Jak 2

Title: Jak 2
Platform Played On: PlayStation 2
Release Date: October 14, 2003
Date Played: Summer 2006
Time Played: 30 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 4/5



Opinion:
The first game in the Jak and Daxter series was an action platformer. While Jak 2 retains a little bit of platforming it has been clearly influenced by other successful games that came out during it's development.

The entire gameplay structure has been molded into kind of, sort of a GTA clone. The story takes place 300 years after the events of the original game, and instead of being comprised of separate diverse levels majority of the game takes place in a huge industrial city. It is structured exactly as you would expect a GTA clone to be. You grab missions around the city and complete them in order to advance the story.

The other clear influence is the Ratchet and Clank series, and that is not surprising. Naughty Dog and Insomniac are sister companies and both games use the same engine. So now instead of platforming around floating rocks you are in a huge city with your GTA style mini map and vehicles and Ratchet and Clank style robots.

Jak 2 is a completely different game from the first one. While it is more modern, personally I am tired of GTA clones. Generally a GTA game has so much content that you are satisfied until the next one comes out, so playing all of these clones can and does get boring at times, partly due to their inferior quality to the real thing. That being said, I played Jak 2 for its characters and its story, which is more engaging and enjoyable than the first game. Mostly due to the fact that there are a lot more things going on, there are more characters, and more events. The first game's success and several years of development allowed Naughty Dog to make the game look better and to have more cut scenes to tell the story.

Overall I enjoyed Jak 2, to me it was a lighthearted GTA set in a different universe. It was interesting to find out what happens to the characters after the events of the first game. I played all 3 Jak games in succession, and enjoyed all of them. It seems like Jak 2 can be enjoyed by those that played the original and by those that are new to the series.