Jak II - Review

November 14, 2003 | 7 Comments

You bet it would take a damn fun game to tear me away from SSX 3. That game is Jak II.

I made the mistake of putting Jak II in one night to give myself a little change up from SSX 3 and it hooked me right away. I’ve just recently beat it and let me tell ya, it was a very satisfying and gratifying game pretty much the whole way.

The first thing you notice is the shear size of the game. Haven City, the dark, futuristic world into which Jak is cast and where most of the game takes place, is huge. The graphics are great, from the unwashed masses to the huge buildings that surround Jak and Daxter as they explore the various locales within the city.

There’s a bit of everything in Haven City from sewers to hidden tombs to groves and alleyways. From time to time you’ll go outside the city to swamps, forests and mountains, each done in great detail. The look of the game is terrific.

Gameplay is very good. The story is tight, engaging and challenging. A bit too challenging at times. That is pretty much my only knock on the game. There are a few spots that were a bit too hard for my tastes, requiring quite a bit of replay to get it right. If the game hadn’t been so engaging I’d have given up about halfway through.

I hung in there and the good news is that when you do complete the various missions the pay off is very good. The story and cut scenes are great, the voice acting marvelous and a times very, very funny. That’s good because much of the game is downright cruel. Entertaining for sure, but cruel and wicked.

The other remarkable thing about this game is the variety of gameplay. The majority of the game is spent like the previous Jak game. You run around completing various missions and getting rewarded. However, there is a lot GTA and Tony Hawk in there as well, making for a great mix.

It’s ridiculously fun to hijack a vehicle and just go flying around Haven City watching unlucky pedestrians duck and dive for cover. The game is worth checking out if only for that.

Despite it’s difficulty at parts I found Jak II to be a great game and well worth buying. If you do get it and get stuck — stick with it — you’ll be glad you did.

My rating: 4.5 out of 5.

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Comments

1. Scrivs said:

How the hell do you find time to play these games?

Posted on November 14, 2003 01:31 PM | #

2. tomjleeds said:

Although I’m not a big platform fan (or a big gamer for that matter), the PS2’s recent platformers have been great fun - I loved both Jak & Daxter and Rachet & Clank. Colourful, easy to use, fun to play.

Posted on November 15, 2003 03:10 AM | #

3. Keith said:

Don’t you worry about where I find the time…Let’s just say I’m fast! ;)

Posted on November 15, 2003 12:31 PM | #

4. Howard said:

Well i’d have to say i’m a little disappointed with this game… dont get me wrong, it has an excellent story line, but I’m the kind of gamer who hates redundancy - and this game has lots of it! Sure, each mission is a new task, but it all comes down to the same two things:

1: You get a one to two minute time limit soaring around on a floating death trap with the primary strategy being “avoid the red beams or you blow up.” Obviously you need to avoid walls and other cars as well, but that’s a duh - do yourself a favor, fly low, fly fast, dont stop unless you need a new hover car. Grand theft what?

2: Shoot at enemies until gems pop out of their heads. Wanna aim manually? fughettaboutit. There’s nothing more to say about this, keep shooting, hope there’s energy around the corner.

Okay, now combine these two with the SAME REDUNDANT MUSIC everytime you do any of the following:

Start a mission

hurt someone

hit a guard

kill a guard

start a mission

did i mension start a mission?

They like to give you lots of mission practice too, I hope you’re patient! I would recommend that anyone who doesn’t like doing things over and over not purchase this game… Rent it, peg at it for two or three days (or however long it takes you to beat it if you even care to) then return it. If you get annoyed easily, its not likely that you’ll want to play it again afterward.

I rate this game average.

Posted on November 23, 2003 01:25 PM | #

5. sue said:

After I complete a mission or leave an area (like the Fortress), how do I get back in to get the orbs I left behind. I’ve beat the 1st boss and want to go back to collect stuff I left behind and can’t find any open doors…

Posted on December 15, 2003 08:48 AM | #

6. Gidogg said:

Jak and DaXter ruled. Jak II rules. First lets get the bad out the way. The game is challenging at MANY parts. Two, Various missions have much of the same tasks. Thats it. Big Deal. Even with these “problems” what isn’t fun about this game. You can drive, you can hit, you can shoot, you can KILL. People say, “Oh there ripping off GTA with the car jacking!” So whatt!! It worked for GTA, and it works now. Dont fix whats not broken, and if it works use the same design somewhere else. As for the problems. If you think the missions are challenging, and youy dont want to do them, you obviously have no joy doing them. So in conclusion, my only quandry is with the title. DAXTER should be included. PEACE

Posted on December 28, 2003 05:00 PM | #