E3 2003: Jak II: Renegade Hands-On

Naughty Dog's Jak II sequel is better than the original - but how much better? We investigate in our E3 playtest. New screens and vids included.

The original Jak & Daxter recieved quite an interesting reception after it was released. With its major emphasis on exploration and action-platformer elements, gamers either loved or hated Jak & Daxter. I honestly never encountered anyone who had mixed feelings about the game and considered it average.

The first thing that came to mind was the shortened title of the game, "Jak II". I kept wondering "What about Daxter?" He was the funny wise crackin character who provided the original charm. Jak II certainly didn't get the huge spectacle its predecessor received at E3 2001 - comparatively, Jak II looked and felt pretty low-key at Sony's booth. After our playtest, I came away with mixed feelings.

Graphically, Jak II sports some detailed, lush looking populated environments. I've always loved when games threw tons of animated characters on screen like in State of Emergency, and Jak II certainly did its job in that area. It was nice to see the city in Jak II full of citizens and enemy soldiers roaming about like it was just another day and then start running in panic when trouble broke out. The very populated environments might be Naughty Dog's way of showing off their game engine, but it was still a nice sight nonetheless - and Naughty Dog seem to have done everything in Jak II in a particular way for a reason.

Similar in look and style to the original, Jak II also contained elements that set the two apart. The environments in the original Jak & Daxter gave the game a tropical feel as they were all set on some islands. In Jak II, there's still a tropical feel, but there's also a modernized and futuristic feel as well. I thought the futuristic elements were the coolest parts of the game as there was a female robotic voice sounding out in one of the cities. Along with that, when I hopped onto a flying vehicle and steered it high above the buildings in the vibrant city, I saw that I wasn't the only one up there. There were plenty of other vehicles flying above the city similar to the air traffic shown in some futuristic sci-fi movies.

However, despite the cool visuals, it was the accessibility of Jak II that had me kinda groaning. At one stage when we played, the game was already in progress when we took the controls. I maneuvered Jak around some uninhabited area, and if first impressions were anything to go by, I wan't impressesed as yet - the pace of this area was just very slow. But there had to be a story / gameplay explanation for the slowness of that area. Moving over to another Jak II setup with a different level loaded made for quite a different experience, as I took control of Jak in the aforementioned city area - the central location within the game.

Performing Jak's moves didn't take long at all as the control setup was pretty simple to pick up right away. Jak still sports his lunging attacks and spinning moves. Also the addition of weapons enhances the gameplay over that of the original by a good margin.

A special mention must go to the voice acting, which is really well done. Check our movies for some brief evidence. It's near Disney-quality, with Jak having a very hero-like tone, and Daxter is more amusing than ever before.

Personally, Jak II doesn't really do it for me. I've never been too fond of free roaming searching elements in 3D platformers - I prefer the action to keep a steady, brisk pace and be straightforward for the most part, which is why for example I like Sonic Adventure a lot more than its sequel. I don't mind a game being hard just as long as I don't have to go scavenger hunting for hidden items or spend an hour trying to find the entrance to the next level. Fortunately this time around, the gameplay of Jak II is more focused on action than hours of hunting.

I think some more time is needed with Jak II than a brief encounter at E3, since the emphasis here is still on exploration - and it's a character and story-driven game that you need to sit down and experience properly and enjoy. I'd like to play the game from the very beginning to form a more complete opinion about it. Adam tells me he's played a fair bit of Jak II and a variety of levels throughout the game, and says it's top-notch. It's all a matter of different opinions and tastes.

We will of course track the progress of Jak II very closely. Watch out for an extensive interview with Naught Dog CEO Jason Rubin in a couple of weeks.

Joseph Jackson
Staff Writer, Kikizo Games