A monumental achievement for the first PlayStation! This game is
highly influential, not only for popularizing stealth gameplay, but
also for its cinematic approach to storytelling.
Although it shows its age, the developers did not let the
hardware's (many) limitations impact their vision. Very impressive!
I would recommend anyone to play this as their first entry in the
series! The gameplay does get smoother in the newer titles, but the
story makes little sense without playing this one first. Avoid the
"Twin Snakes" release, as the story is delivered with a much
campier aesthetic, more suited for a returning player than a first
timer.
Another classic. Great soundtrack, good story, cool mix
between platforming and shooting. The guns are more interesting
than in most third person shooters, but the series does get
more interesting guns in later titles.
The level design varies in quality, some levels are
infuriating to get through with inconvenient checkpoints.
The visuals are consistently great, each level gets a nice
cinematic shot (with great framing) at the beginning before
the player decides to move.
The story and world is a clear and funny satire of consumerism. The
characters are more complex here than in the newer games.
A true classic! Short, sweet and very replayable.
This collect-a-thon from Naughty Dog has great level design
and a consistently fun atmosphere.
The dynamic level loading combined with clever world design
ensures that the entire game can be traversed without a
single loading screen (except the tutorial level).
The story is nothing special, but the cutscenes are well
animated without taking themselves too seriously.
A massive tonal shift from the first game! Jak II is set in a
future authoritarian/war-time city with guns, invading metallic
bug aliens and flying cars. Pretty cool and edgy! The
protagonist is also no longer silent in this game.
This game aims to compete more with Ratchet & Clank and Grand Theft Auto 3 rather
than continue being a collect-a-thon like the previous game.
The game pushes its Teen rating as much as possible, the player
is allowed to murder bystanders with both vehicles and guns.
The main character Jak is depicted in an edgy and angry tone.
The mission structure is a lot like Grand Theft Auto, you often
get a choice between multiple missions spread around the open
world, each may unlock a new set of missions. The pacing of
both missions and story is not great, and exposition is
sometimes missing or easily missable.
The game suffers from feature bloat. It does not appear
anywhere near as polished or "pure" as the first game. This can
be attributed to a short development time and the studio's
desire to chase trends by adding/copying features.
This game was frankly a bit dissapointing as a fan of the first
game. It was worth finishing, but I will not be replaying this
game like I will the first game, I also do not consider this
game a "must-play".
