Jak II

 PlayStation 2
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 463 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 368 out of 463
  2. Mixed: 66 out of 463
  3. Negative: 29 out of 463
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  1. Sylictic
    Jul 8, 2023
    3
    Naughty dog began it's journey to darker gritty games by taking a colourful platformer and saying 'nope.'
    Whilst the direction thr company has since taken with absolute masterpieces like the last of us and uncharted, quite why they decided to drastically change the genre of jak and daxter is beyond me. The grittier nature of the story is fine however everything that happened in the    Naughty dog began it's journey to darker gritty games by taking a colourful platformer and saying 'nope.'
    Whilst the direction thr company has since taken with absolute masterpieces like the last of us and uncharted, quite why they decided to drastically change the genre of jak and daxter is beyond me. The grittier nature of the story is fine however everything that happened in the precursor legacy is irrelevant and almost completely discarded for a more mad max style adventure.    … Expand
  2. Life_hater
    Jul 19, 2018
    1
    How can a game has decayed so much? The First Jak and Daxter is so good, has just some problems, but this second game, all game is the problem. This is another game completely diferrent, is like they creat a new game from the 0, and put the characters from the other game. The game is totally dark, like the creators went into depression and pull the game with them. The missions are boringHow can a game has decayed so much? The First Jak and Daxter is so good, has just some problems, but this second game, all game is the problem. This is another game completely diferrent, is like they creat a new game from the 0, and put the characters from the other game. The game is totally dark, like the creators went into depression and pull the game with them. The missions are boring and irritant(not difficult), the checkpoint is terrible, doesn't enjoy. I dont wanna play this never again. This game gave me crisis of nervousness. :(… Expand
  3. sufflaminandus
    Mar 20, 2019
    3
    Jak 1 was a successful, critically acclaimed platformer so what moved Naughty Dog to make radical revisions is a mystery. Indeed, when Jak 1 was almost a pure platformer, ‘action-adventure’ shuffling far behind, in Jak 2 roles are reversed. Yep, Jak 2 is a rightful action-adventure title and imagine this: it’s a GTA clone.

    Adventure begins with unlucky experiment that results in main    Jak 1 was a successful, critically acclaimed platformer so what moved Naughty Dog to make radical revisions is a mystery. Indeed, when Jak 1 was almost a pure platformer, ‘action-adventure’ shuffling far behind, in Jak 2 roles are reversed. Yep, Jak 2 is a rightful action-adventure title and imagine this: it’s a GTA clone.

    Adventure begins with unlucky experiment that results in main heroes being sucked into faulty machine and warped into Haven City, futurist habitat controlled by tyrant Baron Praxis and his Krimzon Guard. The group gets separated, Jak is captured and is experimented upon for 2 years, until being rescued by Daxter. The lasting torture is the source of three game aspects. First Jak is now capable of turning into dark eco version of himself, imbued with increased strength, defenses and scariness. Secondly, Jak has grown into serious tough guy now capable of speech. Thirdly, his motivation is revenge.

    As you can see Jak 2 goes for darker, more serious approach. Haven City mimics well dystopian works: police force patrolling the streets, brainwashing propaganda sounding in air, the rule of baron is absolute. Jak stays true to his unheroely goal throughout most of the story and to achieve it he is ready to deal even with criminals. Story itself is ten times more complex and sophisticated than “collect 75 cores” of predecessor, there would be twists, revelations, humor, tragedies. But cartoon design and bubbly past are inescapable, the story ever be limited by the fact that people in Jak are hyperbolic farce characters reeking of lightweight humor and design. Daxter in particularly is even more exasperating and superfluous than before.

    Jak 2 action-adventure is almost identical to GTA. Like GTA cities, Haven City is the hub filled with people, some walking, some flying in vehicles. Like in GTA, you’re free to roam, attack anyone, steal cars. Like in GTA, cops are ready to pursue you in case of infringement. Like in GTA story consist of mission, each triggered by going into certain place in the city, marked by icon on minimap. Like in GTA missions start with narrative cutscene, involving eccentric job-giver, followed by a task that can compromise almost any activity imaginable. The only ‘like in Jak’ element is that many missions takes places in certain non-city locations that involves classic platformer walkthrough.

    GTA-like gameplay structure requires a lot of variety in missions and, quantity wise, Naughty Dog managed quite well. The list of different tasks is long: platforming, fleeing from giant creatures, puzzles, NPCs escort, enemy eliminations, skateboarding, ambush escapes, lap races, sprint races, city races, shooting galleries, taxi, police shake-off, robot suite, intact deliveries, bosses, minigames. Jak now is supplied with a weapon, thanks to which game imitates a shooter (imitates because Jak 2 doesn’t feature regular aiming system).

