Playstation 2 Preview		by Brian Gee
Category	Action/Adventure
Preview Date	5/03
Planned Release	10/03
Publisher	Sony

Jak in black!

Okay, so I've been hanging out with Naughty Dog. But who can blame me? The guys behind the fantastic Jak & Daxter were back at E3 with a playable build of Jak II, the anticipated follow up.

The first game blew everyone away with a huge, seamless world, complete with bright, colorful characters, evil villains and a great storyline. A lesser developer would be content to throw together a few levels and pop out a money-making sequel as fast as possible, but not these guys. The Dogs have revamped Jak in so many ways that it'll make your head spin faster than Linda Blair.

For starters, take the tone. Rather than pump out another shiny happy-go-platformer, Naughty Dog has opted for a much darker, more sinister plot. Following the events of the Precursor Legacy, Jak and his little buddy Daxter decide to take a little trip through the mysterious precursor gate. Things don't go quite as planned and the boys end up unleashing some nasty creatures (known as Metal Heads) upon the world. They then take a wrong turn at Albuquerque and Jak ends up in the hands of Baron Praxis, a bad, bad man with a curious talent for torture.

Yep, torture. I told you it was darker.

At any rate, our heroes escape and off they go on a journey to end the madness and, ultimately, get revenge on the Baron for putting Jak through the heinous Dark Eco experiments.

This leads to one of the cool new features of Jak II - Dark Eco power. Build up Jak's Dark Eco meter and he'll be able to unleash a monster within, tearing up everything that stands in his way with extra large claws and a little lightning flash. Don't make him angry. You wouldn't like him when he's angry.

And since Jak's got all of this pent up anger, why not throw in a few more bad guys? The original never had more than a few enemies on screen at once, but Jak II throws several squads of baddies in your direction at once.

To deal with the new threat, Jak is equipped with burlier firepower. With the simple press of the D-pad, Jak whips out some projectile power that'll blow enemies back to the Precursor Legacy. All the original punch and spin moves remain intact, so you'll have plenty of ways to serve up your plate of revenge.

Jak II is also a lot bigger than the original, which might sound a little silly, but Naughty Dog claims that the metropolis is 25 times larger than any one Jak & Daxter level and three times as big as the entire first game. And I wouldn't bet against them on that. The demo showed off cities bustling with tons of unique characters and helpful NPCs.

But don't expect to spend all your time collecting coins or bolts or doorknobs, because Jak II puts less emphasis on item collection than platformers past. Again, the developers wanted to take the series in a new direction, which is tough to do if you're still making gamers find all the green widgets.

While they were adding all this new stuff, Naughty Dog even decided to throw in a hoverboard for your inner Marty McFly. The board isn't just another way to get around, though. Similar to Tony Hawk, Jak's got a wide range of moves that can turn the whole world into a big skateboarding mini-game. Skate or die, dude.

It's important to note that despite all the new features, the elements that made the original game great will be in here. There's still a big, strange story, a wise guy sidekick and a seamless world that allows you to travel as far as the eye can see. Not a bad deal, for sure.

So grab the nearest small, fuzzy mammal and start swinging it over your head - Jak II is slated to hit PS2s everywhere this October.