Jak 2 & 3: The Games That Almost Got Away

I just finished Jak 3 mere minutes ago and so here's my review/commentary on both Jak 2 and 3.

Jak 2

First a bit of backstory on my history with this game. I'd played the first Jak & Daxter game and it was a fun little platformer but nothing special. Jak 2 came out and after reading this scathing review on Gamespy, I had no real urge to play it.

Fast forward about a year and with a special deal at Best Buy, I was able to get Jak 2 for $9, so I figured I'd give it a try. That try resulted in about 5 minutes of play and my sworn oath never to touch the game again. The controls were loose at best, the city hub was a nightmare to navigate in and the vehicles made shopping carts look like F1 racers. Not only that, I then started to play Sly 2 which is like the platform game designed by God Himself, which further emphasized how crappy the controls in Jak 2 were.

So I traded the game in and got $20 and actually made a profit, so I was happy.

Jak 3 came out and while the commercials were interesting, I remembered how much I disliked Jak 2 and dismissed Jak 3 out of hand.

Now when the end of year awards were being handed out by various websites, I started to notice a few of them commenting on how much they liked Jak 3 and how they loved Jak 2. These were from a few sites whose opinions I tend to respect so I decided that maybe I was too quick to judge Jak 2. I picked it up with Jak 3 for about $50 for the both of them, which was a great deal.

So a couple weeks ago I decided to sit down and actually work on Jak 2 & 3 and boy, am I glad I did.

Jak 2 is at once one of the most fun and most infuriating games I've played in some time. There is a streak of humour which runs through the admittedly darker tone of the game that makes getting to each new cutscene a real incentive.

Unfortunately, the controls were still somewhat sloppy, but after spending a bit of time with them, I got used to them and was not cursing the TV quite so loudly.

Here's the thing with Jak 2. It's my definition of what a game based solely on pattern recognition is. It's almost impossible to get through any mission on the 3rd attempt, let alone the first. Add to that the fact that most missions had no mid-point restart spot and you're looking at elevated blood pressure and air blue with curses during some of the latter stages of the game.

Oh, and did I mention the compulsory race sequences using those shopping cart vehicles? ARG!

But after 8 attempts, you get the pattern of a mission down and can usually blow through them with no problem. And you want to, because the cutscenes are all incredible to look at and funny to watch.

So I slogged through Jak 2 and actually finished it, not realizing that I'd accomplished something up there with beating Ninja Gaiden. I just thought I'd had a hard time, but it turns out that it's actually one of those games you use as a definition of a punishingly difficult game.

So, with Jak 2 under my belt, I started in on

Jak 3

Now this game rocked. Gone were the compulsory shopping cart races. Gone was the maddening city hub. Gone were the 8 attempts to beat the simplest of missions. I was able to finish Jak 3 in about 14 hours, as opposed to the 20+ that Jak 2 took me. I realize now that Jak 2 probably would have clocked in at around 14 hours but I must have spent a good 6 hours just redoing each mission. Sigh.

Jak 3 is a lot more forgiving than Jak 2. The graphics are even better and the variety of environments and missions made it zip along a lot quicker when playing. I never really felt like I was just treading water, like I did with Jak 2 at times.

Starting Jak 3 seconds after finishing Jak 2 probably helped too, since my Jak skills were still fresh.

Add to that the fact that there are some great weapons, new moves, smart puzzles that aren't just pattern based and a lot more mid-mission restart points and it's not hard to see why I enjoyed this game more. Also, most of the characters had been established in Jak 2 so I was able to enjoy a meatier story with even more hilarity mixed in with its end of the world scenario.

The story for both Jak 2 & 3 was a lot of fun to watch unfold, even if you could see what the major plot twists were from about a mile away. It was told with such style and wit that I just really enjoyed it.

So I guess I'm glad I took a second crack at the games. Sure, they take a bit of time to get used to the controls but once you have them down, you're set. I think the two games are actually incredibly fun and are going to live in my permanent collection now.

And the best thing was that they were short. I'm so used to RPG's so having two games I could finish off in the course two weeks is refreshing.

Now to go play some Brothers In Arms or Republic Commando.

If you made it this far, I salute you. I mostly wrote this little blurb for me, so I could remember when I finished the game and also because these games had such a weird history for me. It'd be one thing if I'd been a huge fan of them and loved them. It's the fact that I went from hating them to absolutely loving them that really inspired me to blather on.

I promise it won't happen... till the next game.

Now to see if Blogger will eat this!
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What I'm Reading: Grass For His Pillow (30 pages left! WHY WON'T IT END!?!)
What I'm Playing: Jak 3 (duh), Freedom Force 2, WoW, Republic Commando
What I'm Watching: The OC for the Star Wars 3 trailer that DIDN'T AIR ON CTV.