CAA: Christian Anime Alliance

I know I'm probably the only JD fan here (I'm starting to think in the world ^^) but I just finished Jak 3 tonight....such a good game....but I had a hint of sadness too. All the trailers and everything hyped this up as the "last adventure" and everything.

[spoiler=However....] At the end, they kept talking about "more adventures". Now, I'm not familiar with the way video game industries work....is that just to console me the fan and make me think my boys go on to greater things, or is that Naughty Dog's way of saying "there shall be more" [/spoiler]

As one fairly inconsolable Jak fangirl...I sincerely hope for the latter. Sigh...excuse me, I need a tissue now...

This is acutally the next game on my 'To Rent' list. Actually, I'll have to start with the first as I've never even played any in the series. But it looks interesting enough.

On the subject of platformers, I would also highly reccomend Ratchet and Clank.

Ok, here's the breakdown as far as the JD series goes:

Jak and Daxter: the Precursor Legacy--it reminded me a bit of Mario Sunshine without the large italian plumber. Basically it's a very straightforward platformer game. I loved the characters though, and the storyline wasn't fantastic but it was entertaining enough. And the game was right about my difficulty level, so I had a blast with it and was slightly challenged without pulling out my hair (a la Metroid Prime). However, like I said, overall light and happy and bright, with witty lines by Daxter. Rather short, though.

Jak II: Renengade-- Total 180 degrees opposite of the first. If it didn't pick up immediately where the first one left off, I would swear it was a different game altogether. Everything changes, the whole world/atmosphere is much more grundgy, industrial and dark, and the storyline is amped up a million times. Plus, the overall look of the game was better, the cinematics were awesome, and the gameplay...oh man. This was no longer your straightforward, dare I say it cliche platformer....instead you had elements of GTA, racing games, shooting games, skateboarding games, beat the clock missions....just about every single genre of gameplay I've ever thought of was included in some way, shape or form. And that's one of the things I adored....the great variety of gameplay they managed to seamlessly combine.

Jak III--a worthy sequel to Jak II. All of the same sort of elements are there, plus improved/new ones, the storyline is on par with the second and flows great, and can we say shockers?! Some of what was revealed...wow my jaw was hanging open. Overall a fantastic game and definately worth a rental, if not purchase. In fact I'd say that about the entire series...overall it was just a great, great set of games and ones I'm very glad I got to play.

I wasn't really looking for another game to replace my boys....my brother is a huge Ratchet and Clank fan and is spending a lot of time trying to get me to play it already. I just wanted to know if anyone else was knowledgable as to if this was the last time I'd see my elfin eared anti-hero kick butt with Orange Lighting at his side...er, shoulder.

Your enthusiasm alone has made me want to check out the last two games. Unfortunately, I can't while I'm at seminary. Would it be possible to beat the second in a busy two week Christmas break if I try to cut back on sleep?

Depends on how good of a gamer you are. Myself? I suck horribly, lol. Seriously, I have to repeat things over and over and over--my timing is terrible and so is my depth perception and hand-eye coordination for the most part (amazed I'm still this enthusiastic? ) However, I think you could beat it over a two week break....the second one took me 3 or 4 days to beat...but that was during the summer and I spend roughly 4-5 hours a day on it. It wasn't terribly difficult, and the best part is you always knew what you were doing. The map system is quite frankly ingenious. You'd always be shown where to go next, and even if you got in the middle of a mission and couldn't figure out quite what to do, you could always hit the pause button and go to "missions"---it would outline your objective for that area. Plus, the best part of this game is that it gets easier after repetitive failing. For example, if you don't beat an area like 3 times in a row....then a character will remind (in my case sometimes inform) you of what to do/how to beat whatever it is you were trying to beat. After that, it would incrementally get easier...the bosses would take longer to attack, the time limits would be boosted, the enemies would get slower....overall it was a very bad-gamer-friendly game and like I said, I never pulled out my hair over it.

Short answer: with the way the system works, I think you could do it CDL. Go for it!

Warning, however, it IS rated T for a reason...there is some slight cursing and overall there's just a "darker" atmosphere to it. You're part of a mafia style rebellion, if that clears matters up a bit...but I don't remember it really bothering me too much. I'd say age wise maybe 15+

Here's hoping they have it at Block Buster still.

Oh, I know they do....at least at the two or three I've been too while anxiously awaiting the arrival of Jak 3. ^^

lol, i got confused with this game and ratchet and clank before