Jak II

JAK II (2003) is the second game in the Jak and Daxter game series by Naughty Dog (Crash Bandicoot, Last of Us etc.) It takes a slightly darker turn than its predecessor in terms of story.

"After being tortured and experimented upon in a dystopian city for two years, Jak escapes from prison and joins a rebel group, hoping for answers to his newfound dark powers."

Overall, Jak II is a very fun game, it's a bit darker and more challenging than the first game. This game definitely brings a depth and richness to the dystopian world and makes for an excellent game experience. A modern classic and well worth the investment.

2003's "Jak II" is a Naughty Dog release, and a sequel to their prior release "Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Saga."

We once again follow Jak (and his sidekick Daxter), this time in a new setting. The game is essentially controlled the same way as it's predecessor, although there are new features, such as a gun which you can acquire upgrades for, and a new feature called "Dark Jak"... more on that later. In addition, it feels like the controls have been somewhat tightened.

Players familiar with the original game will be in for a shock. The game takes a dark turn early on, and it significantly more mature in terms of tone and artistic style than the first entry. The first game was rated "E", but this one bumps it up to a "T"... and that "T" is a little too lenient- a few lines of suggestive dialog seemed "M"-worthy. While the first game was bright, cheerful and cartoonish, this entry is dark, murky, and coated with dreariness. The world is oppressive- it's truly a remarkable departure- and it works! Seeing the previews, I was concerned that the game wouldn't feel like a sequel to the original- On the contrary, this feels like a logical continuation, and is very much in the same vein as the previous game- just more mature.

The story begins with Jak, Daxter, Samos and Keira activating the Precursor portal they discovered in the last game, only to be whisked in after being confronted by a horrible creature. Sperated from the others, Jak and Daxter find themselves in a decaying futuristic city (Haven City), and Jak is captured by the "Krimson Guard"- the minions of the dreaded Baron Praxis. Jak is experimented on with Dark Eco for two years in prison, before Daxter breaks him free. We learn that Jak was being experimented on for a program to make, for lack of better words, "Super Soldiers" to fight the Metal Heads- vicious creatures who have been attacking the city. From there on, Jak proceeds to meet new characters, search for his friends, and try to put together the larger plot- he's out for revenge, and he wants to take Praxis down.

The original game was quite linear. You'd go from world to world, exploring levels and collecting the items over and over to proceed. "Jak II" functions less like the linear platforming original, and more like a sandbox title. Playing the game is akin to playing titles like the "Grand Theft Auto" series- the world is open, there's lots to see, and the setting is vast. You can hijack zoomers and hover-cars, you have to avoid the Krimson Guard (basically the police), and you receive missions from your contacts. "Jak II" truly is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy version of "GTA3", though toned down in violence/profanity.

In addition, the experiments on Jak have given him a new ability- "Dark Jak." After collecting enough Dark Eco, Jak can transform for a limited time into a beastly version of himself that deals great damage and can kill enemies a lot quicker.

The voice acting is great all around. The writing in terms of story is also a lot more solid. Characters and their motivations are clearer, and the plot itself is far more intricate than the last game, which was a bit simplistic. There are a number of outstanding twists and turns.

The graphics are also a quantum leap forward from the previous game. The characters are much smoother, the animation is more detailed, and you can see a lot more in the frame than the first game could have even hoped for.

Now, all of this praise being said, there are some problems. Some BIG problems. Problems that dropped it from a 10 to an 8.

For starters, the game's difficulty is all over the place. One mission may be easy as pie. The next may take you 4 hours to finish because you are overwhelmed by its difficulty and you keep getting killed. (Thank god you have unlimited lives.) Every time I sit down to play this, I inevitably have to turn it off sooner than I'd like because I get too frustrated after a point.

Another huge flaw is the Krimson Guard. As a large part of the game takes place in Haven City, you have to avoid these guards. The problem- there are too many of them, they are too easily provoked and they seem to randomly spawn near you- they overwhelm you. I can't tell you how many times they've killed me because I accidentally ran into one, and they thought I was attacking. Not to mention, many of your missions automatically make them come after you, so it increases the already hard difficulty to near impossibility.

The sheer volume of people and hover-cars/zoomers also makes traveling a chore, as you either have to move with the traffic at a snails pace, or zoom through and risk angering the Krimson Guard by accidentally hitting one of them- which is very easy to do.

Finally, a good portion of the missions equate to nothing but busywork in the same areas over and over again (Go to this location and kill Metal Heads... now go back and hit three switches... now go back and defeat more Metal Heads... now go back again for menial task #27), and more often than not, you are given an extremely unfair time limit to deal with. And they will get tedious very quickly. There is a real lack of variety, particularly in the first half or so of the game. It gets stale every so often, and takes just a little too long to get interesting again.

All that being said, despite its faults, this is still a great game! It's one of my favorites due to the great story and characters, and I recommend it! An 8 out of 10.

Jak 1 was pretty cool. But for some reason people thought it looked like an easter egg hunt for babies so they made Jak II the polar opposite in almost every way.

If anyone is wondering why I don't love the PS2 so much it's because of games like Jak II hogging the light. I thought it was a such a boring meandering video game that your older cousin made you play as a right of passage.

Jak II is about Jak who gone emo with his dark Eco and I actually don't care about it's story because the characters look like American Dragonball Z ripoffs. They say damn a lot and it gives me a realistic depiction of a panic attack every time. Anyway, they have to kill a guy who tortured him or something.

But Jak 2 is so boring in it's gameplay. Oh yes, every game has to ripoff GTA now. Even platformers for some reason? Well here you go, play as Jak and Daxter ready to kick butt. Wielding guns blasting bad guys. This game is much longer and harder than the first one but I don't think that's something to celebrate. The world of Jak 2 is so mundane, it's just lifeless despite it's toony idealistic art direction. Everything is so grey and blue but it's all so boring and drab why do I even bother. Driving is ok, you'll crash alot. There are racing challenges about and side quests. Who asked for Jak II to be a sandbox game? Just stay in your lane Naughty Dog and make semi open or linear games. I felt so bored walking though this land. People who think every game should be open world should not be gamers.

The graphics are pretty cool though, or would be if they weren't so drab and flat as they are. Jak himself is well animated and is made of 10,000 polygons. Maybe if this was a full on PS3 game it would work. Nothing is super blocky or low res. But nothing is super impressive either.

Overall Jak II is a slog and it's only gonna get worse by 3. Blinx is better.

Jak and Daxter: Precursors Legacy was a super fun action platform we for PS2. This sequel not only expanded its lore but completely revamped its gameplay in a way that added a bunch of awesome new mechanics like guns and flying cars. The mission logistics made it feel very GTA inspired which just worked well for this game. This is early Naughty Dog, so the quality is there - fun characters, funny dialog and polish. Overall very fun game and one of the exceptional sequels out there that are better than the first installment.

I loved the setting of the firts game, in this one they completly changed it. They developed a GTA-like game with empty city and boring point-to-point driving in it. Also, graphic settings did not saving, checkpoint system is bad and some moments is not hard, they just annoying. Some missions are good and plot not so bad, but anyway, i'm dissapointed