Official Jak 2 Discussion & Review Thread
 

Well, IGN has posted their review of Jak 2 and they loved it. They gave it a 9.5. While they addressed most of the same criticisms that EGM had, it seemed to bother them less. I can't wait for this game now. It'll be tough waiting for that TRU sale to kick in, but I think I'll pick it up during that deal.

BTW You can play as Datxer now! I never heard that before.

EGM gave it an 8.5, 8.5, 7.5.

Their main complaints were with the Haven City part of the game (GTAish part). They mainly said it got boring fast because there isn't much you can interact with, that it's frustratingly difficult in places as you can't restore your health in the city, and that it's too big and takes forever to get anywhere as there are no warps spots or subway or anything like that.

The rest of the game is supposed to be great though.

I'll have to pass as I only thought the original was mediocre, and I hate the GTA games, so the above complaints killed all my interest in the game.

I'm trying to wait for the TRU deal to go into effect. It's gonna be hard but I do have VJ to hold me over till then.

Hey Decker I started this thread http://www.dvdtalk.com/forum/showthr...hreadid=323072 so I wouldn't highjack the Jak one :D

But hijacking threads is what we do best :D

Josh, I don't know what sort of games you like or don't like, but I have a feeling that EGM was a little hard on this game. PSM gave it a perfect 10, and they're not pushovers. In fact, last year not a single game rated a 10. I wasn't overly impressed with J & D either. But I loved R&C and if this game takes the weapons ideas from that and the best parts of several other genres, I'm pretty confident it'll be a blast to play. I also like that this isn't a game you can breeze though in an afternoon (cough, Sly Cooper, cough). I'll let you know what I think after playing for a while, but this game is the one I'm really looking forward to.

I plan on getting Jak 2 regardless of most scores(unless gamespot gives it lower than a 7 score). After reading IGN's review I'm not quite sure how they were able to give it a 9.5 with a straight face. They commented on multiple things that didn't feel/look right etc. Gamespot should give it a more deserving score(8.6-8.9).

This is slightly off topic, but I'm starting to trust Gamespot less and less. They gave D&D: Heroes for X-Box around a 6.5 (after giving Baldur's Gate: Dark Alliance, a fairly similar game, a high 8), and gave the PC port of Halo a 9. Even if Gamespot panned it, I wouldn't let that dissuade you from picking up Jak 2, especially with all the other positive marks.

I don't buy games anymore that score lower than a 7 from major gaming sites(Castlevania and Ratchet and Clank2 are exceptions to this rule). I just can't afford a mistake anymore. My gaming funds are quite low because of the amount of money I receive in a month(disability check). Every game I have been interested in the past year or so I have pretty much agreed with the scores Gamespot has given them unlike IGN's wildly varying scores. I do rent games under a 7 though sometimes if I was really interested in the game before the reviews were out, although I do so rarely.

Also D&D:Heroes is an exclusive Xbox game, it shouldn't look and play worse(balance wise) than an almost 2 year old PS2 game. I was looking forward to D&D:Heroes when it was multi-platform until I started reading previews and seeing the lackluster graphics compared to BG: DA. I pretty much lost interest before it was changed to Xbox exclusive. Also they didn't even try to follow D&D rules in Heroes it seems.

For comparison:
D&D:Heroes Character selection menu
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/..._071403_32.jpg

BG: DA Character selection menu (PS2)
http://ps2media.ign.com/media/previe...gda/bgda_1.jpg

D&D:Heroes characters in game
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images..._screen007.jpg

BG: DA characters in game(PS2)
http://image.com.com/gamespot/images..._screen015.jpg

D&D:Heroes frost giant
http://xboxmedia.ign.com/xbox/image/...15ddheroes.jpg

BG: DA frost giant(PS2)
http://ps2media.ign.com/media/e32001...aulder/bg2.jpg

Gamepro gave Jak 2:

Graphics: 5
Sound: 5
Controls: 4.5
Fun Factor: 5

Gamespy hammered Jak2 with a paltry 2/5 stars!! I think the reviewer was too harsh.

I'm guessing this is out of 5. If it's out of 10 than that's pretty freakin' low.

I'll be picking this game up when it arrives in town. Doubt anyone will have it today.

yeah, gamepro is a 5 point scale.

2/5 in Gamespy does seem harsh.

It seems like the City part of the game just flat out sucks. I haven't read a single review that didn't complain about it either being too hard, too boring, or just taking way to long to get from level to level.

But still, if the actually levels are great, the city doesn't warrant a 2/5 IMO.

http://www.gamerankings.com/htmlpages4/914535.asp

Wait for the Gamespot review. That Gamespy review is a joke.

well Gamespot gave it a 9.2 damn, this is the biggest discrepancy I've seen in a while on a big title. I do tend to trust Gamespot and Play magazine, so I think Jak 2 just jumped back onto my list :)

Should have posted it :p

Gamespot Score 9.1
http://www.gamespot.com/ps2/action/jak2/review.html

Last paragraph

It borrows from GTA III? Ugghhhhh....This just went from a 'gotta have' to 'maybe I'll wait'. I want to play a typical platform, not some GTA III clone. This really disappoints me, as I was 100% sure I was getting this game. Someone that has the game--how much is the usual platform, and how much is GTA III like? Thanks

Taylor34

I'm definitely at 100% for picking this up.

But maybe when it hits the eventual Greatest Hits price...money's thin around this time of year! ;)

I loved Jak & Daxter and have been looking forward to Jak II, but now that I have played it....I'm dissapointed. Don't get me wrong, it is a fun game, but it just isn't Jak & Daxter. My fiance loved Jak & Daxter and she absolutely hates this game. There is too much to do on vehicles and so much backtracking across the city. Jak & Daxter made it so you could really explore the levels, but with Jak II, you are constantly backtracking the same path. The levels really don't inspire me to search for orbs like the first one did either. I'm already 50% complete and will probably beat it by the weekend, but it won't leave the impression that Jak & Daxter did. And, the Dark Eco powers have been a joke so far. I forget about them and have yet to really use them. I'm guessing that they will come into play later in the game. Overall, it is a game that plays well, but fans of the original might be dissapointed with the change of direction.

Cat

Finished Jak 2 Saturday. Clocked 19 hours or so to get 100% story, but you can get up to 125% by collecting all precursor orbs. I have no desire to do that heh. Overall the game was better than J&D but some things just didn't seem to fit. The hoverboard you get is useless, no point having it in the game really. The graphical glitches drove me nuts but eventually I ignored them.

The city streets and skies were way to crowded to drive normally in. I know they were going for a oppressive feel but they went a little overboard with the idea. The Dark Jak gimmick was a total waste, it had no effect on the gameplay at all. The city was way to big as well, as reviews as said, it just seems like filler with no real purpose except to prolong game time.

My biggest problem with the game though, is the same problem the first one had, boss battles. I like boss battles, my favorite series during nes days was Megaman. Jak 2 has literally 3 unique bosses that you battle, I'm not gonna count one of those as 2 since you fight him twice. 3 bosses just isn't enough for me, particularly when the game overall is damn easy. I never did get stuck on any of the missions, died a couple of times but none were frustrating.

Also, R&C has this problem as well, these new "platforms" are starting to get a tad boring because there isn't any penalty for dying, no lives lost. Some may like that, but it's one of the reasons games have been becoming easy, there are no penalties for dying much anymore.

Overall Jak2 is better than the original, but just barely. I personally don't see how it deserves anything over 9.0 at the very most.

*This entire post is all IMO