Thursday, 10 June 2010

Jak 3

gamespot score:8.6(great)

my score:8.8

(+)pros:-huge improvement from the 2nd game- insanely fun platforming,- action is top notch solid,- even more weapons and dark mode moves to add to the arsenal,- light jak is insanely fun to play,-great boss fights,- story follows up well from the previous game

(-)cons:-free roaming is less exciting outside of haven,- some missions are still insanely hard.

gameplay time: 30-40 hours( above average)

I was never a fan of 3D free roaming platfroming kind of games. GTA and stuff like that, never liked them. Then I played jak 2, I was utterly impressed by the story, gameplay, and many other factors. I was only 11 or 12 back then. After having my fair share of jak 2, it wasnt enough, and I realised that jak 3 was already out. So this is how Im got to know this game. A continuation of jak 2, and probably one of the only free roaming games I have ever played, and this is definetely one of the best there is.

Story is great and well told. Taking place after the events of the 2nd game, jak 2, the opening scene sees jak being thrown out to the desert wasteland to live, without food, water, or any defense mechanism. All he has is a trackng device given by a friend,his trusty buddy daxter, and a parrot whose name I cant remember (give it a rest, it was 5 years ago). Obviously even jak cant stand up to the cruel, unrelenting desert heat, so he faints into oblivion, but is eventually picked up by a traveling desert group, who caught hold of the device that jak was holding on to. His new journey then starts unfolding slowly, as he meets allies, both new and old, and braves through an adventure even harder than his previous one( Im not kidding).

Jak 3 is a vast improvement from the 2nd game, I dont know why gamespot gave it lower than jak 2. Being a platformer, it has almost anything one could ever dream of. Gameplay mechanics are solid, with plenty of moves available at your arsenal, the variety is there, and it stays. Thorugh the game you unlock more and more stuff that improves your options in combat. In other words, the game just keeps giving. Its an awesome feature that gives players more and more, and the best of all is, you just cant get enough of it.

Just like jak 2, jak 3's game takes players to ridiculous places. From a desert city to underground caves, mining bases, abandoned ruins.... the game is still as crazy as ever. Each of these stages has thier own sets of enemies. The game still has its own crazy variety of enemies, guards, spiders, birds, and most of all the awesome and badass metal heads. There are repeats of enemies from the 2nd game and new ones as well. To take them all down you are given more weaps. For the red shotgun, you have a grenade launcher alrenative and a somewhat shockwave shooter alternative. The yellow gun gets insane bouncing bullets and an awesome ufo mass bullet firer. The blue one gives you electrivity. The purple just pure badass, I wont say it. All I can say is that it gives lot of boom. You also get more moves as dark jak, like the explosion kame hame ha blast. You also get the insanely fun light jak, which fucking slows time, lets you fly, and generate barriers. How cool is that?

Free roaming however isnt as sweet as the 2nd game. Whenever you punch a someone, the imperial guard doesnt give chase and go hunting for you anymore, since you're not in haven for the majority of the game. Its just sad. And in the desert city, punching random people can get you killed too, since they all fight back. It aint so fun. And the game this time is much harder, altough you do receive health boosts throughout the game, it almost makes no difference, since enemies can hit 4 or 6 health bars in a single attack, no kidding. Also, those insanely fun minigames can eat up alot of your time. Not because you will keep replaying them, cause you will keep dieing. They are great good fun, but it couldnt hurt to make it a smite easier, coudlnt it?
Jak 3 is pure awesomeness. For such an old game, I cant believe Im still saying that. Its a huge improvement from the 2nd game, with tons and tons of new content. Also, seeing old faces from the 2nd game appear in this one always givs you a good feeling, to see them again that is. A great game this is, if I do say so myself.

Happy gaming.