Jak 3 (PS2) Review

With the success of the first two Jak and Daxter games, it was inevitable that a third game would be produced. Does Jak 3 live up to its predecessors? Let's find out.

Story and Characters

A year after the events of Jak II, Haven City is under a three-way war with the Metal Heads and KG Death Bots. Jak is blamed for this and is banished to the Wasteland, in which Daxter and Pecker also join along. They are then rescued by the citizens of Spargus, led by King Damas. Jak now has to serve Damas and in return, remain in the city to repay his debt. Jak and Daxter must also return to Haven City later on and find a way to end the war once and for all.

The story in the game... left a lot to be desired. For one, most of the characters introduced from its predecessors felt really downplayed and had lesser roles. In Jak II, each character introduced in the game had an important role to play. Here, most of them were just there. For example, Jak and Keira don't even talk to each other. Weren't they supposed to be a romantic couple (by the way, I'm not a shipper; I'm just telling you as it is)? Instead, Ashelin supposedly has a thing for Jak. Um, I thought she liked Torn, as it was implied at the end of Jak II.

Second, with the exception of Damas and (possibly) Count Veger, the newer characters introduced in the game don't feel as welcome or greatly developed. What makes Damas a great character out of all the new ones is that he serves as a fatherly figure to Jak throughout the game. Basically, he's a character the player grows attached to. Count Veger isn't anything special, but he's a character you really love to hate. Plus, I love the running gag in which Daxter keeps saying his name wrong, only to have him reply "It's Veger!"

However, regardless of its mediocre story and character development, the comedy is still strong. Daxter continues to provide comic relief, especially when he interacts with Pecker.

Gameplay

Like its predecessor, Jak 3 is a GTA-style sandbox platformer. You have a huge open world in which you can explore and complete story missions, as well as side missions and mini-games. The main hub of the game is Spargus City. There, you have access to vehicles that you can ride in the Wasteland. Later on, you will also have a transport that can take you back to Haven City.

The Morph Gun from Jak II returns, with even more mods, bringing to a total of twelve weapons in the game. You can purchase new upgrades for the gun mods in the cheats menu with a certain number of Precursor Orbs, the main currency of the game.

Dark Jak returns with the same gameplay as its predecessor. A big improvement to Dark Jak is that you don't have to completely fill up your Dark Eco meter to transform. A new addition is Light Jak, which acts as a defense mechanism in contrast to Dark Jak. Light Jak can heal, slow down time, defend with a shield, and fly. Like Dark Jak, your Light Eco meter doesn't have to be full in order to use Light Jak's powers.

The Precursor Orbs and Metal Head Skull Gems return in the game. Precursor Orbs can be used to buy cheats or gun upgrades in the Secrets section of the Pause menu. They can be found out in the open or earned when completing a side mission or breaking a record in gun courses or racing mini-games. Skull Gems, earned by killing a Metal Head, are now used to trade a certain number to begin a side mission, which consist of finding Precursor Orbs, ring challenges, time attacks, or rescuing Wastelanders.

Throughout the game, you will receive Precursor Armor, which will add two new hit points on Jak's health meter.

Riding the Dune Hopper in the Wasteland.

There are various vehicles you can ride in the game. In Spargus City, you can get around really fast by riding a Leaper Lizard, reminiscent of the Flut-Flut from the first game. Spargus City also has Dune Buggies that you can ride in the Wasteland desert, each vehicle having its own ups and downs. For example, the Tough Puppy is the only vehicle without turrets. The JET-Board returns in the game. One new addition to the JET-Board is that you can finally defend yourself. You can also do that in Jak II, but only when you're flipping and you suddenly hit an enemy. The Zoomers in Haven City also return. There is also a Monk Glider you use in a mission, as well as a Dark Maker Bot (the equivalent of the Titan Suit from the previous game).

The game also returns to the pattern-based boss fights like the first game.

Daxter is also a playable character and... his gameplay doesn't really stand out. All he does is help create a new path for Jak that he can't reach and that's it.

Graphics and Design

Map of the Wasteland. Huge, right?

As usual, the environments all look beautiful to watch. I also like that the Wasteland is twice the size of Haven City. In addition, the Day/Night cycle still exists, again, to add life in the Jak and Daxter universe.

Audio

Mark Mothersbaugh and Josh Mancell return to compose the score for the game. Once again, they do a great job matching the locations and tone of the game. When I listen to the Spargus City music, I can't help but think of the film Lawrence of Arabia, which is appropriate since a majority of the game takes place in a desert. Some of my favorite tracks in the game are the Sewers/Haven Forest theme, Stadium Ruins, final boss, and the end credits theme. The end credits theme is possibly my favorite track in the game.

I don't have much to say about the voice acting other than saying it's great overall. Once again, each voice feels right when a character speaks.

Final Verdict

I do have a few problems with the game:

1. As I already mentioned, the story wasn't so great - For a game with a tagline reading "The Epic Legacy Concludes..." there are so many things that could have been explored, but then it would have been overplotted and probably convoluted. With the exception of the Jak and Damas relationship, there is little to no character development. And let's not forget, to all the players, one of the most infamous, but laughable twists in video games.
2. Certain aspects of the game are used only once - What I mean is that there are certain vehicles you ride in one mission, and that's it. Stuff like the Monk Glider Hellcat Cruiser, and Dark Maker Bot appear once and are never used again. I guess that's sort of a good thing, especially the latter since I was not a fan of the Titan Suit in Jak II. Even some side missions replicate a story mission (rescuing Wastelanders) and that's the only time you do that.
3. The Marauders in the Wasteland - Those guys pop out of nowhere and assault me. I know they say the desert is not really safe, but the Marauders only have a purpose to annoy the player, which leads to another problem I have with the game.
4. Certain story missions - There are missions like navigating through the catacombs in a rail shooter, a first-person on-rails shooter in another mission, or destroying the Dark Maker Ships in Spargus City irritated me when I first played it.

   

   I never really liked the Catacomb missions.

5. Daxter deserves better gameplay - I know his self-titled PSP game fixed that, but that's no excuse of Naughty Dog not improving his gameplay by a bit.
6. Gold Orb Missions - I probably shouldn't complain about it since they are not mandatory to complete, but as a completionist myself, they are a big deal to me. Still to this day, I have not collected all 600 Orbs, because there are certain mini-games that require you to beat the high score that are nearly impossible for me to complete.

With everything said, I still love this game and it definitely lives up to its predecessors, but I'll have to say it's my least favorite in the trilogy overall. With improvements made over its predecessor, the game still made less of an overall impact to me unlike the first two.

And that completes my review on the Jak and Daxter trilogy. It was a thrill recently revisiting the first three games and doing a written review on each installment. It has been nearly ten years since Naughty Dog developed Jak 3, the last main entry in the series, and I am still waiting for the series to make a comeback. I'm not sure what Naughty Dog has planned next, especially since they released their latest game, The Last of Us, but it would be great if they returned to making another installment.

If you haven't played the Jak and Daxter trilogy, I highly recommend them for platformer fans and gamers overall. You won't regret it.

*Jak 3 is also available on the Jak and Daxter Collection for the PS3 and PS Vita.