Following up their last hit title, Naughty Dog has announced a fall 2003 release for the sequel to Jak and Daxter, Jak II. It's hard to see how they could expand the gameing experience any farther, but they have assured us that players will have more freedom than before, including more weapons, power-ups, and a bigger world to explore.
Jak II is not just your regular platformer. It combines many elements from different genres into an amalgam that is a blast to play. Puzzle, racing, strategy, and exploration elements are all included in this prospective Greatest Hits title, and in some cases they are done better than other games from those genres.
The story line this time around has a much darker, bleaker tone than did The Precursor Legacy. First of all, the game starts out with Jak and Daxter being hurtled 500 years into the future, and upon their arrival they are swiftly captured. Jak is experimented upon and submitted to unspeakable horrors, but the result of it all has given him a pretty bad ass psychic weapon.
Due to his horrible encounters (or maybe his coming of age), Jak sees it fit to grow a goatee, and he actually speaks now (though in a not so bad ass adolescent voice). Along with the help of his friend, Daxter, the two are definitely in for the ride of their lives. We'll just have to wait until September to see where they'll bring us next.
