Naughty Dog’s 2001 release, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, raised eyebrows for many gamers despite its reliance on the formulas of earlier platformers such as Mario 64. In the first game, players were introduced the comical world of one humanoid hero and his friend-turned-furry in a platformer that made up for its lack in originality and story in gameplay. Naughty Dog’s most recent release, Jak II, takes the familiar platform structure and combines it with elements from some of the most popular genres since that time – namely, the Grand Theft Auto series and Tony Hawk Pro Skater-inspired extreme sports games. The end result is a solid game that expands the definition of platformer and is better than the original Jak in every way. In the beginning of Jak II, Jak and Daxter find themselves thrown into the future by an experiment gone wrong involving precursor technology. Fans of the original game will remember the setting of dense forests and foliage spotted by ancient precursor technology. As Jak, Daxter, Samos and Keira, the main characters of the previous game, are thrown into the future, they leave the lush setting behind for a dense urban wasteland ruled by a malevolent dictator, Baron Praxis. In the opening cutscene we see the travelers become separated while Baron Praxis infuses Jak with Dark Eco to make him a killing machine. After two years of experiments fly by Daxter finally frees Jak. The game begins with Jak and Daxter reunited in a new world that resembles George Orwell’s dis-utopian city in 1984. The comic pair’s first task is to escape from the lab where Baron Praxis has been performing experiments on Jak and find a way to get back to their own time. Getting home is more difficult than simply jumping through a portal, however; the story will take most gamers about 20 hours to complete. The formula for Jak II has significantly changed since gamers were double-jumping and kick-spinning their way to find power cells. For starters, Jak has a new set of moves he can unleash while in Dark Jak mode. After Jak has collected enough dark eco he can change into Dark Jak, allowing him to easily erase hordes of enemies which would have provided trouble otherwise. As the game progresses, Jak will be able to get new abilities to use while he is in Dark Jak mode – but aside from the impressive visuals, these moves don’t add much to the game. Regardless of the moves, it’s incredibly easy to dispatch enemies as Dark Jak. Thankfully, players can only use the Dark Jak mode for a short period after they have collected enough dark eco. Naughty Dog shamelessly takes a page from Rockstar Games’ successful Grand Theft Auto series, allowing Jak a selection of weapons he can use to deal out pain to the baddies he encounters in a large and active world. In all Jak has four weapons at his disposal at the end of the game. He collects these weapons over the course of the game and they are upgraded after some missions to better help the duo deal with the inhabitants of their new home. The primary setting for the game is the dis-utopian city in which Jak finds himself at the beginning of the game – ironically named Haven City. The city presents itself as open-ended, a la Grand Theft Auto, with vehicles for Jak to hijack, people to mindlessly assault and police officers, called the Crimson Guard, who will pursue Jak when he’s upset the baron. Between missions Jak can travel to any part of the city he has keys for; however, Haven City doesn’t provide as much open-endedness as Grand Theft Auto’s Vice City, for example. Jak will only interact with the setting in passing – between one mission and another – as there isn’t much to do in the city except find new missions to go on. Even the missions are easily located by the minimap in the lower left of the screen, or by accessing a map of the entire city via the menu, discouraging free-form exploration of the urban wasteland. However, the missions themselves are exciting and plentiful and serve to move the plot along in creative and interesting ways. At any one time between missions Jak will usually have a few different challenges from which to choose. Another change in Jak II over the original Jak comes in the form of the minigames found within Jak II. Whereas Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy had a limited number of racing games which mostly served to get Jak and Daxter from one area to the next or collect some objects. Jak II introduces a handful of unique diversions from the typical “jump, kill, find” platformer formula. In one part Jak will get a skate board-like contraption he will use to perform tricks for points, a la Tony Hawk Pro Skater. In another, Jak will have to defend himself from flying attackers in a scrolling-shooter-style game, much like the ones that are found in some arcades. In yet another section, the gamer will have to mash out button combinations on the game pad as they appear on the screen. None of these minigames feels forced or out of place within its platformer framework. Most gamers will find themselves revisiting the minigames to improve scores or get some more precursor orbs. Since Jak and Daxter tore up the lush landscape in the original game, the precursor orbs which were so plentiful and acted as a form of currency are a lot less easy to find. Precursor orbs, the egg-shaped collectables, are used to unlock the game’s bonus material, such as big-head mode and unlimited ammo in