Thanks to Game Informer, fans of Not-Gang-Related open world mayhem are now quivering in their boots over the announcement that Avalanche Studios, who is still hard at work on that Mad Max game, has their flagship title in the works as well. Just Cause 3 is coming to consoles and PCs next year, and this time the destination, while still warm and sunny, is a bit more European. Rather than the jungles of South America, or the islands of the South China Sea, it’s the Mediterranean that is the playground for Rico Rodriguez, and his grappling hook gauntlet.
Just Cause 3 comes at an interesting time, because Avalanche has a bit more competition this time out. Open world games are becoming more of the more norm, with even franchises like Dragon Age jumping on the bandwagon and then there’s the matter of tone. Just Cause 2 established itself as the “funny open world” game, with absurd action and missions, a far cry from the darker, more satirical tone of Grand Theft Auto games. But Saints Row is quickly becoming the king of absurd open world games, so it’ll be interesting to see how an absurd spy open world game competes with an absurd gangster warfare game. And on top of all this, Avalanche will be competing with itself when Mad Max also releases in the same year. This is a bit of a strange position for Avalanche, since Mad Max is being published by Warner Brothers Interactive, while Just Cause 3 is being published by Square-Enix. Since neither publisher is worried about stepping on the toes of the other, Avalanche must be pushing its staff to the limit to get these two games ready to ship next year. Hopefully neither one will suffer, but two huge projects running simultaneously within the same studio is usually not a recipe for greatness.
