Jak2, attempts to blend many of todays popular gameplay trends into an adventure that ultimately falls short of those qualities that can be found in the respective stand alone titles. While the gameplay offers variety, it manages to feel like a rollercoaster of thrill and frustration. Where it's predecessor managed to be a delightful, flowing experience. Jak2 tries hard to keep the gameplay blended with various objectives and mission premises. Some missions will have you catching creatures on a Hover Board. Where other missions have you piloting a mechanized unit knocking down walls. And obviously, you'll have a healthy dose of the original Jak&Daxter gameplay thrown into the mix. Unfortunatly, you get the feeling that most all of these unique qualities can be recongnized as mediocre on a quality and innovation scale. Adding up to a game that is thoroughly mediocre as a whole. Add to this, buggy design (game locked up 2 times, including other minor graphical glitches), and unpredictable difficulty balance. As before the game has excellent presentation qualities. Great voice acting and comedy siginficantly aid in easing the frustration that can be experienced when actually playing the game. Graphically, the game pushes an incredible amount of polygons, and a level of detail that exceeds the standards of most PS2 titles. While the game offers progressive scan support. A form of diffusion filter is used on this title, that'd destroy any added clarity that couldve been afforded by the Progressive Scan output. Dissapointingly, the Widescreen function fails to offer the true benefit of the increased aspect ratio. 16:9 in Jak2 doesnt actually increase your horizantal viewing area at all, rather it limits your vertical viewing area. So ideally, playing it in standard 4:3 optimally provides more viewable material. The framerate seems to suffer from some rather extreme tearing, and to a lesser level, framerate hiccups. This comes as a surprise, seeing that the original offered an impressive 60fps that was far more solid than Jak2's. The sound holds up well. Effects sound solid and punchy, just as you'd expect them to. Voice acting is top notch, which helps potentiate the story altogether. The music while interactive according to onscreen actions, seems to be rather monotonous overall. Tunes are neither catching, or annoying but manage to fill the role music is expected to. Thankfully, this sequel is longer than the first title. Offering more missions and unlockable content than before. Collecting Precursor Orbs allows you to unlock such Secrets as. A sketch book, Story Act Sequences, Increased attributes for Jak, and various other mini games for your guns etc. Ultimately, Jak2 provides an unexpected experience, both in quality and in game direction. While it manages to live up to it's old glory at times, to often it's riddled with a level of sloppy game design and frustrating mission objectives that hurt the overall enjoyment of this title. It'd be hard to recommend this game to diehard Jak and Daxter fans, as the game does much different than there was before. However those who enjoyed Daxter's antics and comedy may find some nostalgic likeness to be had.
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