3 out of 5 stars.

Just Cause 3 is Avalanche Studio’s latest iteration in the over-the-top open world action game genre. If you left Just Cause 2 still hungry for absurd levels of carnage and more explosions than a blockbuster movie, Just Cause 3 delivers an extremely satisfying (and volatile) dish of airstrikes and grenades. Featuring an incredibly expansive open world map and scores of fun toys to destroy said map with, Just Cause 3 delivers hours of anarchistic destruction and mindless chaos, a given for the series and the sort of spark that made Just Cause 2 burn so brightly in the hearts of gamers years before. The game is not without its flaws, and some can be crippling, but if you’re simply looking for a game to pick up and devastate for a few hours, look no further.

Just Cause 3 is all about carnage.

Right from the game’s start, you’re handed explosives, military vehicles, exotic sports cars and fixed wing aircraft, automatic weapons, and numerous other goodies. The gameworld is a sandbox filled to the brim with mines waiting to be detonated, preferably in close proximity to living things. The game feels like the offspring of Saints Row and Far Cry, which isn’t a bad thing if you enjoy the hours of senseless chaos these games offer.

A game that lets you attach a rocket to a pogo stick and soar around the map isn’t exactly trying to be the wittiest of games, but it’s still entertaining.

Just Cause 3’s storyline is miniscule, usually forgotten in the background of the sweet explosion you just created, but Just Cause 3 isn’t a game you pick up for Rico’s character arc or the expansive narrative. It isn’t trying to tell you the best story in gaming history, it’s trying to blow things up. Just Cause 3 just needs a fun world and fun toys to fill it with.

While the storyline is all but forgotten save for a few unique missions, the sidequests are very expansive. Each of the three islands is littered with outposts and military bases to destroy and conquer. While plentiful, going after every single one gets repetitive fast, and the few bases that offer unique settings or methods of destruction are scarce. Still, traversing the map from one stomping ground to another is part of the appeal of Just Cause 3. Apart from the jets, supercars, and dune buggies, Rico can grapple and wingsuit his way around, offering a surprisingly quick and surprising, if occasionally lethal, method of transportation that’s always available.

Speaking of Rico’s equipment, it’s always fun to mess up your grappling hook and go careening into a tree Tarzan style, and the game loves to make fun of its own physics engine as you tumble down the face of a cliff afterwards.

However, some of the game’s bugs are far too invasive to ignore or laugh at, and are a serious hindrance on consoles. Again, Just Cause 3 has lots of explosions, and while they’re fun, consoles certainly don’t enjoy them. A stable framerate is almost unheard of, and loading screens run rampant. Those explosions are bound to get you killed eventually, usually resulting in a loading screen that can last almost two minutes. The fun quickly dwindles as you stare at loading screen after loading screen. These problems rarely occur on a decent PC, however, and any frame rate drops are negligible at best.

All in all, Just Cause 3 is an excellent video game. Instead of trying to be something it’s not, the game delivers a healthy serving of carnage, offers seconds in the form of numerous fun locations to explore and destroy, and finishes it off with a hilarious physics engine and surprisingly impressive graphics, if your system can handle it all. Console players beware the abysmal loading screen times and halved framerates, however.