Jak II is an excellent game that radically changes from Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, and improves vastly.
Gameplay, 9. The game is still a 3D Platformer but that's about all that is the same in this game. In fact, Grand Theft Auto has more in common with this game then The Precursor Legacy does. The game plays quite simply. All you have to do is do the missions to move through the story. In The Precursor Legacy the game played similar to Spyro, you had to find Power Cells by searching for them in several levels using a hint via the name of the Power Cell mission to move in the story. Jak II is much more action oriented. There are much more enemies, you get to use guns (yes, actual guns), drive around more, and do more direct missions. The part of the game that makes it seem similar to Grand Theft Auto is the fact that you can get in trouble with the authorities. After you beat the game, pissing off the police and going on a killing spree to see how long you can survive can be quite fun and challenging.
The game plays great. While the game is certainly challenging, it doesn't ever really feel cheap. The fact that it's now more action oriented and has guns is really cool. There is also a great variety of missions.
Graphics, 9. The graphics are really good. Unlike The Precursor Legacy, where the graphics were all colorful and tropicl-like, this game has a much more modern and dark and depressing tone to its design. The game generally just looks great.
Sound, 8. The music is pretty good. There is a little lack of variety of the music is good enough for me to be able to forgive that flaw. The voice acting is awesome. So many great voice actors have been brought together for this game.
Value, 9. The story is very long. The game is a lot longer than the last one that's for sure. The only problem is that other than killing sprees, there isn't really much to do after you beat the game. I guess if you wanted to you could look for all the Precursor Orbs hidden throughout the game but most of the cheats you get by it aren't really worth your time.
Difficulty, Hard. The game is pretty hard. I mean, it starts relatively challenging from the beginning. But the game isn't unfairly or cheaply hard. Just challenging.
Tilt, 8. I liked this game way better than I did Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy. This game may have almost completley changed the Jak and Daxter series, but at the same time it improved it. This is a must-have for those with a Playstation 2.