Every Just Cause game, ranked
All 5 Just Cause games we hold, spanning 2006 to 2018: 4 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 217,012 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: Just Cause 2 (GamingPickz Score 8.1), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with Just Cause (2006) and follow the release-order timeline below.
- For the money: Just Cause gives the most score per dollar right now.
The Just Cause games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 4 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
4 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 4 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
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
- Xbox
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
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.
4 best Just Cause games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
Just Cause 2 at a glance Released 2010 Studio Avalanche Studios Player sentiment 91% positive of 51,583 Critics 84/100 Price $14.99 Steam Deck verified Install size Not stated Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 91% shrinks to 90.9 on 51,583 reviews, then blends with the 84 critic aggregate, giving 8.1.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Just Cause 3 at a glance Released 2015 Studio Avalanche Studios Player sentiment 84% positive of 127,859 Critics 74/100 Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 54 GB Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 84% shrinks to 84.0 on 127,859 reviews, then blends with the 74 critic aggregate, giving 7.6.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 3
Just Cause 4 Reloaded
Best for: Sinking a long time into one world
6.1GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceJust Cause 4 Reloaded at a glance Released 2018 Studio Avalanche Studios Player sentiment 62% positive of 32,247 Critics 68/100 Price Not listed Steam Deck playable Install size 59 GB Accessibility 6 declared features Raw 62% shrinks to 62.3 on 32,247 reviews, then blends with the 68 critic aggregate, giving 6.1.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 4
Just Cause
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
6.1GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceJust Cause at a glance Released 2006 Studio Avalanche Studios Group Player sentiment 66% positive of 5,323 Critics 75/100 Price $6.99 Steam Deck playable Install size Not stated Accessibility 5 declared features Raw 66% shrinks to 67.2 on 5,323 reviews, then blends with the 75 critic aggregate, giving 6.1.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Only the 4 Just Cause games with Steam review data can be scored and ranked. The complete series, scored or not, is charted in order below.
Best and worst entry
The best-received Just Cause game we can score is Just Cause 2 at 8.1. The lowest is Just Cause at 6.1, a 2.0-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2006 to 2018. It has held roughly steady across the years.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: Just Cause at $6.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: Just Cause, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the Just Cause entries on Steam:
- Verified: Just Cause 2
- Playable: Just Cause, Just Cause 3, Just Cause 4 Reloaded
Platforms across the series
Where the 5 Just Cause games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 5 of 5 |
| Xbox | 1 of 5 |
The Just Cause series, game by game
Every Just Cause game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2006
Just Cause
6.1Your world...Your rules! (Steam)
- 2010
Just Cause 2
8.1Dive into an adrenaline-fuelled free-roaming adventure with 400 square miles of rugged terrain and hundreds of weapons and vehicles. (Steam)
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)
- 2015
Just Cause 3
7.6With over 1000 km² of complete freedom from sky to seabed, Rico Rodriguez returns to unleash chaos in the most creative and explosive ways imaginable. (Steam)
Plot
Six years after the events of Just Cause 2 , mercenary Rico Rodriguez returns to his homeland of Medici, a fictional Mediterranean island country that has fallen under the control of a military dictatorship led by General Sebastiano Di Ravello. Seeking to restore freedom to his people, Rico sets out to overthrow Di Ravello and his regime, alongside an underground resistance movement led by his oldest friend, Mario Frigo. After saving Mario from almost… (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Just Cause 3 received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to review aggregator website Metacritic . Reviewers praised the open world environment, destruction mechanics and its promotion of player agency, but criticized the narrative and technical issues. Awards ^ "Just Cause 3 for PC Reviews" . (Wikipedia)
- 2018
Rogue agent Rico Rodriguez journeys to Solis, a huge South American world home of conflict, oppression and extreme weather conditions. Strap into your wingsuit, equip your fully customizable grappling hook, and get ready to bring the thunder! (Steam)
Plot
Characters and setting The game is set in a fictional South American country called Solís, which is home to extreme weather conditions. Rico Rodríguez takes on the Black Hand, the world's most powerful private army run by Gabriela Morales, a newly introduced character. The Black Hand served as a mercenary group to dictators Salvador Mendoza of Just Cause and Sebastiano Di Ravello in Just Cause 3 . (Wikipedia)
Characters
The game is set in a fictional South American country called Solís, which is home to extreme weather conditions. Rico Rodríguez takes on the Black Hand, the world's most powerful private army run by Gabriela Morales, a newly introduced character. The Black Hand served as a mercenary group to dictators Salvador Mendoza of Just Cause and Sebastiano Di Ravello in Just Cause 3 . (Wikipedia)
Reception
Reception Edit on Wikidata According to review aggregator Metacritic , Just Cause 4 received "mixed or average" reviews from critics. While the open-world gameplay, controls, graphics and soundtrack were praised, its story, mission design, cutscenes and voice acting were criticized. The game was also heavily criticized by users who noted the game's regression in graphics quality relative to past installments in the series, in particular pointing out the… (Wikipedia)
- —
Just Cause 2: Multiplayer Mod
not scoredNo sourced description on file.
Just Cause, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
Just Cause vs other series
How Just Cause stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: Just Cause vs Saints Row, Just Cause vs Serious Sam, Just Cause vs Borderlands, Just Cause vs Car Mechanic Simulator, Just Cause vs Crysis, Just Cause vs Dead Island, Just Cause vs Dishonored, Just Cause vs Mafia, Just Cause vs Max Payne, Just Cause vs Red Faction, Just Cause vs Sniper Elite, Just Cause vs Sniper Ghost Warrior, Just Cause vs Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon, Just Cause vs America's Army, Just Cause vs Bright Memory, Just Cause vs Burnout Paradise, Just Cause vs Homefront, Just Cause vs Jurassic World Evolution, Just Cause vs Metal Gear, Just Cause vs POSTAL, Just Cause vs RAGE, Just Cause vs Red Dead Redemption, Just Cause vs Sea of Thieves, Just Cause vs Shadow Warrior, Just Cause vs Slime Rancher, Just Cause vs Sniper, Just Cause vs Squad, Just Cause vs Subnautica, Just Cause vs Thief, Just Cause vs Transport Fever, Just Cause vs Universe Sandbox, Just Cause vs Z1 Battle Royale, Just Cause vs Zombie Army
Common questions
How many Just Cause games are there?
We hold 5 Just Cause games in the catalogue, released between 2006 and 2018. 4 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which Just Cause game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, Just Cause 2 rates highest at 8.1. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the Just Cause games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2006 to 2018. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.