I’ve been an OG Naughty Dog fan all my life. I didn’t have a PS1 when I was a kid but I remember loving Crash Bandicoot as a character and enjoying the games at a neighboring friend’s house. Later I had a PS2 and loved the first Jak & Daxter game. I don’t think I would’ve persevered through Jak 2 at that young of an age as I didn’t play 2 or 3 until much older. A couple years back I went and decided I was going to go through Naughty Dog’s Jak and Daxter trilogy, also including Jak X: Combat Racing, which in my opinion is slept on.
The game has a edgy teenager vibe but it also is very charming. I love Jak’s new voice and Daxter’s got some great one-liners throughout the game. Jak 2 is a difficult game to defend because while I do believe it is much stronger story/character wise than its predecessor, it’s also excruciating difficult at times. The gunplay can feel kind of sloppy and the fragile hover-cars you hijack and ride around the city to get from mission-to-mission are so brittle they feel like they’re made of fucking popsicle sticks- I wouldn’t blame you if you eventually go “screw it” and hike it on foot.
My feelings by the time I finished Jak 2 were that I loved it but I would never revisit it. I reflect on it fondly, but in the moment it felt mostly like a nightmare. This is due to one simple reason and is my biggest complaint with the game: The checkpoint system. It flat out just sucks. It’s unforgiving. There is zero room for mistakes. Total trial and error. Even though each mission might only be a few minutes long, it feels like eons because you will have to go through the same thing over and over incessantly. There was a part where you have to escape from the swampy area with some special orb and easily took me 50+ times of trying to run, hoverboard or dash through it. This game is not for the faint of heart despite how it may appear at face value. Jak 2 is no joke. It’s brutal. If the checkpoints were more generous, I think this game would actually be one of my favorite of the 3D mascot era.
I still love Jak 2 but Jak 3 fixed this issue and that’s why it felt like much more of an enjoyable breeze to get through. Jak 2’s atrocious checkpoint system should’ve been altered for current consoles. I don’t see why they won’t. It’s such a glaring issue. But regardless, I implore fans of the first game to try face the challenge and get through Jak 2. The story is very strong and surprisingly dark at times but it rides such a fine line of lighthearted cheekiness and that classic edgy tone of the 2000s that I dig.
Chao,
Mikhail
Verdict: 8.5/10 (I’d give it 9 if they fixed that godforsaken checkpoint system)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jak_II