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JAK 3
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[Jak 3 Gallery]
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| GAME STATISTICS |
| A.K.A.: |
N/A |
| Release Date: |
 November 9, 2004
 November 26, 2004
 November 2004 |
| Publisher: |
Sony CEA |
| Developer: |
Naughty Dog |
| Genre: |
Platform |
| # of Players: |
1 |
| ESRB Rating: |
T |
| Our Score: |
8.0 out of 10 |
| Our Reviews: |
Patrick - Review below.
To submit one, click here! |
| Systems: |
Playstation 2 |
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8.0 out of 10
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| After the fallout of awesomeness that was Jak II, the need to change the formula yet again was not necessary. Nothing needed to change, and how could it? Jak II is near-perfection itself; to try to out-do it would be stupid. The only sensible thing to do is to try to expand the scope of the Jak-Universe. In Jak 3, we got gunplay, off-road desert driving, and the answers to some of the series most pressing questions answered. So how does it stack up, especially from the long shadow of it's predecessor?
So, a year after the events of Jak II, Jak is Baron of Haven City. But things are not well as things in the city have deteriorated to a point where there's a civil war and Jak & Daxter have been banished into The Wasteland by the evil Count Veger. They wander and nearly die until they are rescued by King Damas from Spargan City, who they must repay that debt with missions if they wish to live there. So, they're off doing missions until they run into Ashelin, one of the friends from Jak II, where she wants Jak to come back to Haven City since Metalheads have returned. Jak eventually comes back and finds things even worse than before. Then, it really gets worse as a purple star in the sky is actually space ship piloted by Dark Makers, some Precursors who got exposed to Dark Eco, and is going to crash down making things even worse for the planet. |
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I think the one thing that really arrested my attention while playing this game was how utterly epic this game attempted to be. There's many plot threads that are woven together in the game's tapestry, your weapons have three times as many mods and you get to drive through The Wasteland with vehicles you win from other guys by racing them. It's one thing to just repeat what worked in the previous entry, it's another to try to include all these threads and new game modes to try to top it. Do they succeed? Not in the slightest plot-wise -- the game begins as a train that's slightly off-the-rails and ends in a firey crash that kills thousands as it goes to the finish line with some unfinshed threads and a couple horrible ass-pulls. But somehow, I don't hate this for it. I kinda admire it's tenacity for it to try and end things as humanly epic as possible. Also, the collapsing story didn't anger or pain me, it was kinda fun to see how things would get even more confusing and contradictory.
However, what is not fine is the character assassination of Keira. You know, that chick who's been hanging around for the whole franchise. That chick who was the basis for me stealing the Nostalgia Critic's greatest running gag "You know, for kids." That chick who was always Jak's love interest. Yeah, she has about two lines because the voice actress for her left and Naughty Dog didn't want to call attention to that fact. That's admirable but stupid, especially since they basically replace her with Ashelin as Jak's love interest. Which I'm sure pissed off Torn, since she was his and he sounds even more pissed off than usual. I forgive a lot during this game, but that's something I just can't forgive. |
| So all in all, this game may be flawed but it is still very awesome. The graphics are still very strong and the characters are still endearing with awesome dialogue. The action scenes in the game are awesome as you drive around with weapon-mounted vehicles. The story may be flawed and broken, but it's epic-nature can't be ignored. The only major flaw is the thing with Keira but even then all the good parts kinda make up for it. Is it as good as Jak II? No, but it's still a worthy entry in the Jak and Daxter series. - Patrick |
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