GamingPickz
Game vs game · side by side

Just Cause 2 vs Slime Rancher

Just Cause 2 is an FPS open-world game from Avalanche Studios (2010) while Slime Rancher is an FPS open-world game from Monomi Park (2017).

Quick answer: Slime Rancher rates higher, 8.6 to 8.1 on the GamingPickz Score, and Just Cause 2 is the cheaper at $14.99.

Just Cause 2

2010 · Avalanche Studios

8.1GamingPickz Score

$14.99

Steam: Very Positive

Slime Rancher

2017 · Monomi Park

8.6GamingPickz Score

$19.99

Steam: Overwhelmingly Positive

What each one is

Just Cause 2 is filed under FPS and Open-World. In contrast, Slime Rancher under FPS and Open-World.

Just Cause 2

Dive into an adrenaline-fuelled free-roaming adventure with 400 square miles of rugged terrain and hundreds of weapons and vehicles.

Description from its Steam store page

Slime Rancher

Slime Rancher is the tale of Beatrix LeBeau, a plucky, young rancher who sets out for a life a thousand light years away from Earth on the ‘Far, Far Range’ where she tries her hand at making a living wrangling slimes.

Description from its Steam store page

Story, characters and reception

Just Cause 2
Plot

Four years after Just Cause , Rico Rodriguez is dropped into Panau to find his former handler Tom Sheldon, who is suspected of going rogue and aligning himself with the country's dictator Pandak "Baby" Panay. With the aid of intelligence asset Karl Blaine and a weapons dealer only known as the Sloth Demon, Rico allies with the island's three dominant criminal gangs and factions: the Roaches, an organized crime syndicate; the Reapers, an insurgent… (Wikipedia)

Reception

Reception Just Cause 2 received generally positive reviews upon release, with critics praising its gameplay, graphics and open world; the game was widely regarded as a significant improvement to its predecessor. It was nominated for Best Action Game at the 28th Golden Joystick Awards , losing to Assassin’s Creed II . Eric Neigher of 1UP. (Wikipedia)

Slime Rancher
Reception

Slime Rancher The Early Access version of the Slime Rancher received generally positive reviews. Heather Alexandra from Kotaku noticed some bugs, but gave the game a positive review, saying that "I'm not usually a fan of games with catharsis but when I return to my bright and goofy farm at the end of the day? I can't help but smile as wide as my slimy little friends. (Wikipedia)

At a glance

Just Cause 2Slime Rancher
GamingPickz Score8.1/108.6/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (91%, 51,583)Overwhelmingly Positive (98%, 156,780)
Critic aggregate84/10081/100
Price$14.99$19.99
Install size1 GB
Steam Deckverifiedplayable
Released20102017
DeveloperAvalanche StudiosMonomi Park

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Just Cause 2 vs Slime Rancher, point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Just Cause 2FPS open-world game
    Slime RancherFPS open-world game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Just Cause 2Open World, Action, Sandbox
    Slime RancherCute, Exploration, Adventure

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Just Cause 2Score 8.1 · 91% on Steam · 84 critic
    Slime RancherScore 8.6 · 98% on Steam · 81 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Just Cause 251,583 reviews · 8 add-ons
    Slime Rancher156,780 reviews · 5 add-ons · 1 GB

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Just Cause 2$14.99
    Slime Rancher$19.99

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Just Cause 2Verified
    Slime RancherPlayable

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Just Cause 2 takes 2 of the marked rounds to 1. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Just Cause 2 and Slime Rancher on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

See the whole grid

How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Slime Rancher (GamingPickz Score 8.6)
  • The cheaper right now: Just Cause 2 ($14.99)
  • Better on a Steam Deck: Just Cause 2 (verified)
  • The safer bet by weight of reviews: Slime Rancher (156,780 reviews)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

Open WorldActionSandboxAdventureSingleplayerExplorationFunnyFPS

Where they differ

Just Cause 2 is also

Third PersonMultiplayerThird-Person ShooterShooterDestructionModdable

Slime Rancher is also

CuteFirst-PersonColorfulCasualSimulationManagement

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Just Cause 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Slime Rancher is relaxed, easy to pick up.

System requirements, side by side

Just Cause 2Slime Rancher
Minimum GPUDX10 compatible graphics card with 256 MB of512MB
Minimum CPUDual-core CPU with SSE3 (Athlon 64 X2 4200 / Pentium D 3GHz)2.2GHz Dual Core
Minimum RAM2 GB4 GB
Install size1 GB

Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Just Cause 2 · Slime Rancher.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 6 accessibility features for Just Cause 2 and 1 for Slime Rancher. A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Just Cause 2 and Slime Rancher in scope?

Just Cause 2 has drawn 51,583 Steam reviews and ships 8 add-ons. Slime Rancher has drawn 156,780 Steam reviews, ships 5 add-ons and installs in 1 GB.

Is Just Cause 2 or Slime Rancher better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Slime Rancher rates higher (8.6 to 8.1). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Just Cause 2 or Slime Rancher?

Just Cause 2 is cheaper right now at $14.99, against $19.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Should I get Just Cause 2 or Slime Rancher?

Slime Rancher rates higher, 8.6 to 8.1 on the GamingPickz Score, and Just Cause 2 is the cheaper at $14.99. It also depends on what you want: the "which to pick" section above calls out which is cheaper, lighter on storage, better on a Steam Deck and the safer bet by weight of reviews.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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