The Nerd Next Door

With Halo 2 out of the way it's back to Jak (heh), specifically Jak 3 . With the tone for the entire franchise shifted in Jak II , how does Jak 3 continue from there? Now, I like Jak II , thought it a big step up from Jak and Daxter . But I also felt Jak II had an obnoxious difficulty spike that almost made me quit entirely. Can Jak 3 fix the problem that Jak II had? Well it better have otherwise I don't know why we're here. Jak 3 is set not long after II and sees Jak, Daxter, and Onin's traslator Pecker being tossed out of Haven City by new villain Count Veger thanks to being framed for unleashing Metal Heads in Jak II. Stranded in the desert, Jak, Daxter, and Pecker find themselves in the Wasteland town of Spargus, ruled by Damas, the King. Now Jak and Daxter must work to survive the wastes, get themselves back in Haven City, and stop the Metal Heads while dealing with a new faction of Deathbots commanded by returning villain Errol (who I didn't menti...

After playing through the first Halo, I threw myself back into Jak II in the PS3 Jak and Daxter HD collection, I had previously thought the first game, while unremarkable in 2019 (literally just the PlayStation version of Banjo-Kazooie now that I think of it), was pretty good. Seeing as I owned the PS3 collection, I thought Jak II was worth looking at and goddamn I am glad I did because Jak II is just... well let's get on with it because I have thoughts on this one. Jak II is set about some time after Jak 1 where, while testing a device with Keira, Jak's mechanic (and love interest?) from the first game,  Jak, Daxter, Keira, and Keira's father Samos are hurled into a mysterious land where Jak is immediately arrested with Daxter promising to free him before he knows it. Two years (and a PSP game) later, Daxter finally does it and we finally get a first, Jak talking; and his first words are a declaration to commit murder. Yep, Jak II is the definition of whiplash and Jak...