That memorable duo Jak & Daxter, are back once again to show all the pretenders to the platform action adventure throne just how it's done. Step forward once more then guys and take a bow, because Jak 3 manages to somehow surpass its predecessors and become the best instalment of one of the most outstanding series in gaming history.

Instead of being greeted with a start screen, we get a cinematic and rather surprising introduction to Jak 3. The story begins with our heroes, plus that talking parrot-monkey guy, being stranded in the desert on the orders of the Council of Haven City. As the unlikely trio trudge through the desert wastelands, we see a couple of flashbacks that explain exactly what happened. Many of the Metalheads survived and mounted the heaviest attack yet against Haven City, which is now in crisis. The palace has fallen and the council blamed Jak for the mess. Now exiled and left to certain death, our heroes collapse in the heat of the sun, only to be found by desert warriors, attracted to a homing device that Ashelin, one of the main characters from Jak II, placed with Jak. Waking up inside the confines of a huge city, Jak now faces a whole new challenge and has a big new area to explore. However, this is just the beginning of his most exciting journey and his biggest challenge yet.

Never ones to be satisfied with leaving the format alone, ace developers Naughty Dog have taken steps to evolve the genre even further. For starters, we now have the desert fortress to explore and a massive area of desert beyond it. Jak and Daxter face a range of tasks and challenges during this first part of the game that add in even more variety to the mix. There are arena battles to be had against brutal warriors whilst keeping out of the way of rising lava for starters. Once into the main area of the desert fortress itself, you'll find a more primitive look to the buildings, which are carved from stone. Every citizen here is armed too, so if you attack anyone they'll attack you right back. It's quite funny to get a number of people shooting and then run so that their shots hit other people and get a big firefight going!

Instead of the flying cars, there are now strange creatures called leapers to ride on, big lizards that run on their hind legs and can jump quite high. There are ring races to be had, as well as plenty of mini-challenges here, where you must find the hidden artefacts before the time runs out. The nice thing about these is that you can have a crack at them any time, just as in Jak II and you never have to bother, but you need the artefacts to unlock the secrets, many of which have a direct effect on the gameplay this time. There are many cool mini-games that you must beat once and then can come back to for fun or to go for the bronze, silver and gold awards (which give you more artefacts). One sees you using a gun to shoot various targets that fly up out of the sea (the fortress appears to be on the edge of the desert!) and then back down in a range of patterns, while another has you timing presses of the four shape buttons to catch the shapes on screen that are flying in from four directions. This game is simple at first, but try getting to a score of 1000 when you are only allowed to miss four times - it took me a while, I can tell you!

Once outside the fortress, you get to use a range of desert buggies to traverse the sprawling sandbanks and rocky mountains beyond. The buggies are great fun to use and the handling is quite tricky at times, but in a good and realistic way - the buggies bounce convincingly on their suspension and skid authentically through the sand, just like in any good sand buggy racer in fact. There are enemy vehicles to shoot, races to be won, you can turbo boost and different vehicles have different weapons to use. One of them, the Dune Hopper, can jump a long way too, allowing you to reach places that were inaccessible before. There are plenty of missions that take place out in the desert and a surprising amount to discover. One of the early missions is superb, as you must take down three massive metalhead behemoths that are charging around the desert like huge dinosaurs! Seriously, these things look really impressive and if you get in one's path it knocks your vehicle flying into the air. Another mission pits you against the clock to rescue four stranded explorers before a raging sandstorm kills them and you in the process. Yet another sees you heading deep under a mountain to destroy a metalhead nest, which you must then escape from before you're poisoned by deadly gas. The variety just keeps on coming.

There's no lack of platform sections in Jak 3 either - in fact, some of the toughest and most imaginative challenges yet await you. One of the first takes place near a volcano. You must negotiate a series of platforms and bars in a slight throwback to the 2D days to get up the inside of the mountain, then you find a glider that you fly around a long route of rings to get enough speed to reach the volcano itself. Here you find a massive temple to explore, packed with tricky challenges. Once you get your hoverboard back you'll find levels that mix the platform action with tricky routes to traverse and there's plenty of grinding and dodging of pits to be done too. Other levels take you deep into the sewers of Haven City and one takes you to the abandoned eco mines of old. Each level brings you new obstacles and challenges, keeping things very fresh throughout.