Jak II, adding limited replay value for those who want to finish 100 percent of the game. Jak II isn’t a perfect game by any means. It does have its shortfalls. The aforementioned Tony Hawk-inspired sections of the game leave much to be desired for fans of the skateboarding series and the Grand Theft Auto elements can’t hold a flame to Rockstar’s immensely popular series. The vehicles in Jak II are a little difficult to control – they tend to do a little too much sliding around corners – but most gamers will be able to adapt to this difficulty in spite of how frustrating it is early in the game. The camera is similar to the one in the original Jak, that is to say, it can cause trouble. While the camera is easily moved with the right thumbstick, gamers will find themselves constantly adjusting the camera to get it in the right position. Thankfully, the instinct to adjust becomes natural after about the first hour of gameplay. Jak II is an excellent game that succeeds in expanding on the base set by Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. Furthermore, it goes beyond current games in its genre in any console. It impresses in all of the traditional criteria and manages to bring some of the popular genres together within the platformer genre. Anybody who loves video games and wants to see how far the 3D platformer genre has come since Mario 64 should do themselves a favor and pick up a copy of Jak II. SCORES AND DESCRIPTIONS ON A 5-STAR SCALE: Graphics (5 stars): Jak II is simply one of the best-looking games available on the PS2 right now. It pushes the graphical limits of the PS2 but there isn’t ever any noticeable loss of frame rate. The game is a step above its original, Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. The lighting and shading are an excellent. Simply put, Jak II doesn’t leave much to be desired in the visual department. Interface (4 stars): Though Jak II doesn’t let the gamer map keys or change much of anything controller-wise through the options menu, most players won’t want to change anything. The controls are intuitive as they are – it won’t take most players very long to figure out the controls. The display while playing the game is ideally minimal, only showing health and item numbers when there is a change or the left thumbstick is pressed in. Gameplay (4.5 stars): Aside from a few control issues with the camera, Jak II is a highly playable game. It takes the platformer style found in classics such as Mario 64 and expands upon it in a way that seems natural. Overall, Jak II doesn’t disappoint in a genre that has brought fun to consoles since there was such thing as a console. Multiplayer: n/a Sound FX (4 stars): The sound effects are decent, yet a tad repetitive. While cruising around Haven City you’ll constantly hear the same phrases from the crimson guard, regardless of the situation. Footsteps sound different depending on the surface and Jak’s four guns each have a distinct sound, yet from an audio perspective the gamer will notice the repetition in some areas. On the other side, the game’s voice acting is excellent. In all the cutscenes lips are synched with the voiceovers. Thanks to some wonderful effort on the part of voice actors and animators, the character in Jak II will stick with gamers long after the game has been completed. Musical Score (4 stars): Grand Theft Auto and others stood out because of their phenomenal sound tracks while other games maintain the status quo with a score that is decent but easily forgettable. Jak II is of the latter group. While the music in Jak II won’t make you grind your teeth or switch on mute, it won’t keep you humming after you’ve switched off your console. The music in Jak II leaves something to be desired, but that can be a good thing. Intelligence & Difficulty (4 stars): Jak II will keep the average gamer on his toes. Many of the later missions are quite difficult and will require several attempts to make it all the way through. Most levels can be completed before frustration sets in, however. Jak II has automatic save points so gamers don’t have to start at the beginning of a mission Jak bites the dust near the end. However, some of the later levels don’t have as many save points, creating a “get it right or start over” situation, which can be frustrating at times. Enemy intelligence isn’t high, most enemies will come straight at you until they can reach you or shoot at you, but this basic formula will prove challenging enough in most instances. Overall (4.5 stars): Naughty Dog delivers a sunning game in Jak II that rises to all expectations. While the original Jak was quite good in its own time, yet a little repetitive compared to the platformers the came before it, Jak II takes the platformer genre and melds it with other currently-popular genres, strong sound and visuals and a story that’s humorous and catchy. Jak II is worthy to be part of anyone’s game library but it is a necessity for the platform-game lover.
If you liked the first jak and daxter game, you'll absolutely love the smash hit sequel and positively the best in the series! The gameplay is bit similar with the different styles of attacks and movement to the first... Read Full Review
The success of The Precursor Legacy was huge back then, and one of the reasons why I got into platformer games in the first place. Its light-hearted story and quirky characters were very amusing to interact with, making ... Read Full Review
