Jak II Review

By Gary Kearney

Jak II is the follow up to the pretty successful PS2 game Jak and Daxter from a couple of years or so ago. The game was developed by Naughty Dog who gave us gamers the hugely entertaining Crash Bandicoot series. While certainly a sequel in name, this follow-up has a much darker tone and more challenging game play than its predecessor. Is the end result a game as enjoyable as the original? Let’s find out…

Very early on you can tell that Jak II is a more mature gaming experience than the first. To me the first was along the line of a happy Nintendo-ish type of title. Now to be sure it did provide for a nice game, but due to the storyline of the new game the overall style had to be changed. I guess once you’ve been tortured for a couple of years you tend to lose some of the happy-go-lucky attitude. So gone are the colorful sunshiny levels of the first game and replaced with a much darker look and feel. It’s not quite Goth, but in comparison to the first it’s not far from it. Gratefully, the game does not take itself too seriously and is even able to make fun of not just itself but video games in general.

Jak II starts pretty much where the original ended but quickly takes our hero and his pal Daxter and flings them into the future. Unfortunately for Jak the future is not a happy place and he is taken prisoner by a bad man named Baron Praxis, ruler of Haven City. The next two years are not good to Jak as the Baron runs experiments on him involving dark Eco. The Baron is frustrated with the results and decides to kill Jak but luckily for Jak, and us, Daxter has been spending the last two years trying to free Jak and does so right before Jak is waxed. During the escape we notice that all is not normal with Jak as he turns into a kind of Hulk-like monster resulting from the Baron’s experiments. He cannot yet control this power but it’s obvious that once, and if, he can Jak will be one powerful pointy-eared dude. But all that is on Jak’s mind after the escape is revenge against the Baron, and really who could blame him? It should be noted that apparently one side effect of the Baron’s experimenting on Jak was that it enabled Jak to talk something he was unable to do before. This helps tremendously in moving the story along and as far as platformers go the story here is very interesting. Besides, it’s kind of nice to hear Jak being generally tick off at the world and ready to rumble at the drop of a hat. Typical teenager…

Naturally Daxter is still talking up a storm. Daxter is a love him or hate him type of character. I love him, especially this time around. Sure he’s a smart-ass. Yea, he gets a little drunk and starts hitting on innocent females while doing a little too much admiring of their form. Yet, in his own grade school-level humor way he is funny and steals just about every cut scene. I figure any video game character that can actually get me to crack a smile is good, but Daxter was able to get a few real laughs from me and that is rare and very refreshing. Yet despite any bad taste Daxter or embarrassing moments Daxter puts Jak through, you also know that he is immensely loyal to his friend.

At its heart Jak II is a platformer but it does add a few new elements to the typical formula. One of the first things you will notice is that the game takes place in a giant city that has a personality all of its own. The city is huge and you are constantly traveling across it to reach different areas for different missions. Nice thing is that you don’t have to walk to all of these places because Jak is not above jacking a vehicle to get around in and there are several different types of vehicles to choose from, all of which are of the flying car type. The city is very alive with lots of people roaming around, traffic all over the place, and guards on the lookout for you. The use of the city as the main hub for the game is interesting. At times the city is a little too big as it can take several minutes to go from point A to point B. While there are lots of people cruising around they really don’t have any affect on the game. Sure if you happen to run over a guard or two there will be alarms all over the place and a swarm of new guards hunting you down, but mostly the city is just a really neat place to look. There are certain missions where you must race through the city in a certain time, but anything that actually involves being in the city in fairly rare.

Throughout your adventure Jak will meet several people that will offer him help in one way or another. Some are really just using Jak to benefit their own selfish desires while others see Jak as a true hero out to save the city from the Baron. These characters all have different personalities that fit well into the story and are enjoyable way to dish out the missions to Jak.

Speaking of missions, there are tons of them and they have a great deal of variety. In it’s own way Jak II is almost a free-form type of game. What I mean is that while some missions must be done in a specific order, many of them are left up to you to decide when to address them. Regardless of when you attempt a mission a very well done cinematic scene sets up the major ones. The missions range from simple tasks like delivering a package to the more challenging like protecting a caravan or restarting a water treatment plant. And there are a great deal of new enemies for Jak to encounter and they do have a wide variety of attacks to keep you on your toes. Making it a little fairer for Jak this time around is that he’s packing heat! Yep, now Jak gets four different guns to help him lay down the smack. Given that the difficulty has been taken up a notch or two from the first game, having this extra firepower is a great help. Of course we also cannot forget about Dark Jak, yet another way to dispose of those nasty enemies. Once Jak gathers enough Dark Eco he will be able to morph into Dark Jak where you are a stronger, faster, and meaner Jak. While this is a cool alter ego for Jak, it really isn’t as much of a factor in the game as I was thinking it was going to be. Heck, you can probably go through the whole game and never even turn into Dark Jak.

Controlling Jak is as smooth as any game I have played. There were many, many times where I failed a mission but just about every time I would only have myself to blame for the failure instead of the controls. Sure it’s irritating to keep dying, but when the success of the mission lies in your hands and not on the whim of some shoddy control system I can handle it. Some of the missions have to be done several times just so you can figure out what it is you’re suppose to do. For example, in one mission you’re running along and suddenly this tank is coming at you and your point of view is switched to inside the tank. I had to have died at least 6-10 times before I figured out what the heck I was suppose to do. But I wasn’t mad that it took that long because the whole sequence was just too cool. Oh and as a teaser let me say that you do get to play some as Daxter and there is a little Bandicoot homage there.

Graphically Jak II is a gorgeous game, although I did run into some funky frame rate issues. These really only showed up while in some of the busier city areas and I never noticed them during an actual mission. With the wide variety of vehicles, city areas, enemies, and such I would say that this is one of the best looking games on the PS2. Heck even the run-of-the-mill citizens of the city have better details than most games. The detail given in all areas is very noticeable. For example, when you’re in a run down section of the city don’t be surprised if part of a building falls down right in front of you while you’re walking by. The sound is just as solid from the boom of the guns, to the sounds of a city alive with action, to the voice acting of the characters. They are all some of the best that the PS2 has to offer.

In The End, This Game Hath Been Rated: 95%.  What do you get when you put together solid controls, a fun story, great action, beautiful graphics, and a game oozing with character? Jak II, one of the best PS2 games of the year.