Publisher Square Enix confirmed at its E3 press conference today that Avalanche Studios’ explosive open-world action game Just Cause 3 will hit consoles and PC platforms by the end of the year.
Just Cause 3 ups the destructive ante with a 400-square-mile-wide gameplay world and improvements to the series’ distinctive grappling mechanics. Players can now deploy multiple grappling lines mid-flight, making traversal easier and faster than ever before. Grappling line tension can also be adjusted, and grapples can now be manually retracted.
Protagonist Rico Rodriguez additionally packs a parachute that can be deployed at any time, along with a wingsuit that grants gliding capabilities. Coupled with the powerful grappling mechanics, players can now basically take flight at whim.
Avalanche Studios aims to improve Just Cause 3‘s gunplay with a stabilized parachute, letting players swoop into enemy territory and take down opponents with weapons that retain their accuracy in mid-air. Along with an arsenal that ranges from pistols to rocket launchers, Rico brings an unlimited supply of C4 into battle, letting players launch into a destructive rampage at a moment’s notice.
Destruction is a large focus for Just Cause 3, as Square Enix’s presentation outlined many possibilities for player-initiated mayhem. The grappling hook can chain together items in the environment to create impromptu wrecking balls, and can slingshot explosive material into enemy checkpoints.
Just Cause’s stable of vehicles also gets an upgrade in the latest series entry, as players can commandeer sports cars, monster trucks, and tractors, among other outlandish modes of transport. Helicopters and planes also figure into the equation – footage seen at E3 shows Rico riding atop an air-dropped sports car, reinforcing the series’ commitment to ridiculous gameplay situations and missions.
Just Cause 3 is slated to launch for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PCs on December 1.
