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Following on from Mad Max, Avalanche Studios throws out gritty post-apocalyptic landscapes for Just Cause 3 in favour of a vibrant and bombastic open world action title, where the emphasis is firmly on crazy stunts and rampant destruction. Spectacle is what this series is all about, and in this regard Just Cause 3 certainly delivers - the question is whether the underlying technology is capable of fully delivering the necessary pyrotechnics while retaining its 30fps performance target.Of course, in theory, the Avalanche engine should be well suited to delivering this type of experience - in essence, that's exactly what it was built for. Going into this game, we had every reason to be confident that the studio would deliver. Mad Max handed in the goods on all three platforms, and remains one of the very few technologically challenging triple-A titles to deliver an almost entirely identical experience between Xbox One and PlayStation 4, with a consistent level of performance to boot.
However, Just Cause 3 is a somewhat different animal - as our initial analysis revealed. While there's little doubt that the core action delivers, the surrounding technology is clearly feeling the strain on console, and our first tests on our budget gaming PC platform suggested that the computer version may well offer the best available experience. The only problem is that there's a sting in the tail there - specifically, a notable level of instability. Avalanche has promised a patch and asked for patience in its delivery. Having spent a week with the PC version, the almost random nature of certain issues is very annoying - and that's a shame. It's a beautiful game, offering limited but effective visual enhancements over the two console releases, but the ability to iron out the performance issues and hit a sustained 60fps clearly elevates the gameplay.
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