Jak II is just below success on many peoples charts. It includes many great things that most games don't have to offer.

User Rating: 9.4 | Jak II: Renegade PS2
Jak II is, obviously, the second installation in the Jak (Jak and Daxter) series. In comparison to Jak and Daxter, this game involves a lot of new material that should have been in the first game.

Jak II is based on Jak. He traveled through a portal and was sent to a place called Haven City. It is in the future so Jak wasn't used to all the new age technology. He was immediately captured by Krimzon Guards and was a test subject for 2 years. Daxter managed to escape and between that time, he earned his own game on the PSP. Daxter finally woke up Jak only to find out 3 new things. He had a new look, he had and evil side, and he could TALK!! Jak knew he was captured by a man named Baron Praxis and he is now on a mission to stop and kill him if possible.

This game has a cool new free roaming feature. The map is a good reminder of Grand Theft Auto. You will roam freely with a map indicator to your objectives, you can kill any one you desire, and you will be able to ride and hi-jack vehicles. You will be chased by Krimzon Guards (Police) and if you harm any of their allies, but they don't care for citizens. The whole map feature is new to the game series in Jak II, and it succeeded in my mind.

The fighting is also new to the game. You will not only use your fists and feet, you will use GUNS! You will have four different gun attachments on your gun. Scatter Gun, Blaster Weapon, Vulcan Fury, and Peace Maker. You will earn each weapon attachments by completing a specific task ro mission for someone. The weapons have there own unique ability and should be used at the right time in order to accomplish a certain goal. You will find ammo either from destroyed crates or killed enemies. You will also be able to shoot your weapons while inside of your vehicle if you access them. Daxter will be shooting, though. I have to talk about the aiming. I think an aiming cursor should have been added because the laser is hard to aim with, but it sometimes has auto-lock so it makes it easier for killing. All in all, I enjoyed the new fighting system, and hope it is in newer Jak games like 3 and Daxter. Well, of course, but still.

The missions in the game are similar sometimes, but keep you playing because they are based on something different. You won't be receiving mission from just one person, you will have missions from different people or organizations in the area. You could be running a simple errand or you could be destroying something with a time limit. The mission will vary which is cool because it wont get the boring repetitive feeling. I agree with the mission selection and I hope to see even more improvement in the sequel.

Even though this game was made in 2003, it has the current game feel to it. The graphics seem a lot more advanced, it seems current because the Daxter game was currently released in early '06, and it shows much better things then most current games show in this point in time.

If you have a PS2 and like action adventure games, or enjoyed Crash Bandicoot, then you will have a blast with either Jak II or the whole series. Please consider this game.