    Activities list sound impressive right? Yes, indeed, I was charmed by the Jak 2 changes at first but illusion was quickly dispelled by two problems. First is simple and objective truth that, ironically, the only thing that Jak 2 does brilliantly is… platforming. Everything else (which is more than half of the game) falls under GTA category and is lackluster. The AI of denizens of Haven City consist literally of two actions: trite walking/driving and running from Jak. Cops system is so basic that it’s nothing but annoying. The Haven City itself is completely empty: no secrets, no interesting places, no motivation for exploration. And all these GTA-like missions about driving and shooting are mediocre because driving feels too arcade and not engaging and shooting, as was mentioned before, is an imitation.

    The second problem is idiotic, nerve-wrecking, unwarranted difficulty. Almost *all* mission in Jak 2 forgive no mistakes but at the same time many of them relies heavily on luck (!). For example, many mission involves hordes of shooting enemies all around Jak, you can kill them as fast as you can but you can’t prevent at least some of them from making few shots. And these shots… they may miss and they may not, you can’t control that, it’s random. So two absolutely identical player actions may lead (and often will) to different outcomes. Couple with the fact that platforming locations feature no checkpoints, prepare to spend hours on going through first mission stages only to practice the part where you fail. And this is idiocy: there are dozens of easily-implementable ways to makes game enjoyable and accessible to average player but no, no checkpoints, no health boxes, no mistakes, no selectable difficulty - only hardcore.

    And it’s just doesn’t worth it. Platforming is the only fun department of the game while everything else is a living hell. Yes, objectively speaking Jak 2 may deserve 6 or even 7, like original… but no

    3/10.    … Expand
  4. Raptor_Jesus
    Jan 26, 2014
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I tried to like this game, as much as I could. It got to the point where I couldn't continue to force myself to play this game. This game is almost like a GTA knock off and I absolutely hate it. Many would disagree with me, but hear me out.

    The first game was a Action-Adventure Platformer where you seek for powercells and acquire them through various trades and challenges. The objective was liner and straight forward, go north in search of Gaul (However his name is spelt) and attempt to change Daxter back. The ending of the first game lead to a door that led to a cliffhanger for the next squeal. The game was absolutely beautiful and loved every minute of it.

    At the beginning of Jak II, you are given the opening cut scene of what is a giant ring with no explanation of it. Jak presses a button and is mysteriously attacked by a 3-eyed rhino of a monster which then leads to Jak, Daxter, the Green Sage, and Kaira (Again, not entirely sure of the spelling) off into what is a rift gate and are separated. Jak and Daxter are transported to a city which Jak gets captured and is submitted to Dark Eco injections for the next 2 years. Daxter breaks Jak out, and you are sent into the city of Haven.

    The first thing I noticed during the tutorial was that the sound effects of Jaks jumps weren't of him from the first game. Next, Jak can transformed into some sort of super being of dark eco and is sent upon the city. After, you are greeted by some prick who never tells you his name and is sent mission after mission to some place without any story progress; at least I felt like there was none.

    A broken game feature was the checkpoint system; yes, its Effing broken. You could be more than 75% done with the mission, but if you die sorry. Go back to square one with the same amount of ammo that you had from where you died. Oh yeah, you're given an Effing gun.

    Instead of being an Action-Adventure, Naughty Dog decided to say "Hey! Lets switch genres and turn it into a shooter! All the kids love shooters!" Yeah, not the kids who played the first game. This game turned into a shooter with very little platforming. And for the very little platforming you can do, they also decided to say "screw barriers and invisible walls! If you fall out of the map! Tough luck! Back to square one!"

    Hover cars are another broken feature in this game due to how weak like paper mache they are. 3 hits into some object and bye bye car; it doesn't make it easy if theres another hover car 2 feet away from you and everywhere. For the racing mission in 3 minutes, freaking impossible! I kept my car running and I still couldn't make it no matter how many different routes I took.

    These are my problems with Jak II. The game is utterly horrible. If you've played the first game, stick to the first game please. You're not missing much. If you really want to know the story, go look up on youtube or where ever if you want to know that bad. But it's seriously not worth your money.    … Expand
  5. Joruto
    Aug 22, 2012
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This game was a real disappointment.

    I was hoping for another beautiful platformer like the last Jak game. But instead I got a poor GTA clone with no art style.

    The checkpoints were stupidly placed (Which made the game frustratingly hard!!)

    There are some badly made escort/race missions THAT SUCK!!

