Jak II
Platform(s): Sony Playstation 2
Developer: Naughty Dog
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment of America
Jak is back and this time he's pissed off, as both Jak and Daxter make their return in Naughty Dog's Jak II.
Like Aeon Flux and the main character in Grand Theft Auto III, Jak didn't really have much to say in the first game. In Jak II though, he has diarrhea of the mouth. You even hear glimpses of him cutting off the mouthy Daxter.
The game starts out with Jak and Daxter being zapped through some space-time continuum machine that would make Doc Brown proud. They end up in an alternate universe, and some large thug-like guards immediately capture Jak. Fear not, campers - Daxter escapes.
Suddenly, two years later, Jak is strapped down to a chair Clockwork Orange-style and getting fed dark Eco. The guy feeding him the Eco is none other than the Kurgan - that's right, Clancy Brown does the voice of the evil Baron Praxis.
After snaking through the sewers for those two years, Daxter finally reunites with Jak, lets him loose, and then Jak starts spitting out the expletives. I love a video game that curses and swears.
Enough of the back-story, I loved this game. It was one of the best platformers I've played in recent years. I have a feeling that I can trust Naughty Dog because the Crash Bandicoot series was great before Universal Games ripped it from their wombs.
The controls haven't changed one bit. Use the left analog to move, X to jump and combo the other buttons to attack. A nice addition to the game is an Eco meter that gets charged up and eventually transforms Jak into one lean, mean bad-ass fighting machine. Guards don't stand a chance against him.
A few other additions like the ability to steal the vehicles and the Airblade add a whole new dimension to the game. No longer will you have to trudge across the landscape causing huge nasty blisters on Jak's feet. Just steal the nearest car and off you go. Watch it so that you don't steal one of the guards' vehicles because they'll chase you all around the city.
Sticking with the obvious homage to Back to the Future, the Airblade is a hover skateboard just like the one Marty McFly had. As with the vehicles, it gets you around the city much faster. You can also pull some pretty cool tricks with it if you should find an available half-pipe.
I did have a few problems with Jak II. Lke with most of the newer 3D platformers, I did run into some weird camera angles at very crucial points in the game. You basically have to center the camera and then try to move it around to an angle that works. Sometimes it did, and sometimes it didn't.
I also found myself getting lost while trying to follow the map that was available in the lower right-hand corner of the screen. I was taking wrong turns down dead-ends and sometimes ended on the complete opposite side of the city without even knowing it.
Those problems aside, Jak II is an extremely fun game. Giving Jak a voice added a lot to the game because - let's face it - Daxter is one annoying little bastard, and I got sick of him yabbering all the time in the last game.
Put this game on your holiday shopping list. Tell your friends or folks to buy you this game. Go buy it yourself. I give it a solid A.
Reach the reporter at ryan.eilders@asu.edu.
