars in which they can stand on the roof and jump to another car, or choose to open their parachute while still in motion on the roof. Other key features of the game include skydiving, base jumping, and parasailing (by latching onto a moving car or boat while one's parachute is deployed).

The open, non-linear environment allows players to explore and choose how they wish to play the game. Although storyline missions are necessary to progress through the game, players can complete them at their own leisure. When not taking on a storyline mission, players can roam freely. However, doing so can attract unwanted and potentially fatal attention from the authorities.

The player can partake in a variety of optional side missions, for example, liberating a village or taking over a drug cartel hideout. These are necessary to gain points with certain factions.^{[citation needed]}

Just Cause begins in 2006 ^[3] with Rico Rodriguez, an operative for an organization known only as the "Agency", being dropped into a Caribbean island nation called San Esperito to link up with his mentor and Agency superior, Tom Sheldon, and help him overthrow San Esperito's dictator, President Salvador Mendoza, whom the Agency believes to be in possession of weapons of mass destruction.^[4] After his arrival, Rico meets up with Sheldon and fellow agent Maria Kane, and they ally themselves with a guerrilla group and the Rioja drug cartel staging a rebellion against both Mendoza and the Montano drug cartel, which has exploited the corruption of the regime to expand its operations throughout San Esperito. Most of the game focuses on Rico's efforts to dismantle Mendoza's regime, eliminate the Black Hand mercenaries hired to oppress the people of San Esperito, and fight back against the cartels. Rico can also assist in the liberation of various territories to further destabilize the government's rule over the island.

Eventually, Sheldon discovers that Mendoza does, indeed, have control of WMDs, and with San Esperito lost to his control, the president is forced to retreat to his private island just off the mainland. To stop him from using the weapons, Sheldon and Kane fly Rico to the island, causing Mendoza to attempt an escape by jet. However, Rico boards the jet and kills Mendoza and his remaining bodyguards, ending his reign over the islands and allowing the Agency to secure the WMDs.^[5]

The game was in development for 3 years.^[6]

Reception

Review scores Publication Score PC PS2 Xbox Xbox 360 CGM [7] N/A N/A N/A EGM N/A 6.67/10[8] 6.67/10[8] 6.67/10[8] Eurogamer N/A N/A N/A 6/10[9] Famitsu N/A N/A N/A (X360) 32/40[10] 31/40[10] Game Informer 7.25/10[11] 7.25/10[11] 7.25/10[11] 7.25/10[11] GamePro N/A N/A N/A 4.25/5[12] GameSpot 7.2/10[13] 6.7/10[14] 7.2/10[13] 7.2/10[13] GameSpy N/A N/A N/A [15] GameTrailers N/A N/A N/A 7.6/10[16] GameZone N/A N/A 7.5/10[17] 7.9/10[18] IGN 6.8/10[19] 5.5/10[20] 6.8/10[21] (UK) 8.8/10[22] (US) 6.8/10[23] OPM (US) N/A 4/10[24] N/A N/A OXM (US) N/A N/A 8/10[25] 8.5/10[26] PC Gamer (US) 93%[27] N/A N/A N/A The Sydney Morning Herald [28] [28] [28] [28] The Times [29] [29] [29] [29] Aggregate score Metacritic 75/100[30] 67/100[31] 74/100[32] 73/100[33]

The PC version of Just Cause received "generally favourable reviews", while the rest of the console versions received "mixed or average" reviews, according to the review aggregation website Metacritic.^{[30][31][32][33]} In Japan, where the Xbox 360 version was ported for release under the name Just Cause: Viva Revolution and published by Electronic Arts on 8 November 2007, Famitsu gave it a score of 31 out of 40, while Famitsu Xbox 360 gave it a score of one seven, one eight, one nine, and one eight for a total of 32 out of 40.^[10]

IGN noted that the gameplay of the same console version lacked depth and that the side quests are boring and repetitive.^[23] The game suffers from its share of bug-related issues though, as noted by many reviewers, who felt the game may have been "rushed" to market without sufficient time to fix certain problems.^[9] The PlayStation 2 version, in particular, suffers from a number of 'game-killing' bugs that render certain missions impossible to complete, or the entire game unplayable until it is reset. Eidos had not released a patch for the PC or Xbox 360 versions of the game.

The Times gave the game all five stars and said, "Fans of the Nintendo SNES classic Pilotwings will literally jump at the chance to parachute from any of the aircraft for spectacular views of the vast landscape below. There is bound to be a sequel, because this original is so good."^[29] Edge gave the Xbox 360 version seven out of ten and said, "For all its quirks, the overriding impression of Just Cause is favourable. There's an almost childish enthusiasm at work here – and an unparalleled sense of freedom that can be enjoyed just as easily as it can be criticised."^[34] However, 411Mania gave the same console version 6.5 out of 10 and called it "a fun game but only a must-own by a wide stretch of the imagination."^[35] The Sydney Morning Herald gave the game three stars out of five and said, "Sloppy vehicle handling, some bugs in the design of the missions and the endless travel means it doesn't hit the same high notes as Grand Theft Auto and others, but the mindless action is still good dumb fun."^[29]

The Xbox 360 version stayed on top of the Xbox 360 sales chart in the UK for three weeks in a row.^[36]

• MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.^[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".^[2] This lengthy approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.^[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.^[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.^[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.^[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.^[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.^[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.^[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.^[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).^[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,^[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.^[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.^[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.^[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.^[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.^[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.^[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.^[17]

• IGDB – game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

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