Jak II is an open world platform, third-person shooter, action-adventure. Take on the role of Jak and Daxter as you explore Haven City, a dystopia ruled by Baron Praxis and his Krimzon Guard law enforcers and beyond! Switch up guns and battle your way on through!
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This game should not work as well as it does. They handle the shift to a T rated style shockingly well narratively, while at the same time outdoing Rockstar in their own style in every conceivable way. The controls are just as expressive and engaging to use as the first game, the guns are really well implemented, and these are the best controlling vehicles in the industry no question. You have such high speed capabilities as well as fine control, and it's so satisfying to weave between higher and upper lanes trying not to crash into anything. Chases are tense, missions are varied and feature a solid mix of all gameplay styles. Which is very impressive given the variety at show here.
Gunplay, platforming, one off minigames, hoverboarding, street races, ring missions, higher speed professional racing on tracks, light collectathon elements, with a dash of crazy taxi. Just like the original game, its inspirations are clear but pulled off with enough grace and unique elements to not feel hopelessly derivative. All wrapped up in a narrative that does a weirdly good job tying into the wholesome Banjo Kazooie styled first game, while at the same time delivering a complex and engaging storyline with iconic characters across the board. Adding so much to the lore and world it's insane. Easily one of the best stories in the industry, with somehow even better presentation in cutscenes than the original game. Love those bits that take place in areas that still resemble the first game's aesthetic. Just a few small areas untouched by the dystopian nightmare the rest of the world went through. Moments like that grow this series' universe in a way some long running franchises struggle to do in ten games let alone 2.
Perfect level of challenge for me. This game doesn't pull any punches, and it refuses to let you simply tank through any of its challenges due to its lack of checkpoints. But I never feel like it's asking too much of me. It's impressive they can make a bunch of enemies that die in 2 hits pose a genuine threat to you despite how powerful your guns are, really well balanced in that way imo. I'd be surprised if this game doesn't filter a lot of people. If this is too hard for you to enjoy maybe give Jak 3 a try, though that one dramatically overcorrected and just isn't as good all around but I'm getting ahead of myself.
This game throws EVERYTHING at the wall and it ALL sticks. Only criticism I could have is especially early on, pacing's pretty slow as you gotta drive between missions a lot. But it does open up and give you more options as to what to do at once later on. And the driving practice outside of missions is important early on before it starts becoming more demanding later. Besides, once you get good at the driving you can get to your destinations really fast anyway. Love the risk vs reward of small cars being faster with better handling except you'll probably blow up if you get into a bad crash. As opposed to the bigger chunkier cars that are a LOT more durable.
This game slays.
Gunplay, platforming, one off minigames, hoverboarding, street races, ring missions, higher speed professional racing on tracks, light collectathon elements, with a dash of crazy taxi. Just like the original game, its inspirations are clear but pulled off with enough grace and unique elements to not feel hopelessly derivative. All wrapped up in a narrative that does a weirdly good job tying into the wholesome Banjo Kazooie styled first game, while at the same time delivering a complex and engaging storyline with iconic characters across the board. Adding so much to the lore and world it's insane. Easily one of the best stories in the industry, with somehow even better presentation in cutscenes than the original game. Love those bits that take place in areas that still resemble the first game's aesthetic. Just a few small areas untouched by the dystopian nightmare the rest of the world went through. Moments like that grow this series' universe in a way some long running franchises struggle to do in ten games let alone 2.
Perfect level of challenge for me. This game doesn't pull any punches, and it refuses to let you simply tank through any of its challenges due to its lack of checkpoints. But I never feel like it's asking too much of me. It's impressive they can make a bunch of enemies that die in 2 hits pose a genuine threat to you despite how powerful your guns are, really well balanced in that way imo. I'd be surprised if this game doesn't filter a lot of people. If this is too hard for you to enjoy maybe give Jak 3 a try, though that one dramatically overcorrected and just isn't as good all around but I'm getting ahead of myself.
This game throws EVERYTHING at the wall and it ALL sticks. Only criticism I could have is especially early on, pacing's pretty slow as you gotta drive between missions a lot. But it does open up and give you more options as to what to do at once later on. And the driving practice outside of missions is important early on before it starts becoming more demanding later. Besides, once you get good at the driving you can get to your destinations really fast anyway. Love the risk vs reward of small cars being faster with better handling except you'll probably blow up if you get into a bad crash. As opposed to the bigger chunkier cars that are a LOT more durable.
This game slays.
Love the lore, much better than the first one. Gameplay is also smooth, but I find it very difficult, some levels seem to spike in difficulty. Honestly, even if this one has less a score, I'm not really sure which one is better.
It's a technically functional and, in some ways, polished experience. It's definitely a high budget game for its time. Everything else about it is incredibly annoying. The vehicles control like ass, the missions have no checkpointing and random, huge difficulty spikes. The game has a big map that I guess you could call an open world. It feels like it exists simply because GTA was becoming very, very popular. I do not wish to play this game again.
I remember my mom saw me losing my shit on the Seal Piece mission in the Water Slums, next thing that happened is that I saw her googling "The effects of violence in videogames". I wasn't the same after that.
I could write many paragraphs about every little thing that annoyed me about this game. From the mediocre soundtrack where you'll mostly hear the droning alert theme, the cramped open world, or the unsatisfying and frustrating gunplay.
Instead I'm going to say that buried within the muck and filth that is this trend-chasing derivative mess, there's a Jak sequel I wish I was playing instead. The few all too short levels taking advantage of the jetboard. Mixing it in with proper platforming and reasonable enemy spawns.
If Naughty Dog had made that game I would've swallowed the weird edgelord tone no problem. Instead it's a game I never want to return to.
Instead I'm going to say that buried within the muck and filth that is this trend-chasing derivative mess, there's a Jak sequel I wish I was playing instead. The few all too short levels taking advantage of the jetboard. Mixing it in with proper platforming and reasonable enemy spawns.
If Naughty Dog had made that game I would've swallowed the weird edgelord tone no problem. Instead it's a game I never want to return to.
Compared to the first game huge difference, changed the tone of the game, it became a lot more grungy and dark. Loved every bit of it.