The sequel to the Precursor (making it Episode I?). It’s the chronology for which we have George Lucas to thank.
Thanks George, now go let someone else write your movies, especially the dialogue.
Much like it’s predecessor, the game is platform based (or guy game) and you control Jak around various 3D levels trying to do stuff, like Mario. In the beginning, you, and sidekick Daxter, are warped into another world/dimension like Bill and Ted. As soon as you set foot on this new world’s soil, you are immediately arrested and put in prison for two years.
Luckily, the game fast forwards to this point and you don’t have to spend a bunch of time in a cell.
Your body is pumped full of ‘dark eco,’ something you encountered in the first game. Dark eco seems capable of doing pretty much whatever the folks at Naughty Dog feel like. It can turn your friend into a marmot (or whatever Daxter is), it powers Haven city (where all the action in Jak II takes place) and it can brainwash people into joining the cities military-slash-police. In the case of Jak, it gives him mysterious dark powers that enable him to kick-ass berserker-style like Wolverine spliced with the Tasmanian devil.
This comes in handy and serves as a sub plot to keep the game moving.
There is never a dull moment with Jak II and the entire game moves seamlessly and smoothly without a lot of long, tedious missions or boring animation sequences. What stands out the most, is the vehicles. You can steal any of the cruisers that float overhead and the police don’t care. They fly like Princess Leia’s speeder in Empire and, if you’re not careful, it will end up the same flaming junk pile on Endor. For some reason, stealing these and flying around the vast city never really gets old. Throughout the game you will also acquire a few other goodies that make moving around fun, the coolest being a Jet-Board that makes parts of the game like Tony Hawk Pro Skater (and everyone loves that game). They did an excellent job with the weapons, too as each gun as it’s own strengths and weaknesses giving them just enough of a strategic edge that you won’t go shooting up all your ammo with only one gun.
Bottom line is: it’s fun and that’s what video games are supposed to be. You’ll waste countless hours on the missions that are just hard enough to take awhile but not so hard that you won’t keep trying. Then, exhausted from staying up too late and bloodshot from not blinking you trod off to bed and have dreams about zipping around in a speeder and running into Krimzon Guards.