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Jak II: Renegade Review
Chris Leyton
15/10/2003
Jak II is THE game to rejuvenate the platform genre; every PS2 owner needs to own this game...
What was once bright and breezy, colourful and charming has turned dark and gritty, humorous yet mature; we can think of no other videogame series to perfectly highlight the change in videogame trends then âJak & Daxterâ.
Released back in 2001, âJak & Daxter: The Precursor Legacyâ was released at a time when popularity in the platform genre was beginning to wane, gamers were becoming more interested in guns, explosions and Grand Theft Auto particularly. The resulting change in âJak2â content may smack of desperation, an attempt to gain sales that were criminally overlooked upon the originalâs release, however Naughty Dog have been meticulous in the implementation and itâs true to say that all aspects come together and survive the transformation surprisingly well.
Set immediately after the events of the original, the opening sequence depicts Jak, Daxter and their fellow chums Keira and Samos, as they attempt to discover the secrets behind the Precursor Orbs that players had to collect in the first game. A typically unsubtle intervention by Daxter however sets the Orb off and opens up a portal in which a dark monster appears and drags the gang through it. Crashing down to the ground, Jak and Daxter find themselves flung 300 years into the future in a dark and gritty city populated with hover cars and tyrannical enforcement officers. Jak finds himself accosted by the officers and dragged off to meet the evil Baron Praxis, however the quick and wily Daxter manages to escape undetected. Within the constraints of the Baronâs palace, Jak finds himself tied up and tested upon with the mysterious Dark Eco; after two years of the cruel treatment, Daxter finally finds a way to rescue his buddy â“ however things are not necessarily what he was expecting.
It seems that the Dark Eco has had a powerful effect on Jak and drawn out the darker side in him; realising the need for revenge Jak swears to kill Praxis for his treatment, however the duo decide to find out more about where they are before rushing into things.
Itâs not just the story that has taken a dramatic U-turn in direction, as soon as the game begins in Haven City youâll immediately notice the drastic alterations to the traditional platform formula that Naughty Dog have experimented with. Whereas the original âJak & Daxterâ featured free-flowing, interconnected levels and was undoubtedly a strong design point back in 2001, Naughty Dog have learnt from the success of the âGTAâ series and as such Haven City acts as a central hub for the game. The streets of Haven City are bustling with life; citizens walk up and down, hover-cars dart around in the sky above and the Krimzon Guards make regular patrols to ensure everybody is behaving themselves.
The two years of experiments and torture have evidently allowed Jak to develop some new tricks, the first being the ability to hijack any of the vehicles you see flying about in a manner identical to âGTAâ. Simply by pressing the ▲button, Jak can flip himself into the air and take control of a hover-car, allowing Jak to get around the town in double quick time. However upset the peace too much and you can expect the guards to be on your back and gun turrets pointing towards your general direction.
Punch, kick, spin and dash attacks return from the original, however Jak now has the ability to unleash his darker side when youâve collected enough Dark Eco. When youâve done this Jak undergoes a stark transformation; his hair turns white, he grows claws and electricity sparks from his body. In this state Jak is an absolute death-dealing machine, launching devastating spinning attack combos with his claws and dishing out electrical shocks to anyone who ventures too near.
Itâs not long before the story begins to push you through the game and you meet up with a bunch of people who form the Rebellion Group, opposed to the corrupt regime of Praxis. Youâll soon be sent on a variety of missions throughout the city and some that take place outside of the city walls. As you progress new characters will become apparent to provide new missions and information; itâs an identical system to that featured in âGTAâ but works brilliantly, so if one particular mission is proving to be a stumbling block you can always move on to another and progress the story in a different fashion.
Thankfully the game maintains traditional platform mechanics at its roots, most of the missions that take place out of the city walls will feel familiar to those that enjoyed the original. However this time around Jak finds himself equipped with an arsenal of four weapons available to him; the shotgun, a laser-scoped rifle, a mini-gun and the aptly named peacemaker. Although we initially scoffed at the concept of having guns in a âJak & Daxterâ game they work surprisingly well and have a very solid and meaty feel to them; far better in fact then most action orientated titles.
Combat comes across remarkably well with the number of options available to Jak, soon youâll find yourself performing some deadly combos and stringing it together with a Dark Eco transformation. In keeping with the âinclude as many popular game concepts as possibleâ formula that seems to run throughout âJak2â, youâll soon find yourself equipped with a hoverboard to speed through the levels more quickly. Not only can you use this as a weapon but you can also pull off Tony Hawk style moves, sadly pulling these off doesnât seem to have any effect on the game.
So thereâs a great deal of depth and variation to the gameplay featured in âJak2â, whilst a large number of mini-games scatter each level to spice up the action a little more as if it didnât need it. The platform genre has certainly grown stale since âMario64â brought it into 3D and ensured that virtually every preceding game followed the rulebook of collecting a certain amount of coins/stars/orbs/ (delete as appropriate); Naughty Dog should certainly be congratulated for rejuvenating the genre with spectacular effect, itâs highly likely that those whoâve grown tired of bouncing around on heads and collecting items will gain a great deal of enjoyment from âJak2â. Naturally thereâs still scope to collect items, however itâs not necessary to completing the game and rewards players with a variety of goodies such as being able to turn off Jakâs new goatee beard.
âJak2â certainly carries on Naughty Dogâs excellence for pushing the machine to its limits in terms of visual technology and is without doubt one of the most impressive games on the Playstation2 at present. The environments youâll come across are huge and expansive affairs yet meticulous down to the smallest detail, however itâs the character models that particularly stand out. The original âJak & Daxterâ featured some excellent cut-scenes throughout and the sequel certainly carries on this tradition, showing off the stunning character models to great effect with excellent facial animations and lip-sync.
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