No game on the PS3 lost me more sleep than Just Cause 2. Taking the open-world environment that GTA had made its own, ripping out its realism gland and replacing it with a destructive-fun module won this disc the Most Seldom Ejected prize at the awards ceremony in my head (that being the case, it was ably hosted by much-ignored, tremendously moody Transformer Sunstreaker).

These days of powerful consoles and demanding gamers means the mere ability to float about destroying stuff willy-nilly may not be enough to satisfy. Nevertheless, that's what we have.

Fresh from tearing a new bottom for the dictator of Panau in JC2, Rico Rodriguez has come home to his Mediterranean birthplace of Medici only to find, wouldn't you jolly well know it, an almost identical situation has arisen. Immediately siding with a group of uprising rebels, Rico sets about ripping apart his homeland in order to free it. Mercifully he's given carte blanche to do so because "anything you destroy we can rebuild". Thanks very much indeed, sod the innocent casualties, eh?

As in JC2, blowing up dictatorial installations and decorations with whatever tools you have to hand will result in the increasing freedom - and love of - the people.

Where JC2 presented Rico with a grapple and parachute with which to traverse his surroundings, JC3 gives him... just the same, but with an added wingsuit. This offers the perfect opportunity to slam Rico's pretty face into the side of bridges with aplomb. Practice, of course, reduces such accidents.

The grapple is upgraded, with hilarious results. Rather than attach your arm to objects/people, you can tether them to each other. Is that a plane about to take off? Quickly clip it to an innocent bystander and watch him fly. Irritating gunship got you down? Afix it to the side of a building or some handily placed explosives and laugh heartily into the sky.

Jets, choppers, cars, boats, etc, remain ready for your wanton destruction/hijacking, and handy delivery wherever you are, once taken to the local garage.

It's all marvellous fun, for the most part, and rekindles the enjoyment I had with JC2, in that not much has changed apart from a few little improvements.

Where matters come unstuck is the bafflingly gaping hole where any multiplayer options should be. A title this large should offer more than comparing scores/times/distances with your friends. Lacking multiplayer in a sandbox game these days is akin to building a combat simulation without guns. Or hands.

And the load times. Is this on a disc in 2015? Not a tape in 1985? Are you sure? Because it bloody well feels like it, particularly when restarting missions. That's okay, I'll go and read Tolstoy, paint the house and perform intricate thorax surgery on a grasshopper while you sort yourself out... gah.

The AI needs a good shake-up as well. Occasionally, during story missions, you'll mess the whole thing up thanks to the unpredictable nature of your allies whom you're supposed to protect. Various bugs also see items mysteriously disappearing and generally acting the goat.

Just Cause 3 is terrific off-mission - messing about with tethers, taking down bases and figuring out new and ridiculous ways to break the dictator's new toys. A lot of the problems pop up during the story missions, and the load times may eventually see that disc popping right out again.

And that's not an award it wants, Transformers host or none.