This weekend the Mrs. and I picked up Jak II for our gaming pleasure. She really got a kick out of Jak & Daxter, playing it all the way through several times, and I rather dug it as well. Like Jak & Daxter, much of the gameplay is classic platform-adventure in 3d. However, the main hub of the game is a city that you cruise around in, ‘jacking zoomers and wrecking havoc as you go around, a la Grand Theft Auto 3 (but without the Cop-B-Gone tokens).

Once again we see very smooth gameplay, this time with a slew of new gameplay features (including the “Dark Jak” alter-ego mode, the introduction of weapons, and the more free-form hub system) all nicely wrapped around an unusually good plotline, complete with character motivations (shock!). As a sequel to a very much child-oriented Jak & Daxter, Jak II has a much more mature plotline.

By mature I don’t mean tits & ass (that’s a plotline aimed at thirteen-year-olds): I mean that the storyline isn’t aimed at eight-year-olds. Jak’s quests are motivated by vengance, and his missions come from rebel strategists, mobsters, and mission objectives reflect the motivations of the folks doling out the work. Jak’s incentive for fulfilling these missions? Information that’ll lead him to vengence against the evil Baron that performed scientific experiments on him for two years.

So far I’m 26% through with the missions in the game, and I give it an unmitigated A+ for style, depth of content, and implementation. Good work, folks.