Better than the original!
The music is nothing revolutionary or mind-blowing, but it is very good. Gone is the plucky, Crash Bandicoot-style score from Jak & Daxter. Now the music is more determined. The city has a dreary, subjugated sound while the industrial complex has a mechanical score. The sound effects are once again top-notch and highly-varied. That sound Jak makes when going "dark" is just disturbing.
The controls are super-responsive, and that is absolutely necessary given the nature of the game. I think of Jak & Daxter meets GTA meets Tony Hawk. Seriously, you have an adventure-platformer, racer-shooter, and skate-boarder all rolled into one. It's pretty sweet. There is a lot less jumping than in J&D and more fighting. To survive, Jak needs to be able to mix his firepower with his fighting and "dark" skills.
Okay, in this game, Jak talks. Why? Because he is pissed. Whatever shyness he once had was burned away by the Baron's experiments on him with Dark Eco. The Baron believed that he had failed to create the perfect warrior because Jak seemed non-responsive. However, Jak, with the help of Daxter, was able to break "free". See, he and the Green Sage and his daughter had all been transported to this dystopia ruled by the Baron by the final warp gate uncovered at the end of J&D (assuming you found all the precursor orbs). During their unsuccessful crash landing, all were separated. So Jak and Daxter are trying to find them all while avoiding the Baron's troops and the hoards with whom he is warring.
Like GTA, this is a gopher game. Meaning you are gonna go-fer a lot of things. Luckily, there is a map and icons helping Jak navigate. There is some non-linearity, but not enough to feel like an open-ended quest.
Secret modes (big head, tiny enemies, etc) are unlocked by finding more and more precursor orbs. I stopped after getting unlimited Dark Jak, which is my next topic. When Jak gets pissed, he does a limit break-like freakout and turns grey, grows long black claws, and pulses with energy. In this mode, he can deal serious damage (no guns) and take more of a pounding. Along the way Jak learns some advanced techniques that really make the transformation fun.
There are an assortment of cars from which to choose, but not as many as GTA. There is really not much difference in top speeds, but maneuverability and resistance to damage vary. Small vehicles turn on a dime but also blow up at as little as a bump. Vehicles play an integral part of the game, often being used for races, delivery services, and escaping a messy situation. These messy situations are any time Jak catches the attention of the Baron's police force, who will hound Jak until he's dead or finds one of the few hiding places (trench!) where he can wait out their fury.
Daxter is still funny, but mostly only in cut scenes. Gone (sadly) are the smart remarks made when Jak is defeated. Daxter is also the gunner when Jak is driving, and the maniacal expression he wears when doing so is great. There are also a few Daxter-only sequences, including a high speed bike race, which give the orange "thing" some deserved publicity.
Jak II may have been the best game I played all last year, and if Jak III lives up to my expectations, the Jak & Daxter series may become one of my all-time favorites.