is Jak 3 -PS2- one of the best "platformers" ever made?

[sabre2922]

I had only played the demo back before Jak 3 was released and thought it was very impressive and recently I traded a friend Call of Duty 2 (sick of WW2 games) for Jak 3 and the more I play it the more I think it was and is one of the best all around "platformers" if you can define as JUST a platformer that has ever been released within the last 10 years or so.


For those of you that have played the game what are your thoughts?

Did Naughty Dog create a near perfect game for its genre and for the last generation PS2/Xbox1/Gamecube? or was it just a better than average last gen game?

[TonyTheTiger]

Jak 3 is fantastic. Play the first two as well. In fact, Jak II is better than 3.

[josekortez]

Could this game really be considered a platformer? If I remember correctly, it was more like a Grand Theft Auto style game with missions and vehicles.

[roushimsx]

Jak 3 is fantastic. Play the first two as well. In fact, Jak II is better than 3.

This is god damn crazy talk, good sir. Jak II is a complete mess of poorly executed ideas mixed with laughably bad dialog and writing.

Checkpoints are poorly placed, traffic is poorly generated, vehicle controls are too floaty, city design is large and confusing for no purpose other than to be large and confusing, mission objectives are frequently placed on the edges of the city leaving large portions where of the city with no purpose other than to be annoying to drive through, some platforming missions are difficult solely because there's no vertical camera control and it wasn't taken into account while building the level, plenty of levels/missions are just downright cheap in their difficulty, etc.

Jak 3 took pretty much everything that went wrong in Jak II and cleaned it up. Hell, they even overhauled the city to make it more purposeful and to tighten up the flow. Platforming wasn't nearly the pain it was in the second game, world design was more interesting and logical, difficulty balance was spot fucking on, writing wasn't so laughably bad (GRRRR I'M PISSED OFF!), etc.

It's a shame Daxter was such a letdown, because I was really hoping Ready at Dawn would maintain the same level of quality as Jak 3. Something about an interquel that's supposed to expand the storyline but really just boils down to a few hours of swatting bugs with only about 10-15% of the game even mattering kind of puts me off.

I'd probably rank the series as:
Jak II (bleh) - Daxter (ehhh...) - Jak & Daxter (not bad!) - Jak X (god this is addictive!) - Jak 3 (holy shit where did this come from?).

Still, I'm glad I gave the series a shot despite the mixed word of mouth on the series. The games were cheap (I got the PS2 series for something like $25 complete/shipped on ebay) and there was an awful lot of fun to be had in there (even Jak II wasn't a complete waste, though it sure as hell tried to be at times). Hell, Jak II is worth playing just to highlight how much better Jak 3 is in every sense (and I guess to better appreciate Daxter, too).

tl;dr - I loved Jak 3, too!

[Rob2600]

Jak 3 received an 8.5 overall. It seems like one of the better games out there.

For the record, Jak II received an 8.6 overall.

[PDorr3]

I still think the first Jak and Daxter i one of the best platformers ever made, everything about that game just felt right from the characters, huge open world, graphics, and of course the mindless item collecting. Jak 2 and 3 are both awsome games, it's just a big departure from the first which can be upsetting for fans of the first. I enjoyed both eventhough I still much prefer the first one over all of them.

[roushimsx]

Jak 3 received an 8.5 overall. It seems like one of the better games out there.

For the record, Jak II received an 8.6 overall.

What's your obsession with interjecting aggregate reviews into random topics? Medal of Honor Frontline on PS2 received an 8.8 overall but the game is shit and has aged terribly. Hell, going by aggregate reviews, Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution (9.3) isn't quite as good as Virtua Fighter 4 (9.4) and Soul Calibur (9.8) is better than Soul Calibur 2 (9.2 - 9.3 depending on platform). Hell, Metal Gear Solid 2 Substance (8.7) is a mere shadow of the greatness of Sons of Liberty (9.6) if the only thing you care about is looking at overall review scores.

Do yourself a huge favor:

1) Play Jak & Daxter. It's enjoyable if a bit generic. Don't bother getting all precursor orbs with the hope of seeing a special ending...if you search for my upload on Youtube, you'll see exactly why.

2) Play Jak II. Fucking FORCE YOURSELF to beat it. Whenever you get frustrated, hop online and read some of those positive, glowing reviews. See how many of them you agree with.

3) Play Jak 3. Compare and contrast the changes to Jak II.

4) If you have a PSP or know of a buddy that has one, give Daxter a quick runthrough. Enjoy the intro and false promises of having the world / story / characters expanded on. See if you get tired of completely pointless bug killing missions before you get to the actual story portions (there's a brief bit midway through the game and then the last hour or so). Laugh at the funny movie parodies and then cry at the poor execution of the actual minigames.

It'll take you two or three weeks if you only play an hour or so a day, but you'll actually be able to formulate your own opinion instead of regurgitating someone else's.

[TonyTheTiger]

Jak II had a better plot than Jak 3, I thought. The city's size didn't bug me. Took a little getting used to but so did the Citadel in Mass Effect. And I never found the missions to be frustrating. If I died, I didn't feel like I got screwed because of some technicality. And I hated how Jak 3 tossed Keira to the side. If anything, that's my #1 complaint about Jak 3. Clearly that's a petty thing to complain about. But with a game series that is borderline perfect, you can't find any other problems. Jak belongs with Keira, dammit! How dare you give her only three lines!

[VitaminX]

I had only played the demo back before Jak 3 was released and thought it was very impressive and recently I traded a friend Call of Duty 2 (sick of WW2 games) for Jak 3 and the more I play it the more I think it was and is one of the best all around "platformers" if you can define as JUST a platformer that has ever been released within the last 10 years or so.

I'm still yet to see anything surpass the first 3 Crash bandicoots. Gamin' perfection.