The late 90s and early 2000s were a big transition period for the gaming industry. Platformers were at an all-time high, but the emergence of more open-world, shooter games slowly edged them out. Hindsight is 20/20, of course, and platformers went nowhere. In fact,It Takes Twois an action-adventure platformer that won Game of the Year 2021at The Game Awards. But, at the time, this transition led to a lot of innovation and changes to the platformer genre, perhaps no more so recognizable than in theJak and Daxterseries.
Jak and Daxterwas a huge IP for Naughty Dog, eventually spanning a total of six games—Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy, Jak 2, Jak 3, Daxter, Jak X: Combat Racing, andJak and Daxter: The Lost Frontier(which began development under Naughty Dog before being passed onto High Impact Games). Fans always knew there was a dynamic shift from the happy-go-lucky platforming of the originalJak and Daxterto the more open, gritty, and darker storyline found inJak 2, and there’s one culprit that was largely responsible for that:Grand Theft Auto 3.
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Grand Theft Auto 3’s Impact on Jak 2
Grand Theft Auto 3was released just a few months beforeJak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy(October and December respectively), and it was immediately clear thatGTA 3was a defining moment for the industry, launching to critical acclaim. Rockstar would go on to raise the bar with futureGrand Theft Autogames, but as part of the industry is seeing where something would land a few years out (as development takes a while, more so now),GTA 3sent a clear message: this is what gamers wanted. Now, again, time has proven the staying power of platformers, but this impactedJak 2’s direction.
InJak 2,Jak has been exposed to Dark Eco and is, without beating around the bush, an escaped convict if for no real reason outside the Baron’s twisted mentality. Haven City is a mostly open sandbox with a strong police presence in the form of the Krimzon Guard, who were Jak’s enemies more so than they were his allies. Jak could steal and hijack Zoomers, run over innocent civilians, and far more that would probably elicit a response…but to no effect. No, the Krimzon Guard of Haven City only pursued Jak when he either bumped their zoomers, bumped them, or somehow directly antagonized them.
This leads to an alarm, to turrets, to Krimzon Guard Zoomers and Hellcats in pursuit, and a huge wave of Guards after Jak. Escaping this is practically impossible, outside of going to a mission area or somehow getting lucky. Jak was a powerful warrior, with weapons now, and he was public enemy #1 when and only if players somehow antagonized them in thisbeloved PS2 game.
Essentially, at any time inJak 2’s sandbox, there could be a police chase. For a recent point of comparison,Cyberpunk 2077doesn’t have police chases, explained in context to other games that wouldn’t have them either likeElden RingorSonic Frontiersand in comparison to the general lack of games with a police presence, butJak 2does.Cyberpunk 2077devs eventually said they didn’t have time, and that’s understandable. But this feature specifically is something that has to be a core design, and inJak 2, the Krimzon Guard was absolutely that, a core design of the game.
Jak 2 is a Definitive Platforming Grand Theft Auto Game
At the end of the day,Jak 2was a platformer defined byGrand Theft Auto 3.Jak 2was able to internalize everything important aboutGTA 3into its design and made for a game that has stood the test of time. TheJak and DaxterPS4 bundlegives fans all four games, and each game likeJak 2is worth playing to this very day—much like the originalGrand Theft Auto 3too. Indeed, just about everyGrand Theft Autogame does this, whether it’sSan Andreas, GTA 4,or the still-successfulGrand Theft Auto 5.
In its soul,Jak 2is still very much about Jak and Daxter—it has all the worldbuilding, the platforming, and the loveNaughty Dogput into it. But its design isGrand Theft Auto, and that is clear every time the game is booted up.
TheJak and DaxterBundle is available on PS Storefronts.
MORE:The Case for a Complete Jak and Daxter Reboot
