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Jak is back.
2001’s stellar Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy showed a few things. First, that Naughty Dog wasn’t limited to the Crash Bandicoot series. Second, it showed what the PS2 was capable of since the game was absolutely gorgeous. The game was definitely homage to Super Mario 64 with its great yet still typical platforming gameplay.
But if Jak and Daxter was homage to Mario 64, then Jak II is doing the same to Rockstar North’s Grand Theft Auto series. Last year’s truckload of platforming titles showed that traditional platformers didn’t have much marketplace. Because of that, the current platformers almost always have some kind of gimmick. Jak II doesn’t necessarily have a gimmick as much as it lays an action game around platforming.
Jak II takes place around two years after the events of the first game. As you can imagine, quite a few things can happen in two years. Jak and Daxter were trapped in the Precursor dimension and although Daxter was able to escape, Jak was caught. Those two years were miserable for Jak as he was treated to various experiments with Dark Eco. As you can remember Dark Eco caused all the mayhem in the first game. These experiments let you turn into Dark Jak in the game where Jak changes into a white, more evil, form of himself. While being Dark Jak he has a bit more power to clear enemies. The title of the game becomes reasonable as you progress since Daxter’s role has been reduced.
Jak and Daxter had a central hub connecting its missions but Jak II has a massive, GTA-inspired city, Haven City, complete with a GTA-like radar. Like GTA, you’ll get missions here from assorted characters in the game. Moving around the massive city is helped by the fact that, not unlike GTA, you can borrow any vehicle you please. Cause too much mayhem though and the local authorities will let you have it. Taking a cue from Tony Hawk series, Jak always has a jetboard to move around. The jetboard, while not as precise as a skateboard, does get the job done.
That said the missions themselves are a lot more varied, as opposed to collecting a million and two items. You’ll have to borrow vehicles, race, rescue, protect and shoot down various items in your many missions. Yup, I said shoot. Like Jak’s sibling, the Ratchet and Clank series, Jak can now shoot weapons. The game still rewards you for collecting everything, though, if you want to squeeze more out of the game.
In the first Jak, Naughty Dog managed to make an irresistibly pretty game. In the last two years they were able to perfect their engine even more. The character models have been improved from the last game. The lighting in the game is excellent, as well. But more importantly, Naughty Dog has been able to scale what you see so everything is very detailed. You see many more objects in the screen than in the last game. And let’s not forget about the city, it’s huge, and has plenty of areas to explore.
The audio portion of the game has been enhanced. The background music is similar to that of the first game but it’s much more dynamic to what’s going on in the action. There is a lot more voice in the game, with Daxter still talking quite a bit. The sound effects are all solid, too.
In technicalities, Jak II supports progressive scan and wide screen in the visual department. In the audio department, Dolby Pro Logic II does the honors.
Platform titles have changed quite a bit from the original side scrollers to the 3D platformers. Jak II, while still a platformer at heart, changes the genre up so much that it’s hard to classify this into a genre. The huge city, the open-ended gameplay, jetboarding and vehicle jacking of Jak II make it an excellent game. The awesome visuals and sounds just rounds off the package. It’ll be interesting to see where Naughty Dog takes this franchise for the next game.
Need help? Get it with BradyGames' Jak II Guide -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Nov 4, 2003
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