Just Cause

2006's Just Cause sent players to the fictional Caribbean island of San Esperito, where CIA agent Rico Rodriguez joins the rebels against a dictatorial government. The game from Avalanche Studios boasted, at the time of release, one of the largest open worlds then seen in video games, and above all completely free-form movement - a parachute and grappling hook let players glide between mountain peaks, leap from a moving car straight into a plane, or reel themselves toward a passing vehicle. A wide range of land, water, and air vehicles was also available, and any of them could be stolen and hopped into mid-chase at any time. This acrobatics was a novelty in the sandbox action genre and set Just Cause apart from its contemporaries, which tended to stay closer to the ground with a strict separation between movement on foot and in a vehicle.

The PlayStation 2 version launched alongside the PC, Xbox, and new Xbox 360 editions, but had to fit within the far more modest performance of a console that was already six years old at the time. Textures are noticeably rougher, draw distance shorter, and the game renders less vegetation, fewer vehicles, and fewer civilians at once than on PC or Xbox 360 - where the new generation showed an entire valley with dozens of moving objects, the PS2 often fogged the distance or simplified and thinned out the scenery. The frame rate also dips more noticeably at the exact moments when the player parachutes high above the island and the game suddenly has to compute a large chunk of terrain, explosions, and multiple vehicles on screen at once.

Despite these technical limitations, the PS2 version retained the entire story, the full expanse of San Esperito island, and all the side activities and faction missions, so console owners didn't lose out on content - only on visual polish and smoothness. For many, in 2006 it was the only available way to experience Just Cause's sprawling open world and its stunt-driven antics without having to buy new next-generation hardware.

Why play it: For fans of open-world stunts who didn't have a new console in 2006 - the PS2 version preserves the entire island of San Esperito, the full story, and all the side missions, just with noticeably weaker graphics.