Earthworm Jim was a worm that gained the ability to walk, and talk, and shoot things with a laser gun thanks to a "super suit" that fell from space and landed on his particular patch of backyard dirt. Sometimes, if Jim didn't feel like shooting things, he could tell the suit—which he could command telepathically with his mighty worm mind—to whip him at enemies, or stretch him across hooks to swing across canyons. Later, Jim would use his new-found powers to launch a cow into space using a see-saw and fridge, which would sadly backfire as the cow came crashing back down to earth, crushing his girlfriend.

In the '90s, we accepted this. That worms lack the mental capacity to control a sophisticated piece of space machinery like a super-suit, or the requisite sexuality to necessitate having a girlfriend wasn't important. Video games were video games; as long as they were fun and didn't require us to purchase a pointless peripheral to play them, realism didn't matter. Those days are long gone. Oh sure, there are all kinds of wacky (and brilliant) indie games out there that go some way towards filling that worm-shaped hole, but as soon as you throw a few hundred polygons in there, it's goodbye super-fun-times, hello gritty realism.

Which is exactly why Just Cause 3 is something of a rarity. While there are plenty of shooty-shooty bang bangs, and military-themed theatrics, they're not attached to some developer's warped (read: terrible) interpretation of a Hollywood blockbuster. Hell, Hollywood film-making is practically ancient at this point: it needs to be taken down a peg every now and then, which JC3 does admirably.

In some ways, it's not surprising that JC3 didn't take a more serious tack. After all, this is a game where you spend half your time tethering people's legs to the back of cars for the lols, and the other half doing daredevil dives off the back of a fighter jet onto a speeding car for the YouTube hits.

That it drops any pretence of being a serious slice of action entertainment is surprising, though. The intro sequence, backed by a soft piano-led version of Prodigy's "Firestarter," is wonderfully absurd. As is the opening mission where Rico (that's you) hops atop a flying prop-plane to shoot down helicopters with a rocket launcher while his best friend Mario hurls insults at him over the radio.

The whole thing is pleasingly self-aware of how ludicrous it is, from the way that Rico and Mario come up with ever more absurd plans to take down the Diravelo Rebel Militia (otherwise known as the "DRM"), to how it pokes fun at the diet of soldiers who—despite being physically fit enough to kill hundreds of militia—are completely immobilised by simple fences, leaving Rico to find a way to open gates before a city can be declared under rebel control.

















Admittedly, JC3 isn't the only game to slack off realism in favour of simple thrills. Bulletstorm nixed the formulaic campaign of the military shooter, instead focusing on high scores and crass humour and going as far as to openly lampoon Call of Duty with the Duty Calls download. Then, of course, the Saints Row series took lampooning the AAA game to its logical conclusion with a whole bunch of purple dildo bats. But JC3 is one of those rare games that's using a little restraint. For all its self-referential posturing, JC3's story doesn't cross the line into pre-adolescent silliness, nor does it go so far in trying to be funny that it turns into a meandering mess either (see Bulletstorm). Cut scenes are short, and punchy, and the story (at least from what I've seen from the first few hours) is sensibly paced.

Frankly, though, I doubt most people will even give a damn. Not when they can attach rockets and an oil drum to the back of a pickup truck and use it as a makeshift bomb. Or tether two guards to the side of a building and watch them squirm around to break free, kicking each other in the process. Or grapple to up to a helicopter, attach some C4 to the bottom of it (you have unlimited C4 this time around), and watch as flames rain down from the sky, catch on a near by oil drum, and set off a chain reaction of explosions that stretch down an entire street. As Ars freelancer John Robertson discovered earlier this year, the possibilities are endless.

Just Cause 3 favours being fun over being factual. That there's a developer out there that realises how important that can be, not to mention one the size of Avalanche, is an encouraging sign. Perhaps the triple-A world has realised just how dull it's become. Or maybe we've just got lucky. Regardless, let's get back to what's really important here: where the hell is my Earthworm Jim reboot?

Just Cause 3 is due for release on December 1, 2015 for PC, Xbox One, and PS4.