Naughty Dog has clearly borrowed the strategy of many Japanese businesses by reverse-engineering successful games and incorporating those elements into its own. Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy was a decent, lighthearted Mario knockoff. The sequel though, Jak II, instead takes more than a little from some current popular franchises such as Tony Hawk and especially Grand Theft Auto. The result is a major transition in the series, with the wilderness environments of the first game being replaced with a gritty urban landscape. And though it is clearly not original, Jak II is extremely refined and will offer a solid action / driving / platforming hybrid experience to the many fans of these genres. The story starts off at the end of Jak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, where our heroes finally get an operational piece of ancient precursor technology. Or something like that . . . I never got into the first game. Anyhow, the device sends them through a strange portal to Haven City, a vast futuristic dystopia ruled by the iron-handed Baron Praxis and his Krimzon Guards. The Baron is waging a phony war against the Metal Heads (robotic bad guys) to divert the people's attention away from Haven's decline. Sound like someone we know in real life? Jak is quickly captured by the guards, and Daxter promises to free him as soon as possible. But its not for two years until his furry friend is finally successful. During that time, Jak has been the subject of the Baron's torturous dark eco experiments. This has given Jak some impressive new powers, a really bad attitude, and most surprising of all . . . the ability to speak! After they break out of the Baron's palace, the two explore Haven's dismal streets in search of their lost friends and a way to get revenge on Praxis. Jak's quite PO'ed over the whole torture thing. Since Jak has changed and the game's tone has changed, its only appropriate that the gameplay has changed too. But you wouldn't notice it at first. During the jailbreak scene, Jak II plays just like its predecessor. All the trademark platforming moves are there, such as the dash punch, spin kick, and double jump. There's also the obligatory collectibles--precursor orbs in this case, which can unlock a variety of secrets in the game. But once you get into Haven city, you'll see that Jak II is much more of an action game than a platformer. The first new addition are vehicles. Zoomers (which are basically hover cars) are the key way to get around in Haven city. They come in many shapes and sizes--the single seaters are small, nimble, and fragile, while the two-seaters are just the opposite. The Krimzon Guards drive their own battle-ready zoomers. You can easily commandeer any vehicle to explore the city. Driving these vehicles is a lot of fun--they're fast, handle well, and explode satisfyingly. If you cause too much destruction, though, the Krimzon Guards will be sent after you, resulting in a fun GTA-esque chase through Haven's crowded streets. Fortunately, Jak's weaponry is no longer limited to just his fists. A few hours into the game you'll get your hands on your first firearm, with three more awaiting discovery. The weapons aren't terribly original--this isn't Ratchet & Clank, after all--but they each have their own tactical role and are enjoyable to use. You can even do some gun combos by firing the weapon right after a melee attack. The additions doesn't stop there—Jak eventually gets his feet on a hoverboard. At first you can only use it in the skate arena, but later you can take it out on missions (its actually required for many). Jak, being the modern Rennessaince man, can do spins, flips, tricks, and grind rails with the board. Skating around town is much more fun than taking a zoomer (if a little slower) and zipping away from an oncoming hoard of enemies is very rewarding. For me, the hoverboard was the highlight of the game. The only problem with it is that you loose a quarter of your life from bumping into another character, even at extremely slow speeds. For comparison, that's as much damage as getting shot or being thrown from an exploding vehicle. Finally, Jak's last new trick has to do with those aforementioned dark eco experiments. Jak can transform in Dark Jak, where he gets a really powerful and angry. You can't do this very often (you need to collect many dark eco bits to transform again) but it can be handy in a tight situtation. However, since it takes so long to recharge the dark eco meter, I would rarely go into Dark mode. Nor are there any points in the game that its actually required to use. Jak II gives you a lot to do with all your new tricks. The meat of the gameplay is to be found in the missions which you get from various members of the supporting cast. In the beginning you're only offered one mission at a time, though later in the game you can choose from several. The missions are all fun and extremely diverse; most of the time you'll do some combination of platforming, combat, or racing. There are some odd missions, too. One sees you on a turret in a rail shooter level; in another, you pilot a cool mech suit around. Even Daxter will occasionally get a piece of the action, like the very funny whack-a-mole game he plays near the end. This diversity keeps the gameplay very fresh, which makes it easy to play Jak II on hours without it getting repetitious. Unlike similar games, though, Jak II is hard. Most of the missions leave little room for error and take many attempts to beat. However, Jak II isn't hard in an unfair way; you just have to play your best to succeed. It's evident that a lot of work went into polishing every stage so that its at the right level of difficulty. Sometimes, though, the games can get frustratingly hard and in many missions if you die you have to start over at the beginning. Fortunately, most of the missions aren't too long so its not the setback it may seem like. Also, if things get too tough you can always leave a particularly hard level and do something else for a while. While it's not Contra, even experienced gamers should be prepared for a rough fight. Though the gameplay is great, the storyline of Jak II is merely decent. There are a lot of entertaining cinematics and you'll get to know the half-dozen supporting characters pretty well, but for the most part these movies are just Jak's employers telling him about the next mission. Every now and then some interesting plot point will be revealed, and there are some good story moments in the game (particularly near the end). However, I couldn't help but think the plot could be made a lot more exciting and dramatic. It would also be nice to be able to choose which of NPCs to side with when their missions conflicted. But even so, Jak II's storyline is still more entertaining than most of the competition and does a good job of introducing some neat characters and holding the whole experience together. Graphically, Jak II is one of the best-looking games on the PS2. The worlds themselves look great, and there are some nice special effects. But what makes it really stand out is the silky-smooth frame rate. Regardless of whether you're racing through the crowded streets or fighting off a large pack of metal-heads, there is rarely so mush as a hiccup. The characters are animated beautifully and move seamlessly. This is especially apparent in the cinematics, where the characters will show a lot of expression and talk in sync with the dialog. A lot of the humor from the cinematics comes from the superb character animation. Loading times are fast and invisible. And as a nice touch, Jak II keeps track of the day and night cycle and even the weather. Clearly, Naughty Dog knows the PS2 hardware inside and out. Though the audio isn't nearly as strong as the graphics, it still is effective. The game's music is good enough and complements the onscreen action, but isn't anything outstanding. Except for the Haven City theme, which really captures the bleak mood of the city and makes traveling the crowded streets so enjoyable. The music will even change just a tad if you have a weapon out or are on a vehicle. The sound effects are very good, particularly the footsteps. Jak II also has some solid voice acting, with great performances given by everyone involved. Despite its polish and overall quality, Jak II offers a fairly lengthy experience. There are tons of missions; nearly 70 in all. And then there are numerous side-missions that you can do for bonus precursor orbs, though I didn't do too many because they are extremely hard. By the end of the game I had played for over 25 hours—an impressive number for an action game. Hardcore players who want to master the minigames, hunt down all the precursor orbs, and unlock all the many secrets can definitely invest a lot more time into Jak II. Much of the length comes from its difficulty--I died plenty of times on any given level (and probably hundreds of times throughout the game). There isn't much incentive to play Jak II a second time, unless you've unlocked the Hero Mode cheat. Though its not revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, Jak II successfully blends a variety of gameplay styles in one accessible, challenging, and highly polished package. Even though I don't care much for driving or skateboarding games, I really enjoyed those elements in Jak II. The wonderful presentation values are a great addition and the Greatest Hits price only sweetens
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