Just Cause has never been known for its story. It's no secret that Just Cause 2 was an amazing game, but that was thanks to its gameplay: the story was largely forgettable.
If you could manage to get past the terrible voice acting and cartoonishly stereotypical characters, you were greeted with a rather blasé story about taking down a foreign dictator. It didn't ruin the game, but it certainly didn't make it any better, either.
With Just Cause 3, Avalanche Studios is giving the game's story some extra TLC. Just Cause 3 won't be another case of Rico wandering through a random island full of random strangers, it's a far more personal story about fighting for one's homeland. Even just the premise is a big step up from the second game — and that's just the beginning.
More missions, fleshed-out characters, a more believable world — it's all building toward a bigger, better Just Cause. That's not to say the series is suddenly going to start taking itself seriously: this is still a game in which you can lasso an enemy to a gas tank and watch him rocket into the sky. This time, however, you'll actually care why you're doing it.
It's good to know that, despite the extra efforts to make the story better, the team isn't taking itself too seriously. Just Cause has always been a series about pulling off some of the craziest stunts imaginable, and trying to force a gritty death or some half-baked romance into the story would just take away from what makes the games fun.
Plus, the voice acting and motion capture already looks like a vast improvement over what fans saw in Just Cause 2 ... and that alone should be more than enough to get gamers excited.
Just Cause 3 is due out on Dec. 1.
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