Just under the wire for tomorrow’s April Fools Day chaos, publisher Eidos Interactive has released brand new screen shots for their upcoming sequel Just Cause 2.

Developed by the Swedish-based Avalanche Studios on their new “Avalanche Engine 2.0,” the sandbox-style action/espionage title will feature “a game world the equivalent of 252,840 football pitches,“ – or soccer fields, for our American readers – according to a blog entry from the staff at PlayStation World magazine last month.

“Post-GTAIV there is clearly room for a free-roaming game that offers the chance to interact with the game world on an overblown level,” the PSW post said, “Mercenaries 2 promised this but failed to deliver.”

The original Just Cause was pleasantly received, scoring a respectable 74 at Metacritic, with many of the quoted review comments noting that a few more options in game play could’ve turned it into a “GTA-killer.” If the screens below are any indication, Just Cause 2 might have the engine upgrades and new gameplay options it needs to finally threaten that GTA throne.

"Thankfully the sequel is going to be bigger, broader and crazier," said PSW in a preview after the game’s announcement back in January 2008, "There’s no sign of Eidos tethering Rico to anything as boring as realism. If anything, the added zap of PS3 power behind the game has enabled developer Avalanche to push its ideas further still."

At Just Cause 2’s announcement last year, the game’s lead designer Peter Johansson discussed some of his goals to make the sequel a successful one.

“We identified the key areas we wanted to improve for Just Cause 2,” Johansson told PSW, “We wanted to make better use of our huge game world, enhance the stunts, improve the combat and reward exploration more.”

Just Cause 2 is expected to release some time during Q3, 2009. It’s not quite the 2008 release they were originally shooting for, but a little extra dev time is so rarely a bad thing.