As we all know, Square Enix often uses the three-word trick of "remake" to "resurrect" many games again and again, and can even fry "cold rice" out of michelin-level taste, which shows its outstanding ability in the field of "remake".
However, this new tour in recent days may change SE's stereotype in the field of cold rice. Recently, the "King of Cold Rice" has launched its game "Just Cause" series on the mobile terminal, and the new mobile game "Just Cause Mobile" (hereinafter referred to as "JCM") has been launched for free in the Google Play market in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the Philippines.
New bottles of old wine or a blockbuster? I thought it was another simple "remake" of the game, trying to bring the long-lost "Just Cause" series back to the players' vision, but this was not the case. According to official news, this new work is not developed by the PC side of Avalanche Studios, but the creation of a new team led by SE, which can't help but make GameLook have some expectations for this new work, can the old IP + new team make this action game that has been "stopped" for 3 years return to the king again under the blessing of UE4?
Promotional video for Just Cause Mobile
The formula has changed completely, can the mobile game restore the taste of action?
Compared with the direct porting of the end game, SE obviously did not take such a straightforward approach when facing the IP of "Just Cause", but used a new team to give it a new look on the mobile phone side, using UE4 for creation, creating an almost completely different presentation form of "JCM" and the original PC.
Just Cause Mobile player play
While it's hard to turn down the beauty of Rico (the male lead in the Just Cause series), JCM gives players a choice. After opening the game, the first thing that comes with it is a simple character selection system, which may have announced from the beginning what sets the game apart from the original. The game has four different character faces for men and women - including the original protagonist Rico, and the left side can also adjust the posture of the character when loading.
Once you've completed your selections, you can move on to the formal gameplay, JCM, which quickly takes players into the game's story through a comic-like narrative, this time against the evil organization Dark Water – a quest style familiar to PC players. In the tutorial, the player needs to jump out of the plane and open the parachute to parachute to the mission location, but the familiar operation style almost makes GameLook play in another game for a while.
Before GameLook could return to his senses, after a quick comic book-style plot, the protagonist suddenly landed in the mission location, which also made the God perspective of "JCM" appear in front of the player for the first time, and it had to be said that this was really a "makeover" of the big change, so that people forgot what game this was for a while.
Once in the mission location, players can go all the way through the tutorial to "burst", after basically familiar with the battle, GameLook found that JCM's way of fighting has retained various elements of the original game. However, limited by the god's perspective, ordinary rifle shots can not be aimed, and can only randomly attack the enemy through the lines in the screen, and its accuracy is gratifying.
However, the sniper rifle can be accurately aimed, when the two indicator lines in the picture gradually close, you can "headshot", in the face of some ordinary enemies this move damage is considerable, basically "second kill". Players can also achieve sniper operation by occupying the commanding heights of the game, although the killing pleasure brought by the scope is lacking, but the good shooting feel and the animation effect of critical hits still make this attack method have a good experience.
Of course, the most interesting nature is the series' unique hook-and-lock system, which is almost maximally preserved in mobile games, in addition to launching into buildings for rapid displacement, it is also possible to pull objects for impact and other related operations. However, in actual combat, this operation seems to be a little too complicated, and it is almost difficult to become a more stable and commonly used attack method.
JCM's movement system in the original is also similar to the original, and parachute take-off and glider switching in situ can bring a touch of "parkour" happiness, whether it is rushing or escaping is a good skill.
In addition, the game also comes with a variety of ground and air vehicles, including armored vehicles and helicopter gunships, etc., which can also enrich the player's choice of running maps, but the machine gun damage on the armored vehicle is extremely low, perhaps compared to becoming a vehicle, the game encourages players to use it as a "bomb".
It is worth mentioning that "JCM" also adapts the mobile game in the BOSS battle part, and it is necessary to use the hook lock system to flexibly move during the battle, wait until the right time to attack, and there will be more map elements in the subsequent BOSS to interact. However, the inconvenience caused by the game perspective when playing often occurs when only the boss's attack prompts can be seen and the boss himself cannot be seen.
It can be said that JCM has completely "remade" its original work, retaining the original game mechanics as much as possible while also transforming it online. The change in perspective is undoubtedly a huge change to the core action experience of the original game, although many of the core mechanics of the end game such as hook locks, in-situ parachutes, etc. (or blow-up gas cans) have been retained, but with the addition of the God perspective, such operations have become a bit difficult, which also makes JCM look more like a brand new game.
Open-world RPGs
Perhaps to cater to the networked needs of single-player games, JCM's weakening of action has led to improvements in map interaction, multiplayer games, and cultivation elements.
JCM provides players with an open map that supports multiplayer co-online, and players can travel to different locations on the map to pick up and complete missions. Allowing other players to join the map undoubtedly brings a new experience to the old players of the original game, it is impossible to do damage between players on the same map, but other map elements or enemies are shared resources, which also leads to the refresh rate of public items in JCM is very fast, and the house that has just been destroyed may be reborn when the player returns a few seconds after walking out of the screen.
In the character development part of "JCM", many attempts have also been made, and the values such as HP, defense, weapon DPS, etc. have been displayed in more detail on the character panel, which also makes the RPG of this game more concentrated.
JCM also opens up a weapon upgrade "Star Ascension" system, which allows players to upgrade by placing unused items into it to get an increase in attributes.
Weapons and equipment can be obtained in addition to being upgraded, and can also be purchased through fragments from the "Black Market Merchant" that comes with the game in the upper right corner.
In terms of maps, JCM still retains the design of open free maps, and there are many elements that can be interacted on the map, and different forms of interaction will have different display signs, which is convenient for players to distinguish in an environment where the elements are too dense, and most of the map elements can be interacted with and destroyed.
JCM may look more like an MMORPG game, the multiplayer stage and rich PRG elements have made this game and the PC side have a significant difference, but in terms of player interaction, in addition to the regular multiplayer public screen chat, JCM also allows players to "friendly interaction" through harmless hook locks, such as players can use their own hook locks to tie other players and drag them to their side, or stretch out hook locks on the way other players are traveling to trip him.
Although such a setting does not have any impact on the core experience of the game, it may also be one of the fun of participating in the hooks and turns of a bunch of players who don't know each other.
When talking about why mobile games are created, SE said that it is to echo the needs of players in the "Just Cause" community for online gameplay, and then created such a mobile game for players to "taste early". At the multiplayer level, in addition to the original story campaign mode, JCM also has a challenge mode, multiplayer PK mode, including 30-player arena battles and 4-player cooperative mission mode, etc., which will also be unlocked as the player's level increases.
The choices and trade-offs to face in developing a single-player game directly into a mobile game may be beyond our imagination, and SE is not meant to be courageous in trying to use important game IP. Although "JCM" has made almost a makeover change to the original work, it has also presented a new transformation in places such as multi-person interaction and operation retention. Only time can bring us answers.
····· End ·····
GameLook Daily Game Industry Report
Global vision / depth is material