The range of different missions and gameplay variety far surpasses even Jak II, making Jak 3 unparalleled for the amount of different styles packed into one game. And for every one mission or type I've mentioned, there's about five left for you to discover yourself! One of the best enhancements is the addition of more sections where you play as Daxter. That's right, it's what all the fans wanted and, well, we got it! Daxter gets his own platforming sections, which can be very tricky in places, as well as some of the most fun parts of the game. One section sees you driving up to catch wild leapers in the desert. Get close enough and Daxter leaps out of the buggy and onto the back of one, which you must then direct back to a pen. The catch? It's so fast it's insane and it's seat of the pants action all the way. Of course, that's slow compared to the section where Daxter jumps onto a missile that fires off around Haven City's port. You have to guide the missile around to build up its charge and this really is insanely fast. In fact, it had me crying out on a number of occasions as the missile slammed into a wall or obstacle! As Daxter whips past a nearby guard yelling "crotch rocket flyby!" you can't help but think that this is how much fun all games should be.

Everything is beefed up too - the weapons now have new attachments that give you 12 different weapons to play with, which you can switch between using a beautifully designed control system that utilises the d-pad. Jak gets new dark attack powers as well as receiving the power of light, which he can use to heal himself and create a shield, amongst other cool abilities. There are a number of different buggies to collect and that shooting gallery is back for extra frustration - with an added extra of Ratchet and Clank themed courses to try out as well! That brings me to the secrets, which range from fun things like big head mode, bad weather and speeded up cut scenes to useful things like extra vehicles, enhanced weapon damage and increased ammo capacity. You can even unlock a menu that allows you to view any cut scene or replay any level too, plus things like behind the scene sketches and 3D model viewers for all three Jak & Daxter games. It really is packed full of extras.

Graphically the standard is much the same as with Jak II, which is definitely pushing the PS2 to its limits. If anything, the cut scenes are even slicker than before and there are plenty of them. As usual there's a strong story and a razor sharp script, with Daxter hogging most of the comedy moments. In one scene Daxter stands under a leaper, saying how he saw it eat some rats earlier, then the leaper tries to eat him and we are treated to watching Daxter screaming and trying to get out of the leaper's mouth in the background whilst Jak is briefed on the next mission. It's cartoon comedy at its finest and the laughs keep on coming. Daxter is as funny and lovable as ever and the humour is just as fresh and genuinely amusing as it was back in the first game.

There's even more of a range of locations to see in Jak 3 and each one is jam packed with all manner of details. In the desert fortress area there are market places with urns and fruit stalls to smash; even locations like the sewers and eco mine are full of scenery detail and interesting designs. The temple looks very cool too. Back at Haven City, it feels weird to revisit familiar sights that before were bustling with citizens but are now ruined, half-destroyed and crawling with metalheads, not to mention the surviving Krimson Guard forces, who aren't giving up control of what's left of the city without a fight. There is a little jerkiness at times but this is barely noticeable and with so much going on, it's totally excusable. When driving vehicles (flying cars are still here to grab), racing on buggies or rushing about on the leaper it's silky smooth all the way. We get to see some quite alien landscapes too, as the metalheads are converting parts of Haven City into what seems to be their native habitat and it's all very bizarre looking. There's plenty more that I don't want to spoil - suffice to say that there really couldn't be any more variety in locations and each one is more imaginative than most games ever manage.

Whilst Jak 3 brings us new variations on familiar musical themes, it also creates plenty of new ones to accompany the many places we visit. Musically, Jak 3 somehow manages to again surpass the others in the series with some of the most exciting, haunting and catchy themes and melodies yet. All the sound effects are spot on as per usual and the wide cast of characters, new and old, are voiced as convincingly as the best TV cartoon shows around - and I'm thinking more Futurama than Pokemon! It really is a class act in every respect. The story brings back most of your favourite characters from Jak II in one form or another too, so look out for those familiar faces. If you have the time, it's worth playing through the first two adventures again, Jak II in particular, just to see the progression of the games and remind yourself of the plot.

As was the problem with my Jak II review, there is simply far more packed into Jak 3 than I could ever possibly cover. Nor would I want to spoil all the surprises. The loading times are again non-existent, hidden behind smoothly animated airlocks and some quite impressive lift sequences too. The only criticism that could be raised is that some sections might frustrate as you mustn't die for large segments of the game, returning to the last continue point if you do. However, the game is always fair to my mind and I welcome the challenge; as I said with Jak II, if the continue points were much more frequent the tension would not be there and it would be a bit too easy. As it is, the difficulty curve, like every other aspect of the game, is as close to perfect as you're ever likely to get.

Jak 3, like its predecessors, is quite simply a gaming masterpiece that surpasses every game that has come before it and takes the genre to new levels. Stunning graphics, an amazing range of highly imaginative and sprawling locations, endless variety, engaging and challenging gameplay, loads of mini-games, cool weapons, super powers, vehicles, races, a grand and exciting storyline, great music, superb voice acting and plenty of humour… did I forget anything? Probably. Jak 3 is simply too good for words and an unmissable experience for every PS2 owner. Now if you'll excuse me, I have the sudden urge to hear Daxter yell "crotch rocket flyby!" just one more time!

Reviewed by Geoff Holland for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).