Just when you thought Hollywood would be turning to more real-life based stories like The Social Network, news is now coming in that the video game franchise Just Cause is getting optioned into a major motion picture. Variety has the lowdown.

XBox 360 (Also Available on PC and Playstation 3) – Square Enix – $59.99

Most gamers playing now can look back and remember their first time stepping in to the ultra-violent sandbox of Grand Theft Auto III. Given run of a city where ever car could be stolen and every pedestrian was a target to run over and every cop could be shot at. It quickly brought out the dark side of many people who were just looking to live life on the other side where they finally got to be the bad guy. Even though the game’s narrative didn’t require the player to become a violent terrorist who got hookers and then killed them after to get their money back, that’s pretty much what all of us became.

Just Cause 2 takes that to a whole new level. Taking that original Grand Theft Auto III formula and adding helicopters, planes, boats, a grappling hook and unlimited parachutes, the mayhem that can be caused is elevated even further. Add in a story and game mechanic that not only encourages but actually requires destruction and chaos, you have a recipe for disaster (the good kind that is).

Gameplay:

The fictional patch of islands known as Panau stretches across 400 square miles of in game world. Every inch of it, be it desert, mountain, city, swamp, beaches and all of the airspace above it are areas for mayhem. Using the game’s 200 vehicles and a variety of upgradable weapons from handguns to rocket launches, players are given the opportunity to cause chaos (measured by an on screen Chaos meter which unlocks more missions and black market shopping opportunities) by destroying statues, oil tanks, gas stations and weaponry of the Panau government. In the process, government forces are summoned depending on the level of chaos being caused. A few frag grenades can quickly lead to helicopters raining down machine gun fire on our protagonist.

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Fans of Just Cause will be pleased to find out that they will get a sneak peek of the sequel which is set to release on March 26th. Just Cause 2, which featured one of the most creative interactive trailers, will have a demo available for the PC, XBox 360 and PlayStation 3 on Thursday, March 4th.

Just Cause 2′s demo looks to set itself out from the crowd with a massive 35 square mile area of the game’s 400 square mile locale. Lee Singleton, General Manager of Square Enix’s London Studios said that “The Just Cause 2 demo is simply massive and with so much to do, the replay value is enormous… It’s easily one of the biggest freeroaming demos of all time and for fans of openworld games, it’s unmissable.”

From the looks of things, Square Enix and Eidos don’t believe in the “less is more” mentality and want to show everyone just what they have to offer. As seen in the trailer, Just Cause 2′s demo will allow players near limitless combinations of ways to tackle situations at hand or just provide a pure freeroaming balls to the wall action experience.

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