    And remember how The Precursor Legacy had no loading screens?
    Well say goodbye to that!
    Every time you want to exit the city you have to wait for a slow door to open.
    (It's a kinda cleverly disguised loading screen.)

    The only good thing I have to say about this game is that the story is kick-ass and deep and also the music is still pretty good.

    Oh and all the boss fights are boring and repetitive (The Krew boss fight for example).

    Although the last boss fight was pretty good.    … Expand
  6. f_ckjak
    May 12, 2014
    2
    This otherwise decent game is one of the most frustrating ones I've ever played. And it's all due to its poor design and completely wrong checkpoints placements. I really have no idea what were the creators thinking and how little idea and understanding did they have of games in general. The most important aspect of any game is that a game should be.... wait for it.... fun! Oh wow, howThis otherwise decent game is one of the most frustrating ones I've ever played. And it's all due to its poor design and completely wrong checkpoints placements. I really have no idea what were the creators thinking and how little idea and understanding did they have of games in general. The most important aspect of any game is that a game should be.... wait for it.... fun! Oh wow, how brilliant, I must be a genius! Too bad they didn't think of that - this game punishes you for playing it, it's brutal.

    Oh, and one more (but very important) thing. It has one of the most terrible soundtracks I've ever heard, anywhere. Seriously, just listen to it. Calling the guy who made it a "composer" is a joke...    … Expand
  7. yoshistar456
    Mar 24, 2016
    0
    WHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE THIS GAME?! IT"S BY FAR ONE OF THE WORST GAMES I EVER The original Jak and Daxter was one of my favorite games of all time! And now they ruined it BY MAKING IT A **** GTA CLONE! Why?! Why did you do this, Naughty Dog? You had something great going on with the first game, and now, THIS?! This is just... UIBY FC,mjkhudtr7tu[gmhcgxkfyri75oe6r7py. Sorry, I got so pissedWHY DOES EVERYONE LIKE THIS GAME?! IT"S BY FAR ONE OF THE WORST GAMES I EVER The original Jak and Daxter was one of my favorite games of all time! And now they ruined it BY MAKING IT A **** GTA CLONE! Why?! Why did you do this, Naughty Dog? You had something great going on with the first game, and now, THIS?! This is just... UIBY FC,mjkhudtr7tu[gmhcgxkfyri75oe6r7py. Sorry, I got so pissed that I pressed all the buttons on my keyboard randomly. Anyways, it's not just the change in gameplay that annoys me, it's these **** missions! This game has a **** up check point system. Trust me, it's screwed up. If you die once, you have to go a huge chunk back in the level. Soundtrack wise, they didn't do anything to improve the already lacking soundtrack from the first game. And graphically-- IT SUCKS!!! It's so dark and bland, I mean... what the hell happened? The first game had a lot of color, and now this? So in conclusion, if you're anything like me, don't buy this game or rent it. Hell, don't even watch anyone play it. I despise this game.… Expand
  8. Dom007
    Mar 12, 2021
    0
    Seriously what is this pile of h o r s e s h i t? I don't like to give up on video games, but I knew from the very start that I'd dislike this game. For starters it has a piss annoying sidekick character that won't shut up, dreadful missions, mediocre level design, awful boss battles, the worst checkpointing I've ever seen in a game, hard to aim gun combat and frustrating controlsSeriously what is this pile of h o r s e s h i t? I don't like to give up on video games, but I knew from the very start that I'd dislike this game. For starters it has a piss annoying sidekick character that won't shut up, dreadful missions, mediocre level design, awful boss battles, the worst checkpointing I've ever seen in a game, hard to aim gun combat and frustrating controls (particularly on the flying car sections).
    Never will I play this again, perhaps the most unenjoyable gaming experience I've ever had.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

18
#18 Best PS2 Game of 2003
6
#6 Most Discussed PS2 Game of 2003
10
#10 Most Shared PS2 Game of 2003

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 47 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 39 out of 47
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 47
  3. Negative: 0 out of 47
  1. Gamestyle
    70
    It’s undoubtedly a bold (if not brazen) attempt to entertain, and while Gamestyle found itself striving to collect every last item from the first title, it is hard to see the same happening with this one. Which leaves its technical achievements looking rather muted.
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  2. Electric Playground
    100
    I was hooked on the gameplay and the story of Jak II almost immediately and my addiction and love of the game hasn’t subsided weeks later. Jak II is, without question, one of the finest gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
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  3. Gamer.tv
    95
    Naughty Dog's expansion of Jak and Daxter's world to include different forms of gameplay has been seamless, and should open up their adventures to those who find the very concept of platform games anathema.
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