The opening sequence of Just Cause 2 gives you a pretty good indication of how off-the-wall crazy-delicious the disc you just popped in is going to be.

Flying above a fictional Southeast Asian island called Panau, crucifix-wearing protagonist Rico Rodriguez is immediately tasked with jumping out of a helicopter to recover extremely sensitive information. That info was previously sitting next to an open door and securely fastened…

…to nothing.

Attempting to adequately accomplish the task without just dropping the controller and laughing at the ridiculousness of the situation, I was quite taken by the expanse of mountains and forests that made up the ever-approaching ground. You don’t truly appreciate the sharp landscapes and grasp the immense scale of JC2 until you’re required to traverse 10+ in-game kilometers during a mission. You’ll be exploring desert, jungle, snow-capped mountains, and village rooftops while finding all the fun things to make go boom.

I regret to inform you, dear reader, that not all of the shiny doodads you see within Just Cause 2 are destructible. In fact, vehicles and people withstanding, only objects marked with a white star will explode after exerting force upon them. While it certainly removes the game from Red Faction: Guerrilla levels of destructive fun, it doesn’t mean the game isn’t enjoyable. Exploring the islands of Panau provides a bevy of opportunity for zany skydiving, boat-jacking, and fastening fast-moving enemy (or civilian) cars to buildings using the handy-dandy grappling hook.

The room for player experimentation may be Just Cause 2‘s strongest suit. Campaign missions are repetitive and often frustrating, resulting in many “ugh, I just want to shoot cars with a missile launcher while ghost-riding an airplane” moments (which is completely possible, by the way). It’s definitely a title that will polarize players that enjoy following a given mission structure and those who want to destroy said structure.

The only true drawback of completely ignoring the story altogether is the limited access to the game’s black market system, which operates like the dreadful iTunes App Store in that it lacks a cart system. Say you’ve got an itchin’ for a military grade helicopter, but want some frag grenades to go with it. Fine, just prepare to sit through a couple of pointless cutscenes sandwiched by black loading screens each time you ache for a new toy.

At times, the narrative aspects of JC2 offer humor and a laughable amount of cheese. Sadly, the voice work is so awful that after hearing the Reaper faction leader’s relentless attempt at an unidentifiable dialect, I began to question whether a cheese grater was being scraped across my eardrums. Another actor plays three different characters with three different nationalities (and therefore, accents), but neglects to switch from his Japanese accent. Avalanche Studios is a Swedish developer, so I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, but it’s a Heavy Rain-type situation. If you’re creating a character with a specific background, why wouldn’t you hire a native speaker?

Just Cause 2 is an early contender for the “love it or hate it” title of 2010. Players who find corny dialogue, free roaming, and creative exploration appealing will undoubtedly lose days of their lives in the expanses of Panau. Those who are looking for superb mission structure, interesting narrative, and thoughtful character design will be sorely out of luck. The game rides an interesting fence between good and bad, but never really chooses which side it wants to fall off. While it’s certainly not perfect, Just Cause 2 sure is a lot of fun. I took-off a plane upside-down, for goodness’ sake!

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Things We Liked: Expansive locales. Enjoyable exploration. Absolutely bonkers player experimentation. Adequate jankiness. Excessive amounts of cheese.

Things We Disliked: Awful story. Infuriating mission design. Lacking black market system. Annoying voice work. Excessive amounts of cheese.

Target Audience: Free-form style players. People with destructive tendencies. Fans of ghost-ridin’ the whip. Lost fans.

(Just Cause 2 – Developer: Avalanche Studios, Eidos Interactive. Publisher: Square Enix. Available on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 – PS3 version reviewed. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review purposes. New to CFD!’s reviews? Read our explanation here.)