Parent's Guide: Just Cause 3 - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

What is Just Cause 3?

Just Cause 3 is an open-world game that's all about blowing things up - and looking cool while doing it. Parachuting on to the island of Medici - a tropical paradise held hostage under the rule of an evil dictator, it's up to you, Rico Rodriguez, to help liberate the island in the only way you know how - by blowing up all the enemy bases, and slowly wresting control back to the people.

How do you play Just Cause 3?

Well, by blowing things up! A third person action game, the island itself is divided up into a number of areas and zones, each of which contains a number of enemy bases, outposts and cities that are under military control. Armed only with your parachute, a handy grappling hook (which can be used to either let you zoom from one place to another, or tether two items together - with explosive results), and enough firepower to run a small army, it's up to you to run in, blow up all the important items (which are shown at the side of the screen), and cause chaos, as you slowly weaken the dictator's grip on the island.

Blowing things up is essential to your time with the game, and it's a lot of slapstick fun, with immense potential for the sort of epic stunts that'll have you reaching for the share button every few minutes. Whether you leap out of your car and pull the string on your parachute, sailing into the sky as it ploughs into a fuel tank; tethering a boulder to the bottom of a helicopter and using it a makeshift wrecking ball; or strapping an unfortunate soldier to a gas canister, before shooting a few well placed bullets into the bottom of it, and turning it into a makeshift rocket (and the soldier a makeshift spaceman), the possibilities are endless.

How easy is Just Cause 3 to pick up and play?

While there isn't too much in the way of a tutorial here, as the game assumes you're already familiar with third person shooters and their associated terminology, it's well worth sticking with it. Proficiency with a dual analogue control scheme is required (left stick moves, right stick aims), yet Just Cause 3 is actually a bit trickier to get into than other similar games. When you're first starting out, there's little in the way  of on-screen prompts to remind you what various buttons do, which can lead to some unfortunate situations, as you get a grenade instead of your grappling hook, or jump out the car on to the floor rather than sailing away on your parachute. With a lot to remember, a few button prompts would be appreciated.

Although there's plenty of fun to be had just exploring the game's tropical paradise, liberating outposts, and causing trouble, the missions here can sometimes be incredibly challenging. One such mission sees you having to escort a pick up truck that's being chased by tanks, a helicopter, and armoured cars. Unfortunately for you, you're on foot. With so many possibilities (do you try and hijack the tank? The helicopter? Or just try and hitch a lift in the back of the truck) it can be hard to know what's best - and with the pick up truck you're meant to be guarding constantly taking a pounding, there's a heck of a lot of pressure on you to keep things away. With so much to keep track of at once, you'll have to do a pretty much perfect job to see the truck safely through to its destination - so the missions aren't exactly forgiving.

There's also no mini-map to use to make getting around the island easier, and the checkpoint system can cause you to lose a fair amount of progress should you get killed. That said, Rico can take one heck of a lot of punishment before popping his clogs, so you shouldn't end up having to go back to your last checkpoint too much.

Just Cause 3 is a game all about blowing stuff up and causing chaos - and so, as you'd probably expect, there's a lot of killing, and a lot of shooting to be done. Enemies give off clouds of red blood when shot, and you can use a variety of weapons, from sniper rifles and machine guns to rocket launchers and tanks to do the killing. Some of the more inventive ways to cause chaos involve using your grappling hook, whether you're tethering a soldier to a gas cylinder, before shooting a few bullets into the bottom of it to make a makeshift rocket, and sending the soldier flying into space, or simply attaching a few troops to a giant gas tank before blowing it up.

However, while the game itself may be fairly slapstick, the cutscenes can get a bit heavier. One sees the game's dictator order a soldier to kill himself with a gun - the soldier obliges, shooting himself in the head.

Strong language can sometimes be heard in the game (f**k), but it's the prospects for causing destruction that parents will want to bear in mind the most.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Playstation 4