Just Cause 3 Bavarium Sea Heist Interview

There's a soft spot in some critics' hearts for Just Cause 3. The high-flying hijinks, bold and beautiful explosions, and general mayhem makes for action scenes worthy of a Michael Bay flick. And protagonist Rico Rodriguez is just the right amount of machismo and aloof to pull it all together.

We catch up to Marcus Andrews, lead designer on Just Cause 3's Air, Land and Sea expansion pass. Andrews talks about the final piece of DLC, Bavarium Sea Heist, which introduces his favorite gun in the entire series, a maneuverable, heavily armed boat, and the advice that you should listen to all the audio logs to get the most out of the game.

Gaming Nexus: Bavarium Sea Heist sums up the Air, Land and Sea expansion pass. What are you doing to send this season pass off with a bang?

Marcus Andrews: Oh there are plenty of bangs! The final mission features an insane sea battle to celebrate the completion of the pack. On a high level, this is the conclusion of the DLC story arc, so it’s a little more focused on the missions and narrative. We have also added audio logs with additional information about the rise and fall of the eDEN corporation which have some new reveals. The obvious draw of the pack is the new Eden Spark weapon and the new heavily armed Lochadoor boat, though.

What's your favorite new vehicle and weapon in Bavarium Sea Heist?

I personally really like driving the new boat, the Loochador, both in combat and just doing some adventurous driving along the coast of Medici. It does over a hundred knots! We worked really hard on allowing it to be much more maneuverable than the traditional Just Cause 3 boats. This one really digs in the corners and allow you to do really sharp turns, even at top speed.

The new weapon, the eDEN spark, is probably my new favorite weapon, period. It’s a special sensation to bring a lightning beam down on a helicopter, see the beam going to work, and then continue through the helicopter explosion and hit the ground below. It has a sort of Independence Day feeling to it which is priceless.

Sky Fortress DLC gave Rico Rodriguez a rocket-powered wingsuit. Mech Land Assault introduced mechs. What's the hot-ticket item coming up for the sea expansion?

The eDEN Spark gun is definitely the show piece! The fact that you can carry this toy with you everywhere you go really adds a dimension to the JC3 gameplay. It’s really satisfying to steer your personal lightning beam around and cause unprecedented mayhem.

Does this last piece of DLC put a capstone on Rico Rodriguez's experience, or does it end on something of a cliffhanger? 

It brings closure to the DLC narrative, at least. I really recommend hearing all the audio logs. They conclude the narrative and will hopefully give rise to some theory crafting.

What is one thing that you would encourage gamers to try with the new DLC that isn't overly obvious?

It depends, of course, what you like. But Just Cause being Just Cause, you can do some outrageous things. For example, you can tether the companion drone from DLC 1 [Sky Fortress] to the Loochador for extra spice. Another non-obvious thing is that if you time it just right, you can jump high enough with the Loochador to become fully submerged when you land and boost out of the water like James Bond.

How much of the DLC rollout has gone to plan and how much has had to change? 

We kept the plans fairly flexible from the beginning so we had some leeway to course correct and adapt as we went along. But overall, development has been according to plan.

What's the one important thing that you've learned since the launch of the game?

Wow. One thing? I would have to say to trust the team. Even though I'm doing this interview, the game you play is 99.99 percent made by other people. The realization that I cannot micromanage them is probably the key takeaway for me.

And because we have to ask, are there anymore pieces of DLC coming down the pipe for Just Cause 3, or does work begin on Just Cause 4 for Avalanche Studios?

The team who developed the Air, Land & Sea pack are officially done and it has been a blast. No more future DLC has been planned right now but who knows what might happen.

Thank you for speaking with us, Marcus. Best of luck to you and your team at Avalanche Studios. We hope there will always be more Rico Rodriguez on the horizon, perfecting his walk-away-with-your-back-to-an-explosion walk.