While I’m not a fan of DLC that adds content seemingly walled off of base titles, I am a proponent of DLC in concept. Basically, DLC should feel like added content, not content that was cordoned off before initial release to be sold later (i.e. Evolve’s Season Pass). My favorite example of DLC done right is Grand Theft Auto IV’s episodic add-ons, The Ballad of Gay Tony and The Lost and The Damned. They were great stand-alone episodes that added to the enjoyment of the base game. That is how DLC should be handled in my opinion.
So how does Just Cause 3’s first DLC expansion in its Air, Land & Sea expansion, Sky Fortress, fare in my eyes? The short version is, it’s a decent 2-4 hour diversion that adds missions and lets me revel in all the explodey goodness that is Just Cause. The same drawbacks, like weak story and repetition, are still present, but the campaign is fun and there’s enough added to the base mechanics that it’s at least entertaining.
In this campaign, an airship appears over the skies of Medici, the fictitious island that serves as the backdrop for the original game. As Rico Rodriguez, professional nation liberator, you are informed that a mysterious corporation named eDEN owns the airship and they are pretty nasty. Rico is tasked with finding out what eDEN wants with Medici. If you played through the original campaign, you can guess as to what eDEN wants.
The key addition to the game is an upgraded wingsuit. In the base game, Rico’s wingsuit is arguably his coolest gadget. The ability to fly across the landscape, using his grappling hook and parachute to extend flight, was the most fun I had in the game – when I wasn’t blowing up entire bases. Sky Fortress replaces the base wingsuit with a rocket powered one, taking the fun of the original wingsuit and amping it up noticeably. The new wingsuit also adds a heavy machine gun and rockets, turning Rico into a miniature fighter jet. The new wingsuit’s mechanics are simple to use and a blast in-game. Strafing the eDEN airship with gunfire erupting and rockets locking on is great fun. Too bad the rest of the gameplay is not as visceral.
Once the airship part of the campaign is over, there are a few more missions, as well as challenges you unlock to earn upgrades for the new wingsuit. You can, however, skip the upgrades altogether and finish the campaign as-is. Past that, there are no more incentives to keep playing. At a price of $12 for the standalone DLC campaign, it seems a bit steep for so short an episode.
My suggestion? As much as I dislike them in principle, it may be better to buy the Season Pass. At $25, the Season Pass gives you three DLC campaigns on their release, and you get to play them a week in advance of players buying the standalone DLCs. At least you don’t feel as if you are paying extra to get the content that was withheld from the base game. It may not be on the level of The Damned and The Lost, but Sky Fortress DLC at least extends the Just Cause 3 experience enough to please fans of the game. Hopefully, the final two expansions offer a bit more to keep me invested in Medici and all the wonderful things I can explode in it
Developer: Avalanche Studios
Publisher: Square Enix
Platform Reviewed: Playstation 4
Release Date: March 8, 2016 with Season Pass, March 15, 2016 with single DLC purchase
Acquired via: Playstation